Finding points on a rectangle at a given angle

Question

I\'m trying to draw a gradient in a rectangle object, with a given angle (Theta), where the ends of the gradient are touching the perimeter of the rectangle.

Answer 1

Ok, whew!, I finally got this one.

NOTE: I based this off of belisarius's awesome answer. If you like this, please like his, too. All I did was turn what he said into code.

Here's what it looks like in Objective-C. It should be simple enough to convert to whatever your favorite language is.

+ (CGPoint) edgeOfView: (UIView*) view atAngle: (float) theta
{
    // Move theta to range -M_PI .. M_PI
    const double twoPI = M_PI * 2.;
    while (theta < -M_PI)
    {
        theta += twoPI;
    }

    while (theta > M_PI)
    {
        theta -= twoPI;
    }

    // find edge ofview
    // Ref: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4061576/finding-points-on-a-rectangle-at-a-given-angle
    float aa = view.bounds.size.width;                                          // "a" in the diagram
    float bb = view.bounds.size.height;                                         // "b"

    // Find our region (diagram)
    float rectAtan = atan2f(bb, aa);
    float tanTheta = tan(theta);

    int region;
    if ((theta > -rectAtan)
    &&  (theta <= rectAtan) )
    {
        region = 1;
    }
    else if ((theta >  rectAtan)
    &&       (theta <= (M_PI - rectAtan)) )
    {
        region = 2;
    }
    else if ((theta >   (M_PI - rectAtan))
    ||       (theta <= -(M_PI - rectAtan)) )
    {
        region = 3;
    }
    else
    {
        region = 4;
    }

    CGPoint edgePoint = view.center;
    float xFactor = 1;
    float yFactor = 1;

    switch (region)
    {
        case 1: yFactor = -1;       break;
        case 2: yFactor = -1;       break;
        case 3: xFactor = -1;       break;
        case 4: xFactor = -1;       break;
    }

    if ((region == 1)
    ||  (region == 3) )
    {
        edgePoint.x += xFactor * (aa / 2.);                                     // "Z0"
        edgePoint.y += yFactor * (aa / 2.) * tanTheta;
    }
    else                                                                        // region 2 or 4
    {
        edgePoint.x += xFactor * (bb / (2. * tanTheta));                        // "Z1"
        edgePoint.y += yFactor * (bb /  2.);
    }

    return edgePoint;
}

In addition, here's a little test-view I created to verify that it works. Create this view and put it somewhere, it will make another little view scoot around the edge.

@interface DebugEdgeView()
{
    int degrees;
    UIView *dotView;
    NSTimer *timer;
}

@end

@implementation DebugEdgeView

- (void) dealloc
{
    [timer invalidate];
}


- (id) initWithFrame: (CGRect) frame
{
    self = [super initWithFrame: frame];
    if (self)
    {
        self.backgroundColor = [[UIColor magentaColor] colorWithAlphaComponent: 0.25];
        degrees = 0;
        self.clipsToBounds = NO;

        // create subview dot
        CGRect dotRect = CGRectMake(frame.size.width / 2., frame.size.height / 2., 20, 20);
        dotView = [[DotView alloc] initWithFrame: dotRect];
        dotView.backgroundColor = [UIColor magentaColor];
        [self addSubview: dotView];

        // move it around our edges
        timer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval: (5. / 360.)
                                                 target: self
                                               selector: @selector(timerFired:)
                                               userInfo: nil
                                                repeats: YES];
    }

    return self;
}


- (void) timerFired: (NSTimer*) timer
{
    float radians = ++degrees * M_PI / 180.;
    if (degrees > 360)
    {
        degrees -= 360;
    }

    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
        CGPoint edgePoint = [MFUtils edgeOfView: self atAngle: radians];
        edgePoint.x += (self.bounds.size.width  / 2.) - self.center.x;
        edgePoint.y += (self.bounds.size.height / 2.) - self.center.y;
        dotView.center = edgePoint;
    });
}

@end