Multi-line NSAttributedString with truncated text

Question

I need a UILabel subcass with multiline attributed text with support for links, bold styles, etc. I also need tail truncation with an ellipsis. None of the open source co

Answer 1

I used as sample MTLabel. It allows to manage line height. I needed the draw method exactly, so i just put away most stuff i did not need. This method allows me to draw multilined text in rect with tail truncation.

CGRect CTLineGetTypographicBoundsAsRect(CTLineRef line, CGPoint lineOrigin)
{
CGFloat ascent = 0;
CGFloat descent = 0;
CGFloat leading = 0;
CGFloat width = CTLineGetTypographicBounds(line, &ascent, &descent, &leading);
CGFloat height = ascent + descent;

return CGRectMake(lineOrigin.x,
                  lineOrigin.y - descent,
                  width,
                  height);
}
- (void)drawText:(NSString*) text InRect:(CGRect)rect withFont:(UIFont*)aFont inContext:(CGContextRef)context {

if (!text) {
    return;
}

BOOL _limitToNumberOfLines = YES;
int _numberOfLines = 2;
float _lineHeight = 22;

//Create a CoreText font object with name and size from the UIKit one
CTFontRef font = CTFontCreateWithName((CFStringRef)aFont.fontName ,
                                      aFont.pointSize,
                                      NULL);


//Setup the attributes dictionary with font and color
NSDictionary *attributes = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
                            (id)font, (id)kCTFontAttributeName,
                            [UIColor lightGrayColor].CGColor, kCTForegroundColorAttributeName,
                            nil];

NSAttributedString *attributedString = [[[NSAttributedString alloc]
                                         initWithString:text
                                         attributes:attributes] autorelease];

CFRelease(font);

//Create a TypeSetter object with the attributed text created earlier on
CTTypesetterRef typeSetter = CTTypesetterCreateWithAttributedString((CFAttributedStringRef)attributedString);

//Start drawing from the upper side of view (the context is flipped, so we need to grab the height to do so)
CGFloat y = self.bounds.origin.y + self.bounds.size.height - rect.origin.y - aFont.ascender;

BOOL shouldDrawAlong = YES;
int count = 0;
CFIndex currentIndex = 0;

float _textHeight = 0;

CGContextSaveGState(context);

CGContextSetTextMatrix(context, CGAffineTransformIdentity);
CGContextTranslateCTM(context, 0, self.bounds.size.height);
CGContextScaleCTM(context, 1.0, -1.0);

//Start drawing lines until we run out of text
while (shouldDrawAlong) {

    //Get CoreText to suggest a proper place to place the line break
    CFIndex lineLength = CTTypesetterSuggestLineBreak(typeSetter,
                                                      currentIndex,
                                                      rect.size.width);

    //Create a new line with from current index to line-break index
    CFRange lineRange = CFRangeMake(currentIndex, lineLength);
    CTLineRef line = CTTypesetterCreateLine(typeSetter, lineRange);

    //Check to see if our index didn't exceed the text, and if should limit to number of lines        
    if (currentIndex + lineLength >= [text length])
    {
        shouldDrawAlong = NO;
    }
    else
    {
        if (!(_limitToNumberOfLines && count < _numberOfLines-1))
        {
            int i = 0;
            if ([[[text substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(currentIndex, lineLength)] stringByAppendingString:@"…"] sizeWithFont:aFont].width > rect.size.width)
            {
                i--;
                while ([[[text substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(currentIndex, lineLength + i)] stringByAppendingString:@"…"] sizeWithFont:aFont].width > rect.size.width) 
                {
                    i--;
                }
            }
            else
            {
                i++;
                while ([[[text substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(currentIndex, lineLength + i)] stringByAppendingString:@"…"] sizeWithFont:aFont].width < rect.size.width) 
                {
                    i++;
                }
                i--;
            }
            attributedString = [[[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:[[text substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(currentIndex, lineLength + i)] stringByAppendingString:@"…"] attributes:attributes] autorelease];

            CFRelease(typeSetter);

            typeSetter = CTTypesetterCreateWithAttributedString((CFAttributedStringRef)attributedString);

            CFRelease(line);

            CFRange lineRange = CFRangeMake(0, 0);
            line = CTTypesetterCreateLine(typeSetter, lineRange);

            shouldDrawAlong = NO;
        }
    }


    CGFloat x = rect.origin.x;
    //Setup the line position
    CGContextSetTextPosition(context, x, y);
    CTLineDraw(line, context);

    count++;
    CFRelease(line);

    y -= _lineHeight;

    currentIndex += lineLength;
    _textHeight += _lineHeight;
}

CFRelease(typeSetter);

CGContextRestoreGState(context);

}