How is a rounded rect view with transparency done on iphone?

As of iPhone SDK 3.0, you can simply use the layer's cornerRadius property. E.g.:

view.layer.cornerRadius = 10.0;

Along the same lines, you can change the view's border color and width:

view.layer.borderColor = [[UIColor grayColor] CGColor];
view.layer.borderWidth = 1;

view.layer.cornerRadius = radius;

The hard way (that used to be required in the first iPhone SDK) is to create your own UIView subclass with drawRect: method:

 CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
 CGContextSetRGBFillColor(context, 0,0,0,0.75);

 CGContextMoveToPoint(context, rect.origin.x, rect.origin.y + radius);
 CGContextAddLineToPoint(context, rect.origin.x, rect.origin.y + rect.size.height - radius);
 CGContextAddArc(context, rect.origin.x + radius, rect.origin.y + rect.size.height - radius, 
                radius, M_PI, M_PI / 2, 1); //STS fixed
 CGContextAddLineToPoint(context, rect.origin.x + rect.size.width - radius, 
                        rect.origin.y + rect.size.height);
 CGContextAddArc(context, rect.origin.x + rect.size.width - radius, 
                rect.origin.y + rect.size.height - radius, radius, M_PI / 2, 0.0f, 1);
 CGContextAddLineToPoint(context, rect.origin.x + rect.size.width, rect.origin.y + radius);
 CGContextAddArc(context, rect.origin.x + rect.size.width - radius, rect.origin.y + radius, 
                radius, 0.0f, -M_PI / 2, 1);
 CGContextAddLineToPoint(context, rect.origin.x + radius, rect.origin.y);
 CGContextAddArc(context, rect.origin.x + radius, rect.origin.y + radius, radius, 
                -M_PI / 2, M_PI, 1);

 CGContextFillPath(context);

Note: rect in this code should be taken from [self bounds] (or whatever location you want it in), it won't make sense with rect passed to drawRect: method.


I abstracted out @lostInTransit's response into this function:

static void ContextAddRoundedRect(CGContextRef c, CGRect rect, CGFloat radius) {
  CGFloat minX = CGRectGetMinX(rect);
  CGFloat maxX = CGRectGetMaxX(rect);
  CGFloat minY = CGRectGetMinY(rect);
  CGFloat maxY = CGRectGetMaxY(rect);

  CGContextMoveToPoint(c, minX + radius, minY);
  CGContextAddArcToPoint(c, maxX, minY, maxX, minY + radius, radius);
  CGContextAddArcToPoint(c, maxX, maxY, maxX - radius, maxY, radius);
  CGContextAddArcToPoint(c, minX, maxY, minX, maxY - radius, radius);
  CGContextAddArcToPoint(c, minX, minY, minX + radius, minY, radius);
}

which places the path onto the context for you to do with as you may

slightly different CoreGraphics calls and i didn't close the path, in case you want to add that

CGContextFillPath(c);

In your view do this in the drawRect method

float radius = 5.0f;

CGRect rect = self.bounds;
CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();   
rect = CGRectInset(rect, 1.0f, 1.0f);

CGContextBeginPath(context);
CGContextSetGrayFillColor(context, 0.5, 0.7);
CGContextMoveToPoint(context, CGRectGetMinX(rect) + radius, CGRectGetMinY(rect));
CGContextAddArc(context, CGRectGetMaxX(rect) - radius, CGRectGetMinY(rect) + radius, radius, 3 * M_PI / 2, 0, 0);
CGContextAddArc(context, CGRectGetMaxX(rect) - radius, CGRectGetMaxY(rect) - radius, radius, 0, M_PI / 2, 0);
CGContextAddArc(context, CGRectGetMinX(rect) + radius, CGRectGetMaxY(rect) - radius, radius, M_PI / 2, M_PI, 0);
CGContextAddArc(context, CGRectGetMinX(rect) + radius, CGRectGetMinY(rect) + radius, radius, M_PI, 3 * M_PI / 2, 0);

CGContextClosePath(context);
CGContextFillPath(context);

This will make your rounded rectangle for your view. You can find a complete example in the HeadsUpUI sample provided with the SDK. HTH