Is it possible to use AutoLayout with UITableView's tableHeaderView?

Since I discovered AutoLayout I use it everywhere, now I'm trying to use it with a tableHeaderView.

I made a subclass of UIView added everything (labels etc...) I wanted with their constraints, then I added this CustomView to the UITableView'tableHeaderView.

Everything works just fine except the UITableView always displays above the CustomView, by above I mean the CustomView is under the UITableView so it can't be seen !

It seems that no matter what I do, the height of the UITableView'tableHeaderView is always 0 (so is the width, x and y).

My question : is it possible at all to accomplish this without setting the frame manually ?

EDIT : The CustomView'subview that I'm using has these constraints :

_title = [[UILabel alloc]init];
_title.text = @"Title";
[self addSubview:_title];
[_title keep:[KeepTopInset rules:@[[KeepEqual must:5]]]]; // title has to stay at least 5 away from the supperview Top
[_title keep:[KeepRightInset rules:@[[KeepMin must:5]]]];
[_title keep:[KeepLeftInset rules:@[[KeepMin must:5]]]];
[_title keep:[KeepBottomInset rules:@[[KeepMin must:5]]]];

I'm using a handy library 'KeepLayout' because writing constraints manually takes forever and way too many line for one single constraint but the methods are self-explaining.

And the UITableView has these constraints :

_tableView = [[UITableView alloc]init];
_tableView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;
_tableView.delegate = self;
_tableView.dataSource = self;
_tableView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
[self.view addSubview:_tableView];
[_tableView keep:[KeepTopInset rules:@[[KeepEqual must:0]]]];// These 4 constraints make the UITableView stays 0 away from the superview top left right and bottom.
[_tableView keep:[KeepLeftInset rules:@[[KeepEqual must:0]]]];
[_tableView keep:[KeepRightInset rules:@[[KeepEqual must:0]]]];
[_tableView keep:[KeepBottomInset rules:@[[KeepEqual must:0]]]];

_detailsView = [[CustomView alloc]init];
_tableView.tableHeaderView = _detailsView;

I don't know if I have to set some constraints directly on the CustomView, I think the height of the CustomView is determined by the constraints on the UILabel "title" in it.

EDIT 2: After another investigation it seems the height and width of the CustomView are correctly calculated, but the top of the CustomView is still at the same level than the top of the UITableView and they move together when I scroll.

Solution 1:

I asked and answered a similar question here. In summary, I add the header once and use it to find the required height. That height can then be applied to the header, and the header is set a second time to reflect the change.

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    self.header = [[SCAMessageView alloc] init];
    self.header.titleLabel.text = @"Warning";
    self.header.subtitleLabel.text = @"This is a message with enough text to span multiple lines. This text is set at runtime and might be short or long.";

    //set the tableHeaderView so that the required height can be determined
    self.tableView.tableHeaderView = self.header;
    [self.header setNeedsLayout];
    [self.header layoutIfNeeded];
    CGFloat height = [self.header systemLayoutSizeFittingSize:UILayoutFittingCompressedSize].height;

    //update the header's frame and set it again
    CGRect headerFrame = self.header.frame;
    headerFrame.size.height = height;
    self.header.frame = headerFrame;
    self.tableView.tableHeaderView = self.header;
}

If you have multi-line labels, this also relies on the custom view setting the preferredMaxLayoutWidth of each label:

- (void)layoutSubviews
{
    [super layoutSubviews];

    self.titleLabel.preferredMaxLayoutWidth = CGRectGetWidth(self.titleLabel.frame);
    self.subtitleLabel.preferredMaxLayoutWidth = CGRectGetWidth(self.subtitleLabel.frame);
}

or perhaps more generally:

override func layoutSubviews() {
    super.layoutSubviews()  
    for view in subviews {
        guard let label = view as? UILabel where label.numberOfLines == 0 else { continue }
        label.preferredMaxLayoutWidth = CGRectGetWidth(label.frame)
    }
}

Update January 2015

Unfortunately this still seems necessary. Here is a swift version of the layout process:

tableView.tableHeaderView = header
header.setNeedsLayout()
header.layoutIfNeeded()
header.frame.size = header.systemLayoutSizeFittingSize(UILayoutFittingCompressedSize)
tableView.tableHeaderView = header

I've found it useful to move this into an extension on UITableView:

extension UITableView {
    //set the tableHeaderView so that the required height can be determined, update the header's frame and set it again
    func setAndLayoutTableHeaderView(header: UIView) {
        self.tableHeaderView = header
        self.tableHeaderView?.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
            header.widthAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.widthAnchor)
        ])
        header.setNeedsLayout()
        header.layoutIfNeeded()
        header.frame.size =  header.systemLayoutSizeFitting(UIView.layoutFittingCompressedSize)
        self.tableHeaderView = header
    }
}

Usage:

let header = SCAMessageView()
header.titleLabel.text = "Warning"
header.subtitleLabel.text = "Warning message here."
tableView.setAndLayoutTableHeaderView(header)

Solution 2:

I've been unable to add a header view using constraints (in code). If I give my view a width and/or a height constraint, I get a crash with the message saying:

 "terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInternalInconsistencyException', reason: 'Auto Layout still required after executing -layoutSubviews. UITableView's implementation of -layoutSubviews needs to call super."

When I add a view in the storyboard to my table view, it shows no constraints, and it works fine as a header view, so I think that the placement of the header view isn't done using constraints. It doesn't seem to behave like a normal view in that regard.

The width is automatically the width of the table view, the only thing you need to set is the height -- the origin values are ignored, so it doesn't matter what you put in for those. For instance, this worked fine (as does 0,0,0,80 for the rect):

UIView *headerview = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(1000,1000, 0, 80)];
headerview.backgroundColor = [UIColor yellowColor];
self.tableView.tableHeaderView = headerview;

Solution 3:

I saw a lot of methods here doing so much unnecessary stuff, but you don't need that much to use auto layout in the header view. You just have to create you xib file, put your constraints and instantiate it like this:

func loadHeaderView () {
        guard let headerView = Bundle.main.loadNibNamed("CourseSearchHeader", owner: self, options: nil)?[0] as? UIView else {
            return
        }
        headerView.autoresizingMask = .flexibleWidth
        headerView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = true
        tableView.tableHeaderView = headerView
    }