How do you use NSAttributedString

Question

Multiple colours in an NSString or NSMutableStrings are not possible  So I ve heard a little about the NSAttributedString which was introduced with the iPad SDK 3 2  or around 3 2  and is available on the iPhone as of iPhone SDK 4 0 beta   I would like to have a string that has three colours   The reason I don t use 3 separate NSStrings  is because the length of each of the three NSAttributedString substrings changes often and so I would prefer  not to use any calculations to re-position 3 separate NSString objects   If it s possible using NSAttributedString how do I make the following -  if not possible with NSAttributed string how would you do it      Edit  Remember    first     second  and   third  will be replaced by other strings at any time  So using hardcoded NSRange values won t work

User · Answer

I always found working with attributed strings to be an incredibly long winded and tedious process.

So I made a Mac App that creates all the code for you.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/attributed-string-creator/id730928349?mt=12

User · Answer

When building attributed strings  I prefer to use the mutable subclass  just to keep things cleaner   That being said  here s how you create a tri-color attributed string   NSMutableAttributedString   string     NSMutableAttributedString alloc  initWithString   firstsecondthird     string addAttribute NSForegroundColorAttributeName value  UIColor redColor  range NSMakeRange 0 5     string addAttribute NSForegroundColorAttributeName value  UIColor greenColor  range NSMakeRange 5 6     string addAttribute NSForegroundColorAttributeName value  UIColor blueColor  range NSMakeRange 11 5      typed in a browser  caveat implementor  Obviously you re not going to hard-code in the ranges like this   Perhaps instead you could do something like   NSDictionary   wordToColorMapping            an NSDictionary of NSString   gt  UIColor pairs NSMutableAttributedString   string     NSMutableAttributedString alloc  initWithString       for  NSString   word in wordToColorMapping      UIColor   color    wordToColorMapping objectForKey word     NSDictionary   attributes    NSDictionary dictionaryWithObject color forKey NSForegroundColorAttributeName     NSAttributedString   subString     NSAttributedString alloc  initWithString word attributes attributes      string appendAttributedString subString      subString release        display string

User · Answer

I made a library that makes this a lot easier   Check out ZenCopy   You can create Style objects  and or set them to keys to reference later  Like this   ZenCopy manager config setStyles       return            token   Style              color   blueColor       optional                fontName   Helvetica      optional             fontSize  14    optional                     Then  you can easily construct strings AND style them AND have params     label attributedText   attributedString                                     0   style  token    is dancing with      1  style  token                                args    JP    Brock       You can also style things easily with regex searches   let atUserRegex       A-Za-z0-9      mutableAttributedString regexFind atUserRegex  addStyle   token     This will style all words with     in front of it with the  token  style   e g   jpmcglone   I need to still get it working w  everything NSAttributedString has to offer  but I think fontName  fontSize and color cover the bulk of it   Expect lots of updates soon     I can help you get started with this if you need  Also looking for feedback  so if it makes your life easier  I d say mission accomplished

User · Answer

In Swift 4   let string NSMutableAttributedString          let mutableString   NSMutableAttributedString string   firstsecondthird        mutableString addAttribute NSForegroundColorAttributeName  value  UIColor red   range  NSRange location  0  length  5       mutableString addAttribute NSForegroundColorAttributeName  value  UIColor green   range  NSRange location  5  length  6       mutableString addAttribute NSForegroundColorAttributeName  value  UIColor blue   range  NSRange location  11  length  5       return mutableString      print string

User · Answer

Since iOS 7 you can use NSAttributedString with HTML syntax   NSURL  htmlString     NSBundle mainBundle   URLForResource    string      withExtension   html    NSAttributedString  stringWithHTMLAttributes     NSAttributedString alloc  initWithFileURL htmlString                                                                                        options   NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute NSHTMLTextDocumentType                                                                              documentAttributes nil                                                                                          error nil   textView attributedText   stringWithHTMLAttributes    you can use a label also   You have to add the file  string html  to you project  and the content of the html can be like this    lt html gt     lt head gt       lt style type  text css  gt        body           font-size  15px          font-family  Avenir  Arial  sans-serif                 red           color  red                 green           color  green                 blue           color  blue               lt  style gt     lt  head gt     lt body gt       lt span class  red  gt first lt  span gt  lt span class  green  gt second lt  span gt  lt span class  blue  gt third lt  span gt     lt  body gt   lt  html gt      Now  you can use NSAttributedString as you want  even without HTML file  like for example     At the top of your  m file  define RED OCCURENCE -red occurence-  define GREEN OCCURENCE -green occurence-  define BLUE OCCURENCE -blue occurence-  define HTML TEMPLATE    lt span style   color red   gt -red occurence- lt  span gt  lt span style   color green   gt -green occurence- lt  span gt  lt span style   color blue   gt -blue occurence- lt  span gt  lt  body gt  lt  html gt      Where you need to use your attributed string NSString  string    HTML TEMPLATE stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString RED OCCURENCE withString   first     string    string stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString GREEN OCCURENCE   withString   second    string    string stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString BLUE OCCURENCE    withString   third     NSData  cData    string dataUsingEncoding NSUTF8StringEncoding    NSAttributedString  stringWithHTMLAttributes     NSAttributedString alloc  initWithData cData                                                                                 options   NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute NSHTMLTextDocumentType                                                                          documentAttributes nil                                                                                      error nil   textView attributedText   stringWithHTMLAttributes    Source

User · Answer

I wrote helper to add attributes easily   -  void addColor  UIColor   color substring  NSString   substring  -  void addBackgroundColor  UIColor   color substring  NSString   substring  -  void addUnderlineForSubstring  NSString   substring  -  void addStrikeThrough  int thickness substring  NSString   substring  -  void addShadowColor  UIColor   color width  int width height  int height radius  int radius substring  NSString   substring  -  void addFontWithName  NSString   fontName size  int fontSize substring  NSString   substring  -  void addAlignment  NSTextAlignment alignment substring  NSString   substring  -  void addColorToRussianText  UIColor   color  -  void addStrokeColor  UIColor   color thickness  int thickness substring  NSString   substring  -  void addVerticalGlyph  BOOL glyph substring  NSString   substring    https   github com shmidt MASAttributes  You can install through CocoaPods also   pod  MASAttributes      gt  1 0 0

User · Answer

This solution will work for any length  NSString  strFirst     Anylengthtext   NSString  strSecond     Anylengthtext   NSString  strThird     Anylengthtext    NSString  strComplete    NSString stringWithFormat             strFirst strSecond strThird    NSMutableAttributedString  attributedString    NSMutableAttributedString alloc  initWithString strComplete     attributedString addAttribute NSForegroundColorAttributeName               value  UIColor redColor                range  strComplete rangeOfString strFirst      attributedString addAttribute NSForegroundColorAttributeName               value  UIColor yellowColor                range  strComplete rangeOfString strSecond      attributedString addAttribute NSForegroundColorAttributeName               value  UIColor blueColor                range  strComplete rangeOfString strThird      self lblName attributedText   attributedString

User · Answer

I think  it is a very convenient way to use regular expressions to find a range for applying attributes  This is how I did it    NSMutableAttributedString  goodText     NSMutableAttributedString alloc  initWithString articleText    NSRange range    articleText rangeOfString              options NSRegularExpressionSearch NSCaseInsensitiveSearch   if  range location    NSNotFound         goodText addAttribute NSFontAttributeName value  UIFont fontWithName   Georgia  size 16  range range        goodText addAttribute NSForegroundColorAttributeName value  UIColor brownColor  range range      NSString  regEx    NSString stringWithFormat          s    self article titleText substringToIndex 0    range    articleText rangeOfString regEx options NSRegularExpressionSearch NSCaseInsensitiveSearch   if  range location    NSNotFound         goodText addAttribute NSFontAttributeName value  UIFont fontWithName   Georgia-Bold  size 20  range range        goodText addAttribute NSForegroundColorAttributeName value  UIColor blueColor  range range       self textView setAttributedText goodText     I was searching for a list of available attributes and didn t find them here and in a class reference s first page  So I decided to post here information on that    Standard Attributes  Attributed strings support the following standard attributes for text  If the key is not in the dictionary  then use the default values described below   NSString  NSFontAttributeName  NSString  NSParagraphStyleAttributeName  NSString  NSForegroundColorAttributeName  NSString  NSUnderlineStyleAttributeName  NSString  NSSuperscriptAttributeName  NSString  NSBackgroundColorAttributeName  NSString  NSAttachmentAttributeName  NSString  NSLigatureAttributeName  NSString  NSBaselineOffsetAttributeName  NSString  NSKernAttributeName  NSString  NSLinkAttributeName  NSString  NSStrokeWidthAttributeName  NSString  NSStrokeColorAttributeName  NSString  NSUnderlineColorAttributeName  NSString  NSStrikethroughStyleAttributeName  NSString  NSStrikethroughColorAttributeName  NSString  NSShadowAttributeName  NSString  NSObliquenessAttributeName  NSString  NSExpansionAttributeName  NSString  NSCursorAttributeName  NSString  NSToolTipAttributeName  NSString  NSMarkedClauseSegmentAttributeName  NSString  NSWritingDirectionAttributeName  NSString  NSVerticalGlyphFormAttributeName  NSString  NSTextAlternativesAttributeName    NSAttributedString programming guide  A full class reference is here

User · Answer

An easier solution with attributed string extension   extension NSMutableAttributedString           this function attaches color to string         func setColorForText textToFind  String  withColor color  UIColor            let range  NSRange   self mutableString range of  textToFind  options   caseInsensitive          self addAttribute NSAttributedStringKey foregroundColor  value  color  range  range             Try this and see  Tested in Swift 3  amp  4   let label   UILabel   label frame   CGRect x  120  y  100  width  200  height  30  let first    first  let second    second  let third    third  let stringValue      first   second   third       or direct assign single string value like  firstsecondthird   let attributedString  NSMutableAttributedString   NSMutableAttributedString string  stringValue  attributedString setColorForText textToFind  first  withColor  UIColor red       use variable for string  first  attributedString setColorForText textToFind   second   withColor  UIColor green     or direct string like this  second  attributedString setColorForText textToFind  third  withColor  UIColor blue  label font   UIFont systemFont ofSize  26  label attributedText   attributedString self view addSubview label    Here is expected result

User · Answer

-  void changeColorWithString  UILabel   uilabel stringToReplace  NSString    stringToReplace uiColor  UIColor    uiColor      NSMutableAttributedString  text         NSMutableAttributedString alloc       initWithAttributedString  uilabel attributedText         text addAttribute  NSForegroundColorAttributeName value uiColor range  uilabel text rangeOfString stringToReplace          uilabel setAttributedText  text

User · Answer

Swift 4  let combination   NSMutableAttributedString    var part1   NSMutableAttributedString   var part2   NSMutableAttributedString   var part3   NSMutableAttributedString    let attrRegular    NSAttributedStringKey font   UIFont name   Palatino-Roman   size  15    let attrBold Dictionary    NSAttributedStringKey font   UIFont name   Raleway-SemiBold   size  15    let attrBoldWithColor  Dictionary    NSAttributedStringKey font   UIFont name   Raleway-SemiBold   size  15                                    NSAttributedStringKey foregroundColor  UIColor red   if let regular   attrRegular as   NSAttributedStringKey   NSObject       part1   NSMutableAttributedString string   first   attributes  regular     if let bold   attrRegular as   NSAttributedStringKey   NSObject       part2   NSMutableAttributedString string   second   attributes  bold     if let boldWithColor   attrBoldWithColor as   NSAttributedStringKey   NSObject       part3   NSMutableAttributedString string   third   attributes  boldWithColor     combination append part1  combination append part2  combination append part3    Attributes list please see here NSAttributedStringKey on Apple Docs

User · Answer

You can load an HTML attributed string in Swift as follow       var Str   NSAttributedString     data  htmlstring dataUsingEncoding NSUnicodeStringEncoding  allowLossyConversion  true      options    NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute  NSHTMLTextDocumentType      documentAttributes  nil     error  nil      label attributedText   Str     To load a html from file         if let rtf   NSBundle mainBundle   URLForResource  rtfdoc   withExtension   rtf   subdirectory  nil  localization  nil        let attributedString   NSAttributedString fileURL  rtf  options   NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute NSRTFTextDocumentType   documentAttributes  nil  error  nil          textView attributedText   attributedString         textView editable   false         http   sketchytech blogspot in 2013 11 creating-nsattributedstring-from-html html    And setup string as per your required attribute    follow this   http   makeapppie com 2014 10 20 swift-swift-using-attributed-strings-in-swift

User · Answer

The question is already answered    but I wanted to show how to add shadow and change the font with NSAttributedString as well  so that when people search for this topic they won t have to keep looking    define FONT SIZE 20  define FONT HELVETICA   Helvetica-Light   define BLACK SHADOW  UIColor colorWithRed 40 0f 255 0f green 40 0f 255 0f blue 40 0f 255 0f alpha 0 4f   NSString myNSString     This is my string  nIt goes to a second line                     NSMutableParagraphStyle  paragraphStyle     NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc  init                  paragraphStyle alignment   NSTextAlignmentCenter               paragraphStyle lineSpacing   FONT SIZE 2                       UIFont   labelFont    UIFont fontWithName FONT HELVETICA size FONT SIZE                      UIColor   labelColor    UIColor colorWithWhite 1 alpha 1                          NSShadow  shadow     NSShadow alloc  init                     shadow setShadowColor   BLACK SHADOW                    shadow setShadowOffset   CGSizeMake  1 0  1 0                 shadow setShadowBlurRadius   1    NSAttributedString  labelText     NSAttributedString alloc  initWithString   myNSString                       attributes         NSParagraphStyleAttributeName   paragraphStyle               NSKernAttributeName    2 0               NSFontAttributeName   labelFont    NSForegroundColorAttributeName   labelColor             NSShadowAttributeName   shadow       Here is a Swift version     Warning   This works for 4s   For 5s you have to change all of the the Float values to Double values  because the compiler isn t working correctly yet   Swift enum for font choice   enum FontValue  Int       case FVBold   1   FVCondensedBlack  FVMedium  FVHelveticaNeue  FVLight  FVCondensedBold  FVLightItalic  FVUltraLightItalic  FVUltraLight  FVBoldItalic  FVItalic     Swift array for enum access  needed because enum can t use  -     func helveticaFont  index Int  - gt   String        let fontArray          HelveticaNeue-Bold        HelveticaNeue-CondensedBlack        HelveticaNeue-Medium        HelveticaNeue        HelveticaNeue-Light        HelveticaNeue-CondensedBold        HelveticaNeue-LightItalic        HelveticaNeue-UltraLightItalic        HelveticaNeue-UltraLight        HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic        HelveticaNeue-Italic             return fontArray index      Swift attributed text function   func myAttributedText  myString String  mySize  Float  myFont FontValue  - gt   NSMutableAttributedString         let shadow   NSShadow       shadow shadowColor   UIColor textShadowColor       shadow shadowOffset   CGSizeMake  1 0  1 0      shadow shadowBlurRadius   1      let paragraphStyle   NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc       paragraphStyle lineHeightMultiple   1     paragraphStyle lineBreakMode   NSLineBreakMode ByWordWrapping     paragraphStyle alignment   NSTextAlignment Center      let labelFont   UIFont name  helveticaFont myFont toRaw     size  mySize      let labelColor   UIColor whiteColor        let myAttributes  Dictionary    NSParagraphStyleAttributeName   paragraphStyle                                                NSKernAttributeName   3      -1 5                                                NSFontAttributeName   labelFont                                     NSForegroundColorAttributeName   labelColor                                              NSShadowAttributeName   shadow       let myAttributedString   NSMutableAttributedString  string  myString  attributes myAttributes          add new color      let secondColor   UIColor blackColor       let stringArray   myString componentsSeparatedByString          let firstString  String    stringArray first     let letterCount   countElements firstString       if firstString           myAttributedString addAttributes  NSForegroundColorAttributeName secondColor   range NSMakeRange 0 letterCount              return  myAttributedString     first and last extension used for finding ranges in a string array   extension Array       var last  T            if self isEmpty               NSLog  array crash error - please fix               return self  0            else               return self self endIndex - 1                     extension Array       var first  T            if self isEmpty               NSLog  array crash error - please fix               return self  0            else               return self  0                      new colors   extension UIColor       class func shadowColor   - gt  UIColor           return UIColor red  0 0 255 0  green  0 0 255 0  blue  0 0 255 0  alpha  0 3            class func textShadowColor   - gt  UIColor           return UIColor red  50 0 255 0  green  50 0 255 0  blue  50 0 255 0  alpha  0 5            class func pastelBlueColor   - gt  UIColor           return UIColor red  176 0 255 0  green  186 0 255 0  blue  255 0 255 0  alpha  1            class func pastelYellowColor   - gt  UIColor           return UIColor red  255 0 255 0  green  238 0 255 0  blue  140 0 255 0  alpha  1            my macro replacement   enum MyConstants  Float       case CornerRadius   5 0     my button maker w attributed text   func myButtonMaker  myView UIView  - gt  UIButton        let myButton   UIButton buttonWithType  System  as UIButton     myButton backgroundColor   UIColor pastelBlueColor       myButton showsTouchWhenHighlighted   true      let myCGSize CGSize   CGSizeMake 100 0  50 0      let myFrame   CGRectMake myView frame midX - myCGSize height myView frame midY - 2   myCGSize height myCGSize width myCGSize height      myButton frame   myFrame     let myTitle   myAttributedText  Button  20 0 FontValue FVLight      myButton setAttributedTitle myTitle  forState  Normal       myButton layer cornerRadius   myButton bounds size width   MyConstants CornerRadius toRaw       myButton setTitleColor UIColor whiteColor    forState   Normal      myButton tag   100     myButton bringSubviewToFront myView      myButton layerGradient        myView addSubview myButton       return  myButton     my UIView UILabel maker w attributed text  shadow  and round corners   func myLabelMaker  myView UIView  - gt  UIView        let myFrame   CGRectMake myView frame midX   2   myView frame midY   2  myView frame width 2  myView frame height 2      let mylabelFrame   CGRectMake 0  0  myView frame width 2  myView frame height 2       let myBaseView   UIView       myBaseView frame   myFrame     myBaseView backgroundColor   UIColor clearColor        let myLabel   UILabel       myLabel backgroundColor UIColor pastelYellowColor       myLabel frame   mylabelFrame      myLabel attributedText   myAttributedText  This is my String  20 0 FontValue FVLight      myLabel numberOfLines   5     myLabel tag   100     myLabel layer cornerRadius   myLabel bounds size width   MyConstants CornerRadius toRaw       myLabel clipsToBounds   true     myLabel layerborders        myBaseView addSubview myLabel       myBaseView layerShadow       myBaseView layerGradient        myView addSubview myBaseView       return myLabel     generic shadow add   func viewshadow lt T where T  UIView gt   shadowObject  T        let layer   shadowObject layer     let radius   shadowObject frame size width   MyConstants CornerRadius toRaw        layer borderColor   UIColor whiteColor   CGColor     layer borderWidth   0 8     layer cornerRadius   radius     layer shadowOpacity   1     layer shadowRadius   3     layer shadowOffset   CGSizeMake 2 0 2 0      layer shadowColor   UIColor shadowColor   CGColor     view extension for view style   extension UIView       func layerborders             let layer   self layer         let frame   self frame         let myColor   self backgroundColor         layer borderColor   myColor CGColor         layer borderWidth   10 8         layer cornerRadius   layer borderWidth   MyConstants CornerRadius toRaw              func layerShadow             let layer   self layer         let frame   self frame         layer cornerRadius   layer borderWidth   MyConstants CornerRadius toRaw           layer shadowOpacity   1         layer shadowRadius   3         layer shadowOffset   CGSizeMake 2 0 2 0          layer shadowColor   UIColor shadowColor   CGColor            func layerGradient             let layer   CAGradientLayer           let size   self frame size         layer frame size   size         layer frame origin   CGPointMake 0 0 0 0          layer cornerRadius   layer bounds size width   MyConstants CornerRadius toRaw             var color0   CGColorCreateGenericRGB 250 0 255  250 0 255  250 0 255  0 5          var color1   CGColorCreateGenericRGB 200 0 255  200 0 255  200 0 255  0 1          var color2   CGColorCreateGenericRGB 150 0 255  150 0 255  150 0 255  0 1          var color3   CGColorCreateGenericRGB 100 0 255  100 0 255  100 0 255  0 1          var color4   CGColorCreateGenericRGB 50 0 255  50 0 255  50 0 255  0 1          var color5   CGColorCreateGenericRGB 0 0 255  0 0 255  0 0 255  0 1          var color6   CGColorCreateGenericRGB 150 0 255  150 0 255  150 0 255  0 1           layer colors    color0 color1 color2 color3 color4 color5 color6          self layer insertSublayer layer  atIndex  2            the actual view did load function   func buttonPress  sender UIButton         NSLog        ButtonPressed      override func viewDidLoad         super viewDidLoad        let myLabel   myLabelMaker myView      let myButton   myButtonMaker myView       myButton addTarget self  action   buttonPress    forControlEvents UIControlEvents TouchUpInside       viewshadow myButton      viewshadow myLabel

User · Answer

Super easy way to do this   let text    This is a colorful attributed string  let attributedText    NSMutableAttributedString getAttributedString fromString  text  attributedText apply color   red  subString   This     Apply yellow color on range attributedText apply color   yellow  onRange  NSMakeRange 5  4     For more detail click here  https   github com iOSTechHub AttributedString

User · Answer

To solve such kind of problems I created library in swift which is called Atributika   let str     lt r gt first lt  r gt  lt g gt second lt  g gt  lt b gt third lt  b gt   style tags          Style  r   foregroundColor  red           Style  g   foregroundColor  green           Style  b   foregroundColor  blue   attributedString  label attributedText   str   You can find it here https   github com psharanda Atributika

[ios] How do you use NSAttributedString?

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