[ios] How to recognize swipe in all 4 directions

I need to use swipe to recognize swipe gesture down and then right. But on swift UISwipeGestureRecognizer has predeterminate Right direction.. And I don't know how make this for use other directions..

Swipe Gesture in Swift 5

  override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    let swipeLeft = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleGesture))
    swipeLeft.direction = .left
    self.view!.addGestureRecognizer(swipeLeft)

    let swipeRight = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleGesture))
    swipeRight.direction = .right
    self.view!.addGestureRecognizer(swipeRight)

    let swipeUp = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleGesture))
    swipeUp.direction = .up
    self.view!.addGestureRecognizer(swipeUp)

    let swipeDown = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleGesture))
    swipeDown.direction = .down
    self.view!.addGestureRecognizer(swipeDown)
}

@objc func handleGesture(gesture: UISwipeGestureRecognizer) -> Void {
    if gesture.direction == UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.right {
        print("Swipe Right")
    }
    else if gesture.direction == UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.left {
        print("Swipe Left")
    }
    else if gesture.direction == UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.up {
        print("Swipe Up")
    }
    else if gesture.direction == UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.down {
        print("Swipe Down")
    }
}

I just felt like contributing this, looks more elegant in the end:

func addSwipe() {
    let directions: [UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection] = [.Right, .Left, .Up, .Down]
    for direction in directions {
        let gesture = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: Selector("handleSwipe:"))
        gesture.direction = direction
        self.addGestureRecognizer(gesture)
    }
}

func handleSwipe(sender: UISwipeGestureRecognizer) {
    print(sender.direction)
}

Swipe gesture to the view you want, or viewcontroller whole view in Swift 5 & XCode 11 based on @Alexandre Cassagne

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    addSwipe()
}

func addSwipe() {
    let directions: [UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction] = [.right, .left, .up, .down]
    for direction in directions {
        let gesture = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleSwipe))
        gesture.direction = direction
        self.myView.addGestureRecognizer(gesture)// self.view
    }
}

@objc func handleSwipe(sender: UISwipeGestureRecognizer) {
    let direction = sender.direction
    switch direction {
        case .right:
            print("Gesture direction: Right")
        case .left:
            print("Gesture direction: Left")
        case .up:
            print("Gesture direction: Up")
        case .down:
            print("Gesture direction: Down")
        default:
            print("Unrecognized Gesture Direction")
    }
}

First create a baseViewController and add viewDidLoad this code "swift4":

class BaseViewController: UIViewController {             

     override func viewDidLoad() {
         super.viewDidLoad()
         let swipeRight = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(swiped))
         swipeRight.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.right
         self.view.addGestureRecognizer(swipeRight)
         let swipeLeft = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(swiped))
         swipeLeft.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.left
         self.view.addGestureRecognizer(swipeLeft)
     }

     // Example Tabbar 5 pages
     @objc func swiped(_ gesture: UISwipeGestureRecognizer) {
         if gesture.direction == .left {
            if (self.tabBarController?.selectedIndex)! < 5 {
                self.tabBarController?.selectedIndex += 1
            }
         } else if gesture.direction == .right {
             if (self.tabBarController?.selectedIndex)! > 0 {
                 self.tabBarController?.selectedIndex -= 1
             }
         }
     }  
}

And use this baseController class:

class YourViewController: BaseViewController {
    // its done. Swipe successful
    //Now you can use all the Controller you have created without writing any code.    
}

In Swift 4.2 and Xcode 9.4.1

Add Animation delegate, CAAnimationDelegate to your class

//Swipe gesture for left and right
let swipeFromRight = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(didSwipeLeft))
swipeFromRight.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.left
menuTransparentView.addGestureRecognizer(swipeFromRight)

let swipeFromLeft = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(didSwipeRight))
swipeFromLeft.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.right
menuTransparentView.addGestureRecognizer(swipeFromLeft)

//Swipe gesture selector function
@objc func didSwipeLeft(gesture: UIGestureRecognizer) {
    //We can add some animation also
    DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: {
            let animation = CATransition()
            animation.type = kCATransitionReveal
            animation.subtype = kCATransitionFromRight
            animation.duration = 0.5
            animation.delegate = self
            animation.timingFunction = CAMediaTimingFunction(name: kCAMediaTimingFunctionEaseInEaseOut)
            //Add this animation to your view
            self.transparentView.layer.add(animation, forKey: nil)
            self.transparentView.removeFromSuperview()//Remove or hide your view if requirement.
        })
}

//Swipe gesture selector function
@objc func didSwipeRight(gesture: UIGestureRecognizer) {
        // Add animation here
        DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: {
            let animation = CATransition()
            animation.type = kCATransitionReveal
            animation.subtype = kCATransitionFromLeft
            animation.duration = 0.5
            animation.delegate = self
            animation.timingFunction = CAMediaTimingFunction(name: kCAMediaTimingFunctionEaseInEaseOut)
            //Add this animation to your view
            self.transparentView.layer.add(animation, forKey: nil)
            self.transparentView.removeFromSuperview()//Remove or hide yourview if requirement.
        })
}

If you want to remove gesture from view use this code

self.transparentView.removeGestureRecognizer(gesture)

Ex:

func willMoveFromView(view: UIView) {
    if view.gestureRecognizers != nil {
        for gesture in view.gestureRecognizers! {
            //view.removeGestureRecognizer(gesture)//This will remove all gestures including tap etc...
            if let recognizer = gesture as? UISwipeGestureRecognizer {
                //view.removeGestureRecognizer(recognizer)//This will remove all swipe gestures
                if recognizer.direction == .left {//Especially for left swipe
                    view.removeGestureRecognizer(recognizer)
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Call this function like

//Remove swipe gesture
self.willMoveFromView(view: self.transparentView)

Like this you can write remaining directions and please careful whether if you have scroll view or not from bottom to top and vice versa

If you have scroll view, you will get conflict for Top to bottom and view versa gestures.

Easy. Just follow the code below and enjoy.

//SwipeGestureMethodUsing
func SwipeGestureMethodUsing ()
{
    //AddSwipeGesture
    [UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.right,
     UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.left,
     UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.up,
     UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.down].forEach({ direction in
        let swipe = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(self.respondToSwipeGesture))
        swipe.direction = direction
        window?.addGestureRecognizer(swipe)
     })
}

//respondToSwipeGesture
func respondToSwipeGesture(gesture: UIGestureRecognizer) {

    if let swipeGesture = gesture as? UISwipeGestureRecognizer
    {
        switch swipeGesture.direction
        {
        case UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.right:
            print("Swiped right")
        case UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.down:
            print("Swiped down")
        case UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.left:
            print("Swiped left")
        case UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.up:
            print("Swiped up")
        default:
            break
        }
    }
}

Just a cooler swift syntax for Nate's answer:

[UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.right,
 UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.left,
 UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.up,
 UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.down].forEach({ direction in
    let swipe = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(self.respondToSwipeGesture))
    swipe.direction = direction
    self.view.addGestureRecognizer(swipe)
 })

From the storyboard:

1. Add four swipe gesture recognizers to your view.
2. Set each one with the target direction from the attribute inspector. You can select right, left, up or down
3. One by one, select the swipe gesture recognizer, control + drag to your view controller. Insert the name (let us say leftGesture, rightGesture, upGesture and downGesture), change the connection to: Action and type to: UISwipeGestureRecognizer

From your viewController:

@IBAction func rightGesture(sender: UISwipeGestureRecognizer) {
    print("Right")
}
@IBAction func leftGesture(sender: UISwipeGestureRecognizer) {
    print("Left")
}
@IBAction func upGesture(sender: UISwipeGestureRecognizer) {
    print("Up")
}

@IBAction func downGesture(sender: UISwipeGestureRecognizer) {
    print("Down")
}  

Just like that: (Swift 4.2.1)

UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.init(
  rawValue: UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.left.rawValue |
            UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.right.rawValue |
            UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.up.rawValue |
            UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.down.rawValue
)

After digging around for a while:

The shortest way to add swipes for all 4 directions is:

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()    
    for direction in [UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.down, .up, .left, .right]{
        let swipeGest = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(swipeAction(_:)))
        swipeGest.direction = direction
        self.view.addGestureRecognizer(swipeGest)
    }
} 

@objc func swipeAction(_ gesture: UISwipeGestureRecognizer){
    switch gesture.direction {
    case UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.right:
        print("Swiped right")
    case UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.down:
        print("Swiped down")
    case UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.left:
        print("Swiped left")
    case UISwipeGestureRecognizer.Direction.up:
        print("Swiped up")
    default: break
}

Looks like things have changed lately. In XCode 7.2 the following approach works:

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    let swipeGesture = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: "handleSwipe:")
    swipeGesture.direction = [.Down, .Up]
    self.view.addGestureRecognizer(swipeGesture)
}

func handleSwipe(sender: UISwipeGestureRecognizer) {
    print(sender.direction)
}

Tested in Simulator on iOS 8.4 and 9.2 and on actual device on 9.2.

Or, using mlcollard's handy extension here:

let swipeGesture = UISwipeGestureRecognizer() {
    print("Gesture recognized !")
}

swipeGesture.direction = [.Down, .Up]
self.view.addGestureRecognizer(swipeGesture)

In Swift 5,

let swipeGesture = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleSwipe))
swipeGesture.direction = [.left, .right, .up, .down]
view.addGestureRecognizer(swipeGesture)

It can be done by simply declaring one function which will handle all your swipe UISwipeGestureRecognizer directions. Here is my code:

let swipeGestureRight = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action:#selector(ViewController.respondToSwipeGesture(_:)) )
swipeGestureRight.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.right
self.view .addGestureRecognizer(swipeGestureRight)

let swipeGestureLeft = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(ViewController.respondToSwipeGesture(_:)))
swipeGestureLeft.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.left
self.view.addGestureRecognizer(swipeGestureLeft)

let swipeGestureUp = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(ViewController.respondToSwipeGesture(_:)))
swipeGestureUp.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.up
self.view.addGestureRecognizer(swipeGestureUp)

let swipeGestureDown = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(ViewController.respondToSwipeGesture(_:)))
swipeGestureDown.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.down
self.view.addGestureRecognizer(swipeGestureDown)

Here is the function which will hande the swipedirection functionality:

func respondToSwipeGesture(_ sender: UIGestureRecognizer) {
    if let swipeGesture = sender as? UISwipeGestureRecognizer {
        switch swipeGesture.direction {
            case UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.right:
                print("right swipe")
            case UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.left:
                print("leftSwipe")
            case UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.up:
                print("upSwipe")
            case UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.down:
                print("downSwipe")
            default:
                break
        }
    }
}

Apple Swift version 3.1 - Xcode Version 8.3 (8E162)

The handy way from Alexandre Cassagne's approach

let directions: [UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection] = [.up, .down, .right, .left]
for direction in directions {
    let gesture = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(YourClassName.handleSwipe(gesture:)))
    gesture.direction = direction
    self.view?.addGestureRecognizer(gesture)   
}

func handleSwipe(gesture: UISwipeGestureRecognizer) {
    print(gesture.direction)
    switch gesture.direction {
    case UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.down:
        print("down swipe")
    case UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.up:
        print("up swipe")
    case UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.left:
        print("left swipe")
    case UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.right:
        print("right swipe")
    default:
        print("other swipe")
    }
}

UISwipeGestureRecognizer has a direction property that has the following definition:

var direction: UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection

The permitted direction of the swipe for this gesture recognizer.

The problem with Swift 3.0.1 (and below) is that even if UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection conforms to OptionSet, the following snippet will compile but won't produce any positive expected result:

// This compiles but does not work
let gesture = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(gestureHandler))
gesture.direction = [.right, .left, .up, .down]
self.addGestureRecognizer(gesture)

As a workaround, you will have to create a UISwipeGestureRecognizer for each desired direction.

The following Playground code shows how to implement several UISwipeGestureRecognizer for the same UIView and the same selector using Array's map method:

import UIKit
import PlaygroundSupport

class SwipeableView: UIView {
    convenience init() {
        self.init(frame: CGRect(x: 100, y: 100, width: 100, height: 100))
        backgroundColor = .red

        [UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirection.right, .left, .up, .down].map({
            let gesture = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(gestureHandler))
            gesture.direction = $0
            self.addGestureRecognizer(gesture)
        })
    }

    func gestureHandler(sender: UISwipeGestureRecognizer) {
        switch sender.direction {
        case [.left]:   frame.origin.x -= 10
        case [.right]:  frame.origin.x += 10
        case [.up]:     frame.origin.y -= 10
        case [.down]:   frame.origin.y += 10
        default:        break
        }
    }
}

class ViewController: UIViewController {
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        view.backgroundColor = .white
        view.addSubview(SwipeableView())
    }
}

let controller = ViewController()
PlaygroundPage.current.liveView = controller

For Swift 5 it's updated

//Add in ViewDidLoad
let gesture = UISwipeGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(ViewController.handleSwipe))
        gesture.direction = .right
        self.view.addGestureRecognizer(gesture)

//Add New Method
@objc func handleSwipe(sender: UISwipeGestureRecognizer) {
        print("swipe direction is",sender.direction)

    }