UILabel defaults/subclassing question

[develsolutions]

I have a series of Labels that use the same same font, color, etc. and rather than defining a constant and still having to set the properties for each one I would like to have a couple custom labels to choose from. I thought I could do this by subclassing UILabel but I am not having any luck.

Am I way off track here?

Labels.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>


@interface Labels : UILabel {

}

@end

Labels.m

#import "Labels.h"


@implementation Labels


- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
    if (self = [super initWithFrame:frame]) {
     	self.font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"Arial" size:12.0];
		self.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
		self.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
		self.userInteractionEnabled = YES;
		self.textColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
    }
    return self;
}


- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
    // Drawing code
}


- (void)dealloc {
    [super dealloc];
}


@end

In my view controller I try to setup the label like so:

Labels *myLabel = [[Labels alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(15, 190, 130, 20)];
myLabel.text = @"Some text";
myView addSubview:myLabel];

I don't get any compile errors but the label does not appear in the view. Thoughts? Any advice is appreciated.

- Mike

[Duncan C]

Originally Posted by develsolutions

I have a series of Labels that use the same same font, color, etc. and rather than defining a constant and still having to set the properties for each one I would like to have a couple custom labels to choose from. I thought I could do this by subclassing UILabel but I am not having any luck.

Am I way off track here?

Labels.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>


@interface Labels : UILabel {

}

@end

Labels.m

#import "Labels.h"


@implementation Labels


- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
    if (self = [super initWithFrame:frame]) {
     	self.font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"Arial" size:12.0];
		self.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
		self.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
		self.userInteractionEnabled = YES;
		self.textColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
    }
    return self;
}


- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
    // Drawing code
}


- (void)dealloc {
    [super dealloc];
}


@end

In my view controller I try to setup the label like so:

Labels *myLabel = [[Labels alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(15, 190, 130, 20)];
myLabel.text = @"Some text";
myView addSubview:myLabel];

I don't get any compile errors but the label does not appear in the view. Thoughts? Any advice is appreciated.

- Mike

Don't implement a -drawRect method at all, or if you do, just have it call [super drawRect: rect]

Your custom cell isn't doing any custom drawing code, just custom setup.

By having an empty -drawRect method like you do, you're telling the system that your subclass of UILabel will draw itself, and then not doing anything when the system asks one of these objects to draw itself.


Regards,

Duncan C
WareTo

[develsolutions]

Thanks Duncan - that worked great. Much appreciated.

- Mike