Is there a way to make gradient background color i

Question

For my application I'm using a TableView and using customized UITableViewCells.

I customized my cells via interface builder, not programmatically. Is there a way to also make the background color of my customized cell a gradient in the interface builder?

Thanks.

Answer 1

To draw a gradient, you will have to subclass and override the drawRect programmatically:

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect
{
    CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();

    CGContextSaveGState(context);
    CGColorSpaceRef colorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
    CGGradientRef gradient = CGGradientCreateWithColorComponents
                             (colorSpace,
                              (const CGFloat[8]){1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f},
                              (const CGFloat[2]){0.0f,1.0f},
                              2);

    CGContextDrawLinearGradient(context,
                                gradient,
                                CGPointMake(CGRectGetMidX(self.bounds), CGRectGetMinY(self.bounds)),
                                CGPointMake(CGRectGetMidX(self.bounds), CGRectGetMaxY(self.bounds)),
                                0);

    CGColorSpaceRelease(colorSpace);
    CGContextRestoreGState(context);
}

The easiest way, which keeps your cells in the interface builder, is probably to subclass a UIView to have it draw a gradient in its drawRect and place it in your cell behind the other subviews:

GradientView *gradientView = [[GradientView alloc] init];
gradientView.frame = cell.bounds;
[cell addSubview:gradientView];
[cell sendSubviewToBack:gradientView];

However, the best way to do it is probably not to use the interface builder for this and make a subclass of UITableViewCell. For advanced customization, interface builders tend to only make things more complicated in my experience. That's up to personal preference though.

Answer 2

This works for Swift 3.0: (Updated for Swift 4.0)

@IBDesignable
final class GradientView: UIView {
    @IBInspectable var startColor: UIColor = UIColor.clear
    @IBInspectable var endColor: UIColor = UIColor.clear

    override func draw(_ rect: CGRect) {
        let gradient: CAGradientLayer = CAGradientLayer()
        gradient.frame = CGRect(x: CGFloat(0),
                                y: CGFloat(0),
                                width: superview!.frame.size.width,
                                height: superview!.frame.size.height)
        gradient.colors = [startColor.cgColor, endColor.cgColor]
        gradient.zPosition = -1
        layer.addSublayer(gradient)
    }
}

Answer 3

Yes this is possible : Make a image in gradient with 1 X Height pix. Set this to backgroundColor for cell.

cell.backgroundColor =  [UIColor colorWithPatternImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"gradImage.png"]];

**You can set gradient color with code but its time taken process. If you fill better then search for that.

Answer 4

I don't know if there is a gradient option, but you could add an UIImageView to the custom cell and add an image with a gradient.

Answer 5

No, you can't. You could use UISegmentedControl with one segment in older sdk and xCode versions: http://chris-software.com/index.php/2009/05/13/creating-a-nice-glass-buttons/ But now you can't make less than two segments in one UISegmentedControl. And even this way you couldn't change the default colors of the buttons without coding.

Answer 6

answer by etayluz works fine but I added a couple changes:

1. Gradient size defined by own layer bounds, not the superview.

2. Remove Gradient layer on every draw, so that it does not keep drawing and adding a new layer when redraw is necessary (for instance by calling .setNeedsDisplay() on rotation).

   @IBDesignable final class MFGradientView: UIView {
   
       @IBInspectable var startColor: UIColor = UIColor.clear
       @IBInspectable var endColor: UIColor = UIColor.clear
   
       override func draw(_ rect: CGRect) {
          layer.sublayers?.first?.removeFromSuperlayer()
   
          let gradient: CAGradientLayer = CAGradientLayer()
          gradient.frame = CGRect(origin: CGPoint.zero, size: self.bounds.size)
          gradient.colors = [startColor.cgColor, endColor.cgColor]
          layer.insertSublayer(gradient, at: 0)
       }
   }