Paging UICollectionView by cells, not screen

Question

I have UICollectionView with horizontal scrolling and there are always 2 cells side-by-side per the entire screen. I need the scrolling to stop at the begining of a cell. With paging enabled, the collection view scrolls the whole page, which is 2 cells at once, and then it stops.

I need to enable scrolling by a single cell, or scrolling by multiple cells with stopping at the edge of the cell.

I tried to subclass UICollectionViewFlowLayout and to implement the method targetContentOffsetForProposedContentOffset, but so far I was only able to break my collection view and it stopped scrolling. Is there any easier way to achieve this and how, or do I really need to implement all methods of UICollectionViewFlowLayout subclass? Thanks.

Answer 1

Horizontal Paging With Custom Page Width (Swift 4)

Many solutions presented here result in some weird behaviour that doesn't feel like properly implemented paging.

---

The solution presented in this tutorial, however, doesn't seem to have any issues. It just feels like a perfectly working paging algorithm. You can implement it in 5 simple steps:

1. Add the following property to your type: private var indexOfCellBeforeDragging = 0
2. Set the collectionView delegate like this: collectionView.delegate = self
3. Add conformance to UICollectionViewDelegate via an extension: extension YourType: UICollectionViewDelegate { }

4. Add the following method to the extension implementing the UICollectionViewDelegate conformance and set a value for pageWidth:

   func scrollViewWillBeginDragging(_ scrollView: UIScrollView) {
       let pageWidth = // The width your page should have (plus a possible margin)
       let proportionalOffset = collectionView.contentOffset.x / pageWidth
       indexOfCellBeforeDragging = Int(round(proportionalOffset))
   }
   

5. Add the following method to the extension implementing the UICollectionViewDelegate conformance, set the same value for pageWidth (you may also store this value at a central place) and set a value for collectionViewItemCount:

   func scrollViewWillEndDragging(_ scrollView: UIScrollView, withVelocity velocity: CGPoint, targetContentOffset: UnsafeMutablePointer<CGPoint>) {
       // Stop scrolling
       targetContentOffset.pointee = scrollView.contentOffset
   
       // Calculate conditions
       let pageWidth = // The width your page should have (plus a possible margin)
       let collectionViewItemCount = // The number of items in this section
       let proportionalOffset = collectionView.contentOffset.x / pageWidth
       let indexOfMajorCell = Int(round(proportionalOffset))
       let swipeVelocityThreshold: CGFloat = 0.5
       let hasEnoughVelocityToSlideToTheNextCell = indexOfCellBeforeDragging + 1 < collectionViewItemCount && velocity.x > swipeVelocityThreshold
       let hasEnoughVelocityToSlideToThePreviousCell = indexOfCellBeforeDragging - 1 >= 0 && velocity.x < -swipeVelocityThreshold
       let majorCellIsTheCellBeforeDragging = indexOfMajorCell == indexOfCellBeforeDragging
       let didUseSwipeToSkipCell = majorCellIsTheCellBeforeDragging && (hasEnoughVelocityToSlideToTheNextCell || hasEnoughVelocityToSlideToThePreviousCell)
   
       if didUseSwipeToSkipCell {
           // Animate so that swipe is just continued
           let snapToIndex = indexOfCellBeforeDragging + (hasEnoughVelocityToSlideToTheNextCell ? 1 : -1)
           let toValue = pageWidth * CGFloat(snapToIndex)
           UIView.animate(
               withDuration: 0.3,
               delay: 0,
               usingSpringWithDamping: 1,
               initialSpringVelocity: velocity.x,
               options: .allowUserInteraction,
               animations: {
                   scrollView.contentOffset = CGPoint(x: toValue, y: 0)
                   scrollView.layoutIfNeeded()
               },
               completion: nil
           )
       } else {
           // Pop back (against velocity)
           let indexPath = IndexPath(row: indexOfMajorCell, section: 0)
           collectionView.scrollToItem(at: indexPath, at: .left, animated: true)
       }
   }
   

Answer 2

Kind of like evya's answer, but a little smoother because it doesn't set the targetContentOffset to zero.

- (void)scrollViewWillEndDragging:(UIScrollView *)scrollView withVelocity:(CGPoint)velocity targetContentOffset:(inout CGPoint *)targetContentOffset {
    if ([scrollView isKindOfClass:[UICollectionView class]]) {
        UICollectionView* collectionView = (UICollectionView*)scrollView;
        if ([collectionView.collectionViewLayout isKindOfClass:[UICollectionViewFlowLayout class]]) {
            UICollectionViewFlowLayout* layout = (UICollectionViewFlowLayout*)collectionView.collectionViewLayout;

            CGFloat pageWidth = layout.itemSize.width + layout.minimumInteritemSpacing;
            CGFloat usualSideOverhang = (scrollView.bounds.size.width - pageWidth)/2.0;
            // k*pageWidth - usualSideOverhang = contentOffset for page at index k if k >= 1, 0 if k = 0
            // -> (contentOffset + usualSideOverhang)/pageWidth = k at page stops

            NSInteger targetPage = 0;
            CGFloat currentOffsetInPages = (scrollView.contentOffset.x + usualSideOverhang)/pageWidth;
            targetPage = velocity.x < 0 ? floor(currentOffsetInPages) : ceil(currentOffsetInPages);
            targetPage = MAX(0,MIN(self.projects.count - 1,targetPage));

            *targetContentOffset = CGPointMake(MAX(targetPage*pageWidth - usualSideOverhang,0), 0);
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

This is a straight way to do this.

The case is simple, but finally quite common ( typical thumbnails scroller with fixed cell size and fixed gap between cells )

var itemCellSize: CGSize = <your cell size>
var itemCellsGap: CGFloat = <gap in between>

override func scrollViewWillEndDragging(_ scrollView: UIScrollView, withVelocity velocity: CGPoint, targetContentOffset: UnsafeMutablePointer<CGPoint>) {
    let pageWidth = (itemCellSize.width + itemCellsGap)
    let itemIndex = (targetContentOffset.pointee.x) / pageWidth
    targetContentOffset.pointee.x = round(itemIndex) * pageWidth - (itemCellsGap / 2)
}

// CollectionViewFlowLayoutDelegate

func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, layout collectionViewLayout: UICollectionViewLayout, sizeForItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> CGSize {
    return itemCellSize
}

func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, layout collectionViewLayout: UICollectionViewLayout, minimumLineSpacingForSectionAt section: Int) -> CGFloat {
    return itemCellsGap
}

Note that there is no reason to call a scrollToOffset or dive into layouts. The native scrolling behaviour already does everything.

Cheers All :)

Answer 4

Here is my way to do it by using a UICollectionViewFlowLayout to override the targetContentOffset:

(Although in the end, I end up not using this and use UIPageViewController instead.)

/**
 A UICollectionViewFlowLayout with...
 - paged horizontal scrolling
 - itemSize is the same as the collectionView bounds.size
 */
class PagedFlowLayout: UICollectionViewFlowLayout {

  override init() {
    super.init()
    self.scrollDirection = .horizontal
    self.minimumLineSpacing = 8 // line spacing is the horizontal spacing in horizontal scrollDirection
    self.minimumInteritemSpacing = 0
    if #available(iOS 11.0, *) {
      self.sectionInsetReference = .fromSafeArea // for iPhone X
    }
  }

  required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
    fatalError("not implemented")
  }

  // Note: Setting `minimumInteritemSpacing` here will be too late. Don't do it here.
  override func prepare() {
    super.prepare()
    guard let collectionView = collectionView else { return }
    collectionView.decelerationRate = UIScrollViewDecelerationRateFast // mostly you want it fast!

    let insetedBounds = UIEdgeInsetsInsetRect(collectionView.bounds, self.sectionInset)
    self.itemSize = insetedBounds.size
  }

  // Table: Possible cases of targetContentOffset calculation
  // -------------------------
  // start |          |
  // near  | velocity | end
  // page  |          | page
  // -------------------------
  //   0   | forward  |  1
  //   0   | still    |  0
  //   0   | backward |  0
  //   1   | forward  |  1
  //   1   | still    |  1
  //   1   | backward |  0
  // -------------------------
  override func targetContentOffset( //swiftlint:disable:this cyclomatic_complexity
    forProposedContentOffset proposedContentOffset: CGPoint, withScrollingVelocity velocity: CGPoint) -> CGPoint {

    guard let collectionView = collectionView else { return proposedContentOffset }

    let pageWidth = itemSize.width + minimumLineSpacing
    let currentPage: CGFloat = collectionView.contentOffset.x / pageWidth
    let nearestPage: CGFloat = round(currentPage)
    let isNearPreviousPage = nearestPage < currentPage

    var pageDiff: CGFloat = 0
    let velocityThreshold: CGFloat = 0.5 // can customize this threshold
    if isNearPreviousPage {
      if velocity.x > velocityThreshold {
        pageDiff = 1
      }
    } else {
      if velocity.x < -velocityThreshold {
        pageDiff = -1
      }
    }

    let x = (nearestPage + pageDiff) * pageWidth
    let cappedX = max(0, x) // cap to avoid targeting beyond content
    //print("x:", x, "velocity:", velocity)
    return CGPoint(x: cappedX, y: proposedContentOffset.y)
  }

}

Answer 5

Also you can create fake scroll view to handle scrolling.

Horizontal or Vertical

// === Defaults ===
let bannerSize = CGSize(width: 280, height: 170)
let pageWidth: CGFloat = 290 // ^ + paging
let insetLeft: CGFloat = 20
let insetRight: CGFloat = 20
// ================

var pageScrollView: UIScrollView!

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    // Create fake scrollview to properly handle paging
    pageScrollView = UIScrollView(frame: CGRect(origin: .zero, size: CGSize(width: pageWidth, height: 100)))
    pageScrollView.isPagingEnabled = true
    pageScrollView.alwaysBounceHorizontal = true
    pageScrollView.showsVerticalScrollIndicator = false
    pageScrollView.showsHorizontalScrollIndicator = false
    pageScrollView.delegate = self
    pageScrollView.isHidden = true
    view.insertSubview(pageScrollView, belowSubview: collectionView)

    // Set desired gesture recognizers to the collection view
    for gr in pageScrollView.gestureRecognizers! {
        collectionView.addGestureRecognizer(gr)
    }
}

func scrollViewDidScroll(_ scrollView: UIScrollView) {
    if scrollView == pageScrollView {
        // Return scrolling back to the collection view
        collectionView.contentOffset.x = pageScrollView.contentOffset.x
    }
}

func refreshData() {
    ...

    refreshScroll()
}

override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
    super.viewDidLayoutSubviews()

    refreshScroll()
}

/// Refresh fake scrolling view content size if content changes
func refreshScroll() {
    let w = collectionView.width - bannerSize.width - insetLeft - insetRight
    pageScrollView.contentSize = CGSize(width: pageWidth * CGFloat(banners.count) - w, height: 100)
}

Answer 6

just override the method:

- (void)scrollViewWillEndDragging:(UIScrollView *)scrollView withVelocity:(CGPoint)velocity targetContentOffset:(inout CGPoint *)targetContentOffset {
    *targetContentOffset = scrollView.contentOffset; // set acceleration to 0.0
    float pageWidth = (float)self.articlesCollectionView.bounds.size.width;
    int minSpace = 10;

    int cellToSwipe = (scrollView.contentOffset.x)/(pageWidth + minSpace) + 0.5; // cell width + min spacing for lines
    if (cellToSwipe < 0) {
        cellToSwipe = 0;
    } else if (cellToSwipe >= self.articles.count) {
        cellToSwipe = self.articles.count - 1;
    }
    [self.articlesCollectionView scrollToItemAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:cellToSwipe inSection:0] atScrollPosition:UICollectionViewScrollPositionLeft animated:YES];
}