UIView with a Dashed line

Question

What I have:

To create this line, I basically have an UIView and I do the following:

void setLayerToLineFromAToB(CALayer *layer, CGPoint a, CGPoint b, CGFloat lineWidth)
{
    CGPoint center = { 0.5 * (a.x + b.x), 0.5 * (a.y + b.y) };
    CGFloat length = sqrt((a.x - b.x) * (a.x - b.x) + (a.y - b.y) * (a.y - b.y));
    CGFloat angle = atan2(a.y - b.y, a.x - b.x);

    layer.position = center;
    layer.bounds = (CGRect) { {0, 0}, { length + lineWidth, lineWidth } };
    layer.transform = CATransform3DMakeRotation(angle, 0, 0, 1);
}

Note: This code was found here on stackoverflow, so if someone can give me the reference to it I would appreciate.

What I want:

Ok so the "only" thing I need is to create this pattern on the UIView. I know I am able to do this using Quartz2D (a simple way to do it can be found here). But I want to do it by manipulating the CALayer and not going to to the draw method. Why? Because of the transformation I am making on my UIView, I am not able to draw correctly using the draw method.

Edit 1:

Just to illustrate my problem:

Normally what you have is UIView and then you basically just draw something in it (in this case a simple line). The solution I found to get rid of the "gray" area, was to instead of drawing something, just transform the UIView itself. It work well, if you want a fully filled line, the problem comes when you want a dashed one.

Answer 1

The accepted answer has a coordinate problem. The line will be drawn some distance below. And I cannot figure out why and how much distance it increases on Y coordinate.

There's a way to draw a dashed line with correct coordinate:

-(void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect
{
     CGContextBeginPath(cx);
     CGContextRef cx = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
     CGContextSetLineWidth(cx, _thickness);
     CGContextSetStrokeColorWithColor(cx, _color.CGColor);

     CGFloat dash[] = {_dashedLength,_dashedGap};
     CGContextSetLineDash(cx, 0, dash, 2); // nb "2" == ra count
//    CGContextSetLineCap(cx, kCGLineCapRound);

     CGContextMoveToPoint(cx, 0, _thickness);
     CGContextAddLineToPoint(cx, self.bounds.size.width, _thickness);
     CGContextStrokePath(cx);
     CGContextClosePath(cx);
}

This answer is from Draw dotted (not dashed!) line, with IBDesignable in 2017. DON'T DON'T DON'T forget to set the background color as white when you want a black dashed line!! By default the view has a black background color, and the line color is also black, so I thought it was a solid line. It cost me half a day to find out. T_T

Answer 2

Swift 2.2

dropping this in here to save others time..

extension UIView {
    func addDashedLine(color: UIColor = UIColor.lightGrayColor()) {
        layer.sublayers?.filter({ $0.name == "DashedTopLine" }).map({ $0.removeFromSuperlayer() })
        self.backgroundColor = UIColor.clearColor()
        let cgColor = color.CGColor

        let shapeLayer: CAShapeLayer = CAShapeLayer()
        let frameSize = self.frame.size
        let shapeRect = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: frameSize.width, height: frameSize.height)

        shapeLayer.name = "DashedTopLine"
        shapeLayer.bounds = shapeRect
        shapeLayer.position = CGPoint(x: frameSize.width / 2, y: frameSize.height / 2)
        shapeLayer.fillColor = UIColor.clearColor().CGColor
        shapeLayer.strokeColor = cgColor
        shapeLayer.lineWidth = 1
        shapeLayer.lineJoin = kCALineJoinRound
        shapeLayer.lineDashPattern = [4, 4]

        let path: CGMutablePathRef = CGPathCreateMutable()
        CGPathMoveToPoint(path, nil, 0, 0)
        CGPathAddLineToPoint(path, nil, self.frame.width, 0)
        shapeLayer.path = path

        self.layer.addSublayer(shapeLayer)
    }
}

Answer 3

Note: The code from Prince did really help me out, so I will give him +10 for the tips. But in the end, I add to come with my own code. I will also add some context to it, so it can be useful for future readers

---

The final code was like this:

-(void)updateLine{

      // Important, otherwise we will be adding multiple sub layers
      if ([[[self layer] sublayers] objectAtIndex:0])
        {
            self.layer.sublayers = nil;
        }

        CAShapeLayer *shapeLayer = [CAShapeLayer layer];
        [shapeLayer setBounds:self.bounds];
        [shapeLayer setPosition:self.center];
        [shapeLayer setFillColor:[[UIColor clearColor] CGColor]];
        [shapeLayer setStrokeColor:[[UIColor blackColor] CGColor]];
        [shapeLayer setLineWidth:3.0f];
        [shapeLayer setLineJoin:kCALineJoinRound];
        [shapeLayer setLineDashPattern:
        [NSArray arrayWithObjects:[NSNumber numberWithInt:10],
        [NSNumber numberWithInt:5],nil]];

        // Setup the path
        CGMutablePathRef path = CGPathCreateMutable();
        CGPathMoveToPoint(path, NULL, beginPoint.center.x, beginPoint.center.y);
        CGPathAddLineToPoint(path, NULL, endPoint.center.x, endPoint.center.y);

        [shapeLayer setPath:path];
        CGPathRelease(path);

        [[self layer] addSublayer:shapeLayer];
}

In my case, the beginPoint and endPoint are movable by the user, by using KVO. So when one of them moves:

-(void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath ofObject:(id)object change:(NSDictionary *)change context:(void *)context
{
    if ([keyPath isEqual:@"position"])
    {
        [self updateLine];
    }
}

I did play a lot with Prince's code. I tried on the draw: method, which add a thin line between the dashed line (a bit weird...) and I also tried on initWithFrame:. By itself his code, without any modifications, would give me this kind of errors on the console:

<Error>: CGContextSaveGState: invalid context 0x0
<Error>: CGContextSetLineWidth: invalid context 0x0
<Error>: CGContextSetLineJoin: invalid context 0x0
<Error>: CGContextSetLineCap: invalid context 0x0
<Error>: CGContextSetMiterLimit: invalid context 0x0
<Error>: CGContextSetFlatness: invalid context 0x0
<Error>: CGContextAddPath: invalid context 0x0
<Error>: CGContextDrawPath: invalid context 0x0
<Error>: CGContextRestoreGState: invalid context 0x0

Answer 4

Dash Line in Swift4 • Xcode 9

Crate a CAShapeLayer & use lineDashPattern

extension UIView {

    func addDashedBorder() {
        //Create a CAShapeLayer
        let shapeLayer = CAShapeLayer()
        shapeLayer.strokeColor = UIColor.red.cgColor
        shapeLayer.lineWidth = 2
        // passing an array with the values [2,3] sets a dash pattern that alternates between a 2-user-space-unit-long painted segment and a 3-user-space-unit-long unpainted segment
        shapeLayer.lineDashPattern = [2,3]

        let path = CGMutablePath()
        path.addLines(between: [CGPoint(x: 0, y: 0),
                                CGPoint(x: self.frame.width, y: 0)])
        shapeLayer.path = path
        layer.addSublayer(shapeLayer)
    }
}

Usage:

dashView.addDashedBorder()

Output:

Answer 5

First all the credit goes to RuiAAPeres and Prince, I'm just encapsulating their answers into a UIView object that others can drop into their projects and use

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

/**
 *  Simple UIView for a dotted line
 */
@interface H3DottedLine : UIView

/**
 *  Set the line's thickness
 */
@property (nonatomic, assign) CGFloat thickness;

/**
 *  Set the line's color
 */
@property (nonatomic, copy) UIColor *color;

/**
 *  Set the length of the dash
 */
@property (nonatomic, assign) CGFloat dashedLength;

/**
 *  Set the gap between dashes
 */
@property (nonatomic, assign) CGFloat dashedGap;

@end




@implementation H3DottedLine

#pragma mark - Object Lifecycle

- (instancetype)init {
    self = [super init];

    if (self) {
        // Set Default Values
        _thickness = 1.0f;
        _color = [UIColor whiteColor];
        _dashedGap = 1.0f;
        _dashedLength = 5.0f;
    }

    return self;
}

#pragma mark - View Lifecycle

- (void)layoutSubviews {
    // Note, this object draws a straight line. If you wanted the line at an angle you simply need to adjust the start and/or end point here.
    [self updateLineStartingAt:self.frame.origin andEndPoint:CGPointMake(self.frame.origin.x+self.frame.size.width, self.frame.origin.y)];
}

#pragma mark - Setters

- (void)setThickness:(CGFloat)thickness {
    _thickness = thickness;
    [self setNeedsLayout];
}

- (void)setColor:(UIColor *)color {
    _color = [color copy];
    [self setNeedsLayout];
}

- (void)setDashedGap:(CGFloat)dashedGap {
    _dashedGap = dashedGap;
    [self setNeedsLayout];
}

- (void)setDashedLength:(CGFloat)dashedLength {
    _dashedLength = dashedLength;
    [self setNeedsLayout];
}

#pragma mark - Draw Methods

-(void)updateLineStartingAt:(CGPoint)beginPoint andEndPoint:(CGPoint)endPoint {

    // Important, otherwise we will be adding multiple sub layers
    if ([[[self layer] sublayers] objectAtIndex:0]) {
        self.layer.sublayers = nil;
    }

    CAShapeLayer *shapeLayer = [CAShapeLayer layer];
    [shapeLayer setBounds:self.bounds];
    [shapeLayer setPosition:self.center];
    [shapeLayer setFillColor:[UIColor clearColor].CGColor];
    [shapeLayer setStrokeColor:self.color.CGColor];
    [shapeLayer setLineWidth:self.thickness];
    [shapeLayer setLineJoin:kCALineJoinRound];
    [shapeLayer setLineDashPattern:@[@(self.dashedLength), @(self.dashedGap)]];

    // Setup the path
    CGMutablePathRef path = CGPathCreateMutable();
    CGPathMoveToPoint(path, NULL, beginPoint.x, beginPoint.y);
    CGPathAddLineToPoint(path, NULL, endPoint.x, endPoint.y);

    [shapeLayer setPath:path];
    CGPathRelease(path);

    [[self layer] addSublayer:shapeLayer];
}

@end

Answer 6

Here is Swift 3 version of Alexandre G's answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/38194152/1800489

extension UIView {

        func addDashedLine(color: UIColor = .lightGray) {
            layer.sublayers?.filter({ $0.name == "DashedTopLine" }).map({ $0.removeFromSuperlayer() })
            backgroundColor = .clear

            let shapeLayer = CAShapeLayer()
            shapeLayer.name = "DashedTopLine"
            shapeLayer.bounds = bounds
            shapeLayer.position = CGPoint(x: frame.width / 2, y: frame.height / 2)
            shapeLayer.fillColor = UIColor.clear.cgColor
            shapeLayer.strokeColor = color.cgColor
            shapeLayer.lineWidth = 1
            shapeLayer.lineJoin = kCALineJoinRound
            shapeLayer.lineDashPattern = [4, 4]

            let path = CGMutablePath()
            path.move(to: CGPoint.zero)
            path.addLine(to: CGPoint(x: frame.width, y: 0))
            shapeLayer.path = path

            layer.addSublayer(shapeLayer)
        }
}