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Disclaimers: I am new to iOS coming from Android; I don't know Objective-C very well, but I have learned Swift and am comfortable with it; I have been through a couple of months of iOS tutorials, so I'm not totally in the dark.

I am trying to replicate the Android Gmail app's behavior for my own application. Basically, in the main presentation, there is a thin, vertical icon strip to the left and a detail view to the right. However, as you swipe the detail view left to right, the icon strip becomes a full slide-out panel. The best feature (IMHO) is, as you slide, the icon strip fades out as the slide-out panel fades in.

I have tried the SWRevealViewController which gets me about half way there. I can get the icon strip next to the detail view. However, 1) When you swipe right-to-left to un-reveal the slide-out panel it will allow you to completely swipe over to the left edge instead of stopping at the rear view reveal width and 2) I don't know how to replace the icon strip with the slide-out panel.

So, I thought I'd build my own container controller, both because what I think I'm trying to do is just awkward enough to make bending the SWRevealController hackish (maybe not?) and also because I want to learn the things I am able to do easily in Android in iOS (not meant to be derogatory). (Also, this is NOT the root view of the application so I think the split container is not applicable).

Where I got stuck was something I thought I'd figure out with a couple of Googles. In a container controller, can you size the views of the contained view controllers? If so, when? How?

Am I thinking about this the wrong way? Is there a lifecycle method that child view controllers use to size themselves based on their parent's size (frame)? I can't find an example of that, but I've seen some references to using viewWillAppear to size views. Is that the key?

I'd love for someone to point me at how the layout mechanisms work in iOS. Or, if it's possible, how to make the SWRevealViewController do what I'm looking for (especially preventing the right-to-left swipe from obscuring the icon strip.

This is a special needs application, so there are some deliberate layouts I think are necessary that, perhaps, could be done another way for typical users.

Oh, and Swift code would be preferable, but I can at least read Objective-C if necessary.

Thanks! peter

psparago
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  • It's not clear what your confusion is. You size the view of the child view controller just like you do for any other view by setting its frame or setting up layout constraints. You do this when you add the child's view as a subview to the parent's view (or some subview). You can also do it in a storyboard, by dragging in a container view, and sizing it with constraints; this automatically sizes the child view controller to be the same size as the container view. – rdelmar Jan 27 '15 at 01:38
  • Thank you for your reply @rdelmar. Confusion may not be the right word. Overwhelmed maybe? :-) Being a visual learner, I'd love to see some example code (Swift or Obj-C) that does basic container controller layout management. SWRevealController is a little too generalized (using advanced Objective-C) for me to follow easily. – psparago Jan 27 '15 at 21:12

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