Swift 4: Add View on top of all controllers

Question

Conditions:

Swift 4, Xcode 9.3
Target: iOS 11.3
UI Done Programatically
Using Constraints
My Root View Controller is a Navigation

Situation:

I wanted to float an audio player that will be visible throughout the app. I did an AudioPlayer.swift class that contains the user interface of the audio player.

AudioPlayer.swift

import Foundation
import UIKit
import FRadioPlayer

class AudioPlayer: UIView {

    let screenSize: CGRect = UIScreen.main.bounds

    let playerImage: UIImageView = {
        let iv = UIImageView()
        iv.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        iv.contentMode = .scaleAspectFill
        iv.layer.masksToBounds = true

        return iv
    }()

    let playerTitle: UILabel = {
        let l = UILabel()
        l.textColor = .darkGray
        l.font = UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 13)
        l.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false

        return l
    }()

    let playerSeriesTitle: UILabel = {
        let l = UILabel()
        l.textColor = .darkGray
        l.font = UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 12)
        l.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false

        return l
    }()

    override init(frame: CGRect) {
        super.init(frame: frame)
        translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        setupAudioControls()
    }

    private func setupAudioControls(){

        let appDelegate = AppDelegate.sharedInstance
        self.backgroundColor = UIColor.init(hex: "#EBE4D3")

        self.addSubview(playerImage)
        self.addSubview(playerTitle)
        self.addSubview(playerSeriesTitle)

        self.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 150).isActive = true
        self.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: appDelegate().rootView ).isActive = true
        self.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.safeAreaLayoutGuide.leadingAnchor).isActive = true
        self.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.safeAreaLayoutGuide.trailingAnchor).isActive = true

        playerImage.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.topAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
        playerImage.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.leadingAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
        playerImage.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 55).isActive = true
        playerImage.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 55).isActive = true

        playerTitle.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.topAnchor, constant: 5).isActive = true
        playerTitle.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: playerImage.trailingAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
        playerTitle.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.trailingAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
        playerTitle.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 25).isActive = true

        playerSeriesTitle.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: playerTitle.topAnchor, constant: 20).isActive = true
        playerSeriesTitle.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: playerImage.trailingAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
        playerSeriesTitle.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.trailingAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
        playerSeriesTitle.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 20).isActive = true

        UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.5, animations: {
            self.frame.origin.y -= 150
            self.playerImage.frame.origin.y -= 150
            self.playerTitle.frame.origin.y -= 150
            self.playerSeriesTitle.frame.origin.y -= 150
        }, completion: nil)


        self.setNeedsLayout()
        self.reloadInputViews()
    }
}

Problem:

How can I add this to the Root View Controller to stay on top in all view controllers that I have in my app? Wherever I navigate, the player must stay on the bottom part of every controller. As you can see, I need a reference to the rootviewcontroller to set the contraints for the AudioPlayer but I failed in so many attempts (like calling the rootviewcontroller using AppDelegate)

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34777558/in-ios-how-do-i-create-a-button-that-is-always-on-top-of-all-other-view-control — tuledev, May 09 '18 at 04:49
can take a look here https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38646483/show-music-player-on-bottom-of-every-view-ios/38647816#38647816 — Ratul Sharker, May 09 '18 at 04:54

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 09 '18 at 04:58

I update it for you

add singleton static let shared = AudioPlayer()
add public func showAudioPlayer () --> to display Audio player
add as subview to UIApplication.shared.keyWindow?
TODO- add HideAudioPlayer()

Use like this

 AudioPlayer.shared.showAudioPlayer()

Here is updated code

import Foundation
import UIKit

class AudioPlayer: UIView {


    static let shared = AudioPlayer()

    let screenSize: CGRect = UIScreen.main.bounds

    let playerImage: UIImageView = {
        let iv = UIImageView()
        iv.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        iv.contentMode = .scaleAspectFill
        iv.layer.masksToBounds = true

        return iv
    }()

    let playerTitle: UILabel = {
        let l = UILabel()
        l.textColor = .darkGray
        l.font = UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 13)
        l.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false

        return l
    }()

    let playerSeriesTitle: UILabel = {
        let l = UILabel()
        l.textColor = .darkGray
        l.font = UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 12)
        l.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false

        return l
    }()

    override init(frame: CGRect) {
        super.init(frame: frame)
        translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
       // setupAudioControls()
    }

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

     public func showAudioPlayer (){
        self.setupAudioControls()
    }

    private func setupAudioControls(){

        self.backgroundColor = .red

        self.addSubview(playerImage)
        self.addSubview(playerTitle)
        self.addSubview(playerSeriesTitle)
        UIApplication.shared.keyWindow?.addSubview(self)

        if let  layoutGuide  = UIApplication.shared.keyWindow?.layoutMarginsGuide {
            self.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 150).isActive = true
            self.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: layoutGuide.bottomAnchor ).isActive = true
            self.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: layoutGuide.leadingAnchor).isActive = true
            self.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: layoutGuide.trailingAnchor).isActive = true
        }


        playerImage.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.topAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
        playerImage.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.leadingAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
        playerImage.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 55).isActive = true
        playerImage.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 55).isActive = true

        playerTitle.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.topAnchor, constant: 5).isActive = true
        playerTitle.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: playerImage.trailingAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
        playerTitle.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.trailingAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
        playerTitle.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 25).isActive = true

        playerSeriesTitle.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: playerTitle.topAnchor, constant: 20).isActive = true
        playerSeriesTitle.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: playerImage.trailingAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
        playerSeriesTitle.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.trailingAnchor, constant: 10).isActive = true
        playerSeriesTitle.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 20).isActive = true

        UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.5, animations: {
            self.frame.origin.y -= 150
            self.playerImage.frame.origin.y -= 150
            self.playerTitle.frame.origin.y -= 150
            self.playerSeriesTitle.frame.origin.y -= 150
        }, completion: nil)


        self.setNeedsLayout()
        self.reloadInputViews()
    }
}

It worked. This is the most detailed answer. But there's a catch, 1) stretch to the side edges of the screen? 2) I'm using SideMenu from cocoapods, everytime I switch to another menu, my audio player disappears. — ruelluna, May 09 '18 at 05:25
don't worry from this catch because your code excuted after window.makeKeyAndVisible() — Abdelahad Darwish, May 09 '18 at 05:28
I solved the edges of the screen using `safeAreaLayoutGuide` instead of `layoutMarginsGuide`. — ruelluna, May 09 '18 at 05:32
Have you used [SideMenu](https://github.com/jonkykong/SideMenu)? Whenever I switch to another View Controller, my audioplayer dissapears. — ruelluna, May 09 '18 at 05:36
will check for you may be you need to add change `Zposition` — Abdelahad Darwish, May 09 '18 at 05:38
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/170648/discussion-between-ruelluna-and-abdelahad-darwish). — ruelluna, May 09 '18 at 05:39

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 09 '18 at 04:48

1

If you want to show view in each view controller then as per view hierarchy you must have to add in UIWindow. UIWindow is base of all screen.

AppDelegate.shared.window?.addSubview(AudioPlayer)

answered May 09 '18 at 04:48

Rakesh Patel

1,673
10
27

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 09 '18 at 04:50

You can add your view to UIWindow. I am doing the same thing with below method in AppDelegate.

var window: UIWindow?

func addPlayerViewAtBottom()  {
  var bottomView : PlayerBottomView!
  bottomView = PlayerBottomView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: UIScreen.main.bounds.size.height - 60, width: UIScreen.main.bounds.width, height: 60))
  self.window?.addSubview(bottomView)
  self.window?.bringSubview(toFront: bottomView)
}

Swift 4: Add View on top of all controllers

3 Answers3