How to make a bullet list with Swift?
use 2 labels inside a view for the columns. both labels being multulined
class Helper {
static func bulletedList(strings:[String], textColor:UIColor, font:UIFont, bulletColor:UIColor, bulletSize:BulletSize) -> NSAttributedString {
let textAttributesDictionary = [NSFontAttributeName : font, NSForegroundColorAttributeName:textColor]
let bulletAttributesDictionary = [NSFontAttributeName : font.withSize(bulletSize.rawValue), NSForegroundColorAttributeName:bulletColor]
let fullAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString.init()
for string: String in strings
{
let bulletPoint: String = "\u{2022}"
let formattedString: String = "\(bulletPoint) \(string)\n"
let attributedString: NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: formattedString)
let paragraphStyle = createParagraphAttribute()
attributedString.addAttributes([NSParagraphStyleAttributeName: paragraphStyle], range: NSMakeRange(0, attributedString.length))
attributedString.addAttributes(textAttributesDictionary, range: NSMakeRange(0, attributedString.length))
let string:NSString = NSString(string: formattedString)
let rangeForBullet:NSRange = string.range(of: bulletPoint)
attributedString.addAttributes(bulletAttributesDictionary, range: rangeForBullet)
fullAttributedString.append(attributedString)
}
return fullAttributedString
}
static func createParagraphAttribute() -> NSParagraphStyle {
var paragraphStyle: NSMutableParagraphStyle
paragraphStyle = NSParagraphStyle.default.mutableCopy() as! NSMutableParagraphStyle
paragraphStyle.tabStops = [NSTextTab(textAlignment: .left, location: 15, options: NSDictionary() as! [String : AnyObject])]
paragraphStyle.defaultTabInterval = 15
paragraphStyle.firstLineHeadIndent = 0
paragraphStyle.lineSpacing = 3
paragraphStyle.headIndent = 10
return paragraphStyle
}
}
and simply use Helper.bulletedList
to create your bulletted list as Attributed text for the label
I was not happy with the solutions above. So here is a Swifty function to get a bullet point list:
func bulletPointList(strings: [String]) -> NSAttributedString {
let paragraphStyle = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
paragraphStyle.headIndent = 15
paragraphStyle.minimumLineHeight = 22
paragraphStyle.maximumLineHeight = 22
paragraphStyle.tabStops = [NSTextTab(textAlignment: .left, location: 15)]
let stringAttributes = [
NSAttributedString.Key.font: regularSystem(size: 22),
NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: UIColor.black,
NSAttributedString.Key.paragraphStyle: paragraphStyle
]
let string = strings.map({ "•\t\($0)" }).joined(separator: "\n")
return NSAttributedString(string: string,
attributes: stringAttributes)
}
And this is how you use it:
label.numberOfLines = 0
label.attributedText = bulletPointList(strings: ["Foo", "Bar", "Lol"])
For Swift 5, you can use this class:
class NSAttributedStringHelper {
static func createBulletedList(fromStringArray strings: [String], font: UIFont? = nil) -> NSAttributedString {
let fullAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString()
let attributesDictionary: [NSAttributedString.Key: Any]
if let font = font {
attributesDictionary = [NSAttributedString.Key.font: font]
} else {
attributesDictionary = [NSAttributedString.Key: Any]()
}
for index in 0..<strings.count {
let bulletPoint: String = "\u{2022}"
var formattedString: String = "\(bulletPoint) \(strings[index])"
if index < strings.count - 1 {
formattedString = "\(formattedString)\n"
}
let attributedString: NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: formattedString, attributes: attributesDictionary)
let paragraphStyle = NSAttributedStringHelper.createParagraphAttribute()
attributedString.addAttributes([NSAttributedString.Key.paragraphStyle: paragraphStyle], range: NSMakeRange(0, attributedString.length))
fullAttributedString.append(attributedString)
}
return fullAttributedString
}
private static func createParagraphAttribute() -> NSParagraphStyle {
let paragraphStyle: NSMutableParagraphStyle = NSParagraphStyle.default.mutableCopy() as! NSMutableParagraphStyle
paragraphStyle.tabStops = [NSTextTab(textAlignment: .left, location: 15, options: NSDictionary() as! [NSTextTab.OptionKey : Any])]
paragraphStyle.defaultTabInterval = 15
paragraphStyle.firstLineHeadIndent = 0
paragraphStyle.headIndent = 11
return paragraphStyle
}
}
To use it:
let stringArray = ["first row", "second row", "third row"]
label.attributedText = NSAttributedStringHelper.createBulletedList(fromStringArray: stringArray, font: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 15))