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))

Tags:

Ios

Swift

Swift3