It's not a secret that NSAttributedString API is far from perfect. Based on NSDictionary, it looks ugly, counter-OOP and hard to maintain...
NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:@"Test attributed string" attributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor greenColor], NSFontAttributeName: [fnt fontWithSize:20]}]; [attributedString addAttributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor redColor] , NSFontAttributeName: [fnt2 fontWithSize:10] , NSLigatureAttributeName: @2 , NSBaselineOffsetAttributeName: @1} range:NSMakeRange(3, 5)]; [attributedString addAttributes:@{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor blueColor] , NSFontAttributeName: [fnt2 fontWithSize:30]} range:NSMakeRange(6, 9)]; [attributedString addAttributes:@{NSStrikethroughStyleAttributeName: @(NSUnderlineStyleSingle) , NSStrikethroughColorAttributeName: [UIColor redColor] , NSBackgroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor yellowColor]} range:NSMakeRange(7, 4)]; _attributedTextView2.attributedText = attributedString;
Some developers get really desperate and write tools like this... Which again proves that NSAttributedString API is far from perfect.
I love masonry. I love its clarity, its syntax. If you are using autolayout in your project and still write constraints using NSLayoutConstraint API, you should definitely take a look at masonry. Clear and very brief syntax makes code much more human readable, easy to maintain and modify.
So, based on masonry syntax, I decided to create a similar framework, which will take away some pain of creating NSAttributedString:
NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString = [@"Test attributed string" bos_makeString:^(BOStringMaker *make) { make.foregroundColor([UIColor greenColor]); make.font([fnt fontWithSize:20]); make.with.range(NSMakeRange(3, 5), ^{ make.foregroundColor([UIColor redColor]); make.font([fnt2 fontWithSize:10]); make.ligature(@2); make.baselineOffset(@1); }); make.with.range(NSMakeRange(6, 9), ^{ make.foregroundColor([UIColor blueColor]); make.font([fnt2 fontWithSize:30]); }); make.with.range(NSMakeRange(7, 4), ^{ make.strikethroughStyle(@(NSUnderlineStyleSingle)); make.strikethroughColor([UIColor redColor]); make.backgroundColor([UIColor yellowColor]); }); }];
While making a string you can specify ranges for attributes either with a block-based syntax as in the example above:
make.with.range(NSMakeRange(6, 9), ^{ make.foregroundColor([UIColor blueColor]); make.font([fnt2 fontWithSize:30]); });
or set range for a specific attribute (with is an optional semantic filler):
make.foregroundColor([UIColor blueColor]).with.range(NSRange(6, 9)); make.font([fnt2 fontWithSize:30]).range(NSRange(6, 9));
If you don't specify range, full range of string will be used.
Which attributes BOString supports? It supports a lot of them:
font; paragraphStyle; foregroundColor; backgroundColor; ligature; kern; strikethroughStyle; underlineStyle; strokeColor; strokeWidth; shadow; textEffect; // iOS only attachment; link; baselineOffset; underlineColor; strikethroughColor; obliqueness; expansion; writingDirection; verticalGlyphForm; superscript; // OS X only cursor; // OS X only toolTip; // OS X only characterShape; // OS X only glyphInfo; // OS X only markedClauseSegment; // OS X only textAlternatives; // OS X only
Indeed, there are many CoreText attributes that are not defined as methods. I.e. kCTLanguageAttributeName, kCTCharacterShapeAttributeName, kCTBaselineClassAttributeName, etc. In this case you may use attribute method:
make.attribute(kCTLanguageAttributeName, @"jp");
A couple of substring attribute setters. Set attributes for a first substring found:
NSAttributedString *result = [@"This is a string" bos_makeString:^(BOStringMaker *make) { make.first.substring(@"is", ^{ make.foregroundColor([UIColor greenColor]); }); }];
or highlight every substring:
NSAttributedString *result = [@"This is a string" bos_makeString:^(BOStringMaker *make) { make.each.substring(@"is", ^{ make.foregroundColor([UIColor greenColor]); }); }];
You can also apply attributes using regular expressions:
NSAttributedString *result = [@"This is a string" bos_makeString:^(BOStringMaker *make) { make.each.regexpMatch(@"\\ws", NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive, ^{ make.foregroundColor([UIColor greenColor]); }); }];
Or regular expressions with groups matching:
NSAttributedString *result = [@"This is a string" bos_makeString:^(BOStringMaker *make) { make.first.regexpGroup(@"[^h](i\\w)\\s(\\w*)", NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive, ^{ make.foregroundColor([UIColor greenColor]); }); }];
In order to avoid conflicts with any other frameworks, bos_ prefix is used for category methods. However shorthand methods without this prefix could be used if you add #define BOS_SHORTHAND in your prefix.pch file before importing BOString.h.
Documentation in HTML is available here or on cocoadocs.org.
- iOS 6.0 and later.
- OS X Mavericks (10.9) and later.
Should work fine on iOS 4.3+ and OS X 10.5+ (except of several attributes), but I haven't had a chance to test it.
The easiest way is to use CocoaPods:
In your Podfile
pod 'BOString'
and import it in a file you want to make strings like a boss:
#import "Bostring.h"
Feel free to submit pull requests into a separate branch. Please don't submit pull requests to master.
BOString is released under the MIT License.