SnapKit/README.md

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	<img src="http://snapkit.io/images/logo_2x.png" width="539" height="128" alt="SnapKit" />
</div>

====

[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/SnapKit/SnapKit.svg)](https://travis-ci.org/SnapKit/SnapKit)

SnapKit is a light-weight layout framework which wraps AutoLayout with a nicer syntax. SnapKit has its own layout DSL which provides a chainable way of describing your NSLayoutConstraints which results in layout code that is more concise and readable. SnapKit supports both iOS and OS X.

> SnapKit uses some Swift-only features like function overloading, so it cannot be used from Objective-C. Because of this we’ve chosen to swap prefixes from Masonry’s `mas_` to `snp_` so you can use both Masonry and SnapKit in the same project.

## Requirements

* iOS 7.0+ / Mac OS X 10.9+
* Xcode 6.1

## Installation

> **Embedded frameworks require a minimum deployment target of iOS 8 or OS X Mavericks.**

### CocoaPods

[CocoaPods](http://cocoapods.org) is a dependency manager for Cocoa projects.

CocoaPods 0.36 adds supports for Swift and embedded frameworks. You can install it with the following command:

```bash
$ gem install cocoapods
```

To integrate SnapKit into your Xcode project using CocoaPods, specify it in your `Podfile`:

```ruby
source 'https://github.com/CocoaPods/Specs.git'
platform :ios, '8.0'
use_frameworks!

pod 'SnapKit', '~> 0.10.0'
```

Then, run the following command:

```bash
$ pod install
```

### Carthage

Carthage is a decentralized dependency manager that automates the process of adding frameworks to your Cocoa application.

You can install Carthage with [Homebrew](http://brew.sh/) using the following command:

```bash
$ brew update
$ brew install carthage
```

To integrate SnapKit into your Xcode project using Carthage, specify it in your `Cartfile`:

```
github "SnapKit/SnapKit" >= 0.10.0
```

### Manually

If you prefer not to use either of the aforementioned dependency managers, you can integrate SnapKit into your project manually.

### Embedded Framework

- Add SnapKit as a [submodule](http://git-scm.com/docs/git-submodule) by opening the Terminal, `cd`-ing into your top-level project directory, and entering the following command:

```bash
$ git submodule add https://github.com/SnapKit/SnapKit.git
```

- Open the `SnapKit` folder, and drag `SnapKit.xcodeproj` into the file navigator of your app project.
- In Xcode, navigate to the target configuration window by clicking on the blue project icon, and selecting the application target under the "Targets" heading in the sidebar.
- Ensure that the deployment target of SnapKit.framework matches that of the application target.
- In the tab bar at the top of that window, open the "Build Phases" panel.
- Expand the "Target Dependencies" group, and add `SnapKit.framework`.
- Click on the `+` button at the top left of the panel and select "New Copy Files Phase". Rename this new phase to "Copy Frameworks", set the "Destination" to "Frameworks", and add `SnapKit.framework`.

## What's wrong with NSLayoutConstraints?

Under the hood Auto Layout is a powerful and flexible way of organising and laying out your views. However creating constraints from code is verbose and not very descriptive.
Imagine a simple example in which you want to have a view fill its superview but inset by 10 pixels on every side
```swift
let superview = self;

let view1 = UIView()
view1.setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints(false)
view1.backgroundColor = UIColor.greenColor()
superview.addSubview(view1)

let padding = UIEdgeInsetsMake(10, 10, 10, 10)

superview.addConstraints([
  NSLayoutConstraint(
    item: view1,
    attribute: NSLayoutAttribute.Top,
    relatedBy: NSLayoutRelation.Equal,
    toItem: superview,
    attribute: NSLayoutAttribute.Top,
    multiplier: 1.0,
    constant: padding.top
  ),
  NSLayoutConstraint(
    item: view1,
    attribute: NSLayoutAttribute.Left,
    relatedBy: NSLayoutRelation.Equal,
    toItem: superview,
    attribute: NSLayoutAttribute.Left,
    multiplier: 1.0,
    constant: padding.left
  ),
  NSLayoutConstraint(
    item: view1,
    attribute: NSLayoutAttribute.Bottom,
    relatedBy: NSLayoutRelation.Equal,
    toItem: superview,
    attribute: NSLayoutAttribute.Bottom,
    multiplier: 1.0,
    constant: -padding.bottom
  ),
  NSLayoutConstraint(
    item: view1,
    attribute: NSLayoutAttribute.Right,
    relatedBy: NSLayoutRelation.Equal,
    toItem: superview,
    attribute: NSLayoutAttribute.Right,
    multiplier: 1.0,
    constant: -padding.right
  )
])
```
Even with such a simple example the code needed is quite verbose and quickly becomes unreadable when you have more than 2 or 3 views.
Another option is to use Visual Format Language (VFL), which is a bit less long winded.
However the ASCII type syntax has its own pitfalls and its also a bit harder to animate as `NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormat` returns an array.

## Prepare to meet your Maker!

Heres the same constraints created using ConstraintMaker

```swift
let padding = UIEdgeInsetsMake(10, 10, 10, 10)

view1.snp_makeConstraints { (make) -> Void in
  make.top.equalTo(superview.snp_top).offset(padding.top)
  make.left.equalTo(superview.snp_left).offset(padding.left)
  make.bottom.equalTo(superview.snp_bottom).offset(-padding.bottom)
  make.right.equalTo(superview.snp_right).offset(-padding.right)
}
```
Or even shorter

```swift
view1.snp_makeConstraints { (make) -> Void in
  make.edges.equalTo(superview).insets(padding)
}
```

Also note in the first example we had to add the constraints to the superview `superview.addConstraints`.
SnapKit however will automagically add constraints to the appropriate view.

SnapKit will also call `view1.setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints(false)` for you.

## Not all things are created equal

> `.equalTo` equivalent to **NSLayoutRelation.Equal**

> `.lessThanOrEqualTo` equivalent to **NSLayoutRelation.LessThanOrEqual**

> `.greaterThanOrEqualTo` equivalent to **NSLayoutRelation.GreaterThanOrEqual**

These three equality constraints accept one argument which can be any of the following:

#### 1. ViewAttribute

```swift
make.centerX.lessThanOrEqualTo(view2.snp_left)
```

ViewAttribute              |  NSLayoutAttribute
-------------------------  |  --------------------------
view.snp_left              |  NSLayoutAttribute.Left
view.snp_right             |  NSLayoutAttribute.Right
view.snp_top               |  NSLayoutAttribute.Top
view.snp_bottom            |  NSLayoutAttribute.Bottom
view.snp_leading           |  NSLayoutAttribute.Leading
view.snp_trailing          |  NSLayoutAttribute.Trailing
view.snp_width             |  NSLayoutAttribute.Width
view.snp_height            |  NSLayoutAttribute.Height
view.snp_centerX           |  NSLayoutAttribute.CenterX
view.snp_centerY           |  NSLayoutAttribute.CenterY
view.snp_baseline          |  NSLayoutAttribute.Baseline

#### 2. UIView/NSView

if you want view.left to be greater than or equal to label.left :
```swift
// these two constraints are exactly the same
make.left.greaterThanOrEqualTo(label)
make.left.greaterThanOrEqualTo(label.snp_left)
```

#### 3. Strict Checks

Auto Layout allows width and height to be set to constant values.
if you want to set view to have a minimum and maximum width you could pass a primitive to the equality blocks:
```swift
// width >= 200 && width <= 400
make.width.greaterThanOrEqualTo(200)
make.width.lessThanOrEqualTo(400)
```

However Auto Layout does not allow alignment attributes such as left, right, centerY etc to be set to constant values.
So if you pass a primitive for these attributes SnapKit will turn these into constraints relative to the view&rsquo;s superview ie:
```swift
// creates view.left <= view.superview.left + 10
make.left.lessThanOrEqualTo(10)
```

You can also use other primitives and structs to build your constraints, like so:
```swift
make.top.equalTo(42)
make.height.equalTo(20)
make.size.equalTo(CGSizeMake(50, 100))
make.edges.equalTo(UIEdgeInsetsMake(10, 0, 10, 0))
make.left.equalTo(view).offset(UIEdgeInsetsMake(10, 0, 10, 0))
```

## Learn to prioritize

> `.prority` allows you to specify an exact priority

> `.priorityHigh` equivalent to **UILayoutPriority.DefaultHigh**

> `.priorityMedium` is half way between high and low

> `.priorityLow` equivalent to **UILayoutPriority.DefaultLow**

Priorities are can be tacked on to the end of a constraint chain like so:
```swift
make.left.greaterThanOrEqualTo(label.snp_left).priorityLow();

make.top.equalTo(label.snp_top).priority(600);
```

## Composition, composition, composition

SnapKit also gives you a few convenience methods which create multiple constraints at the same time.

#### edges

```swift
// make top, left, bottom, right equal view2
make.edges.equalTo(view2);

// make top = superview.top + 5, left = superview.left + 10,
//      bottom = superview.bottom - 15, right = superview.right - 20
make.edges.equalTo(superview).insets(UIEdgeInsetsMake(5, 10, 15, 20))
```

#### size

```swift
// make width and height greater than or equal to titleLabel
make.size.greaterThanOrEqualTo(titleLabel)

// make width = superview.width + 100, height = superview.height - 50
make.size.equalTo(superview).offset(CGSizeMake(100, -50))
```

#### center

```swift
// make centerX and centerY = button1
make.center.equalTo(button1)

// make centerX = superview.centerX - 5, centerY = superview.centerY + 10
make.center.equalTo(superview).offset(CGPointMake(-5, 10))
```

You can chain view attributes for increased readability:

```swift
// All edges but the top should equal those of the superview
make.left.right.bottom.equalTo(superview)
make.top.equalTo(otherView)
```

## Hold on for dear life

Sometimes you need modify existing constraints in order to animate or remove/replace constraints.
In SnapKit there are a few different approaches to updating constraints.

#### 1. References
You can hold on to a reference of a particular constraint by assigning the result of a constraint make expression to a local variable or a class property.
You could also reference multiple constraints by storing them away in an array.

```swift

var topConstraint: Constraint? = nil

...

// when making constraints
view1.snp_makeConstraints { make in
  self.topConstraint = make.top.equalTo(superview).offset(padding.top).constraint
  make.left.equalTo(superview).offset(padding.left)
}

...
// then later you can call
self.topConstraint.uninstall()
```

### 2. snp_remakeConstraints

`snp_remakeConstraints` is similar to `snp_makeConstraints`, but will first remove all existing constraints installed by SnapKit.

```swift
func changeButtonPosition() {
  self.button.snp_remakeConstraints { make in 
    make.size.equalTo(self.buttonSize)

    if topLeft {
      make.top.left.equalTo(10)
    } else {
      make.bottom.equalTo(self.view).offset(-10)
      make.right.equalTo(self.view).offset(-10)
    }
  }
}
```

## Code Snippets

Copy the included code snippets to ``~/Library/Developer/Xcode/UserData/CodeSnippets`` to write your snap closures at lightning speed!

`snp_make` -> `<view>.snp_makeConstraints { make in <code> }`
    
`snp_remake` -> `<view>.snp_remakeConstraints { make in <code> }`

## TODO

* Eye candy
* Example projects
* Tests