SnapKit/README.md

# Snappy

Snappy is a light-weight layout framework which wraps AutoLayout with a nicer syntax. Snappy 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.
Snappy supports iOS and Mac OS X.

## 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 in
  make.top.equalTo(superview.snp_top).with.offset(padding.top) // with is an optional semantic filler
  make.left.equalTo(superview.snp_left).with.offset(padding.left)
  make.bottom.equalTo(superview.snp_bottom).with.offset(-padding.bottom)
  make.right.equalTo(superview.snp_right).with.offset(-padding.right)
}
```
Or even shorter

```swift
view1.snp_makeConstraints { make in
  make.edges.equalTo(superview).with.insets(padding)
  return // this return is a fix for implicit returns in Swift and is only required for single line constraints
}
```

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

Snappy 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 Snappy 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.snp_equalTo(42)
make.height.snp_equalTo(20)
make.size.snp_equalTo(CGSizeMake(50, 100))
make.edges.snp_equalTo(UIEdgeInsetsMake(10, 0, 10, 0))
make.left.snp_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).with.priorityLow();

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

## Composition, composition, composition

Snappy 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.and.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 Snappy 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).with.offset(padding.top)
  make.left.equalTo(superview).with.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 Snappy.

```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)
    }
  }
}
```

## TODO

* Eye candy
* Example projects
* Tests