UICollectionView – dynamic cell height? [duplicate]

Here is a Ray Wenderlich tutorial that shows you how to use AutoLayout to dynamically size UITableViewCells. I would think it would be the same for UICollectionViewCell.

Basically, though, you end up dequeueing and configuring a prototype cell and grabbing its height. After reading this article, I decided to NOT implement this method and just write some clear, explicit sizing code.

Here’s what I consider the “secret sauce” for the entire article:

- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    return [self heightForBasicCellAtIndexPath:indexPath];
}

- (CGFloat)heightForBasicCellAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    static RWBasicCell *sizingCell = nil;
    static dispatch_once_t onceToken;
    dispatch_once(&onceToken, ^{
        sizingCell = [self.tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:RWBasicCellIdentifier];
    });

    [self configureBasicCell:sizingCell atIndexPath:indexPath];
    return [self calculateHeightForConfiguredSizingCell:sizingCell];
}

- (CGFloat)calculateHeightForConfiguredSizingCell:(UITableViewCell *)sizingCell {
    [sizingCell setNeedsLayout];
    [sizingCell layoutIfNeeded];

    CGSize size = [sizingCell.contentView systemLayoutSizeFittingSize:UILayoutFittingCompressedSize];
    return size.height + 1.0f; // Add 1.0f for the cell separator height
}

---

EDIT: I did some research into your crash and decided that there is no way to get this done without a custom XIB. While that is a bit frustrating, you should be able to cut and paste from your Storyboard to a custom, empty XIB.

Once you’ve done that, code like the following will get you going:

//  ViewController.m
#import "ViewController.h"
#import "CollectionViewCell.h"
@interface ViewController () <UICollectionViewDataSource, UICollectionViewDelegate, UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout> {

}
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet CollectionViewCell *cell;
@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UICollectionView   *collectionView;
@end
@implementation ViewController
- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor];
    [self.collectionView registerNib:[UINib nibWithNibName:@"CollectionViewCell" bundle:nil] forCellWithReuseIdentifier:@"cell"];
}
- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
    [super viewDidAppear:animated];
    NSLog(@"viewDidAppear...");
}
- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInCollectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView {
    return 1;
}
- (NSInteger)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView numberOfItemsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    return 50;
}
- (CGFloat)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView layout:(UICollectionViewLayout *)collectionViewLayout minimumInteritemSpacingForSectionAtIndex:(NSInteger)section {
    return 10.0f;
}
- (CGFloat)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView layout:(UICollectionViewLayout *)collectionViewLayout minimumLineSpacingForSectionAtIndex:(NSInteger)section {
    return 10.0f;
}
- (CGSize)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView layout:(UICollectionViewLayout *)collectionViewLayout sizeForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    return [self sizingForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath];
}
- (CGSize)sizingForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    static NSString *title                  = @"This is a long title that will cause some wrapping to occur. This is a long title that will cause some wrapping to occur.";
    static NSString *subtitle               = @"This is a long subtitle that will cause some wrapping to occur. This is a long subtitle that will cause some wrapping to occur.";
    static NSString *buttonTitle            = @"This is a really long button title that will cause some wrapping to occur.";
    static CollectionViewCell *sizingCell   = nil;
    static dispatch_once_t onceToken;
    dispatch_once(&onceToken, ^{
        sizingCell                          = [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:@"CollectionViewCell" owner:self options:nil][0];
    });
    [sizingCell configureWithTitle:title subtitle:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@: Number %d.", subtitle, (int)indexPath.row] buttonTitle:buttonTitle];
    [sizingCell setNeedsLayout];
    [sizingCell layoutIfNeeded];
    CGSize cellSize = [sizingCell.contentView systemLayoutSizeFittingSize:UILayoutFittingCompressedSize];
    NSLog(@"cellSize: %@", NSStringFromCGSize(cellSize));
    return cellSize;
}
- (UICollectionViewCell *)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView cellForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    static NSString *title                  = @"This is a long title that will cause some wrapping to occur. This is a long title that will cause some wrapping to occur.";
    static NSString *subtitle               = @"This is a long subtitle that will cause some wrapping to occur. This is a long subtitle that will cause some wrapping to occur.";
    static NSString *buttonTitle            = @"This is a really long button title that will cause some wrapping to occur.";
    CollectionViewCell *cell                = [collectionView dequeueReusableCellWithReuseIdentifier:@"cell" forIndexPath:indexPath];
    [cell configureWithTitle:title subtitle:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@: Number %d.", subtitle, (int)indexPath.row] buttonTitle:buttonTitle];
    return cell;
}
@end

The code above (along with a very basic UICollectionViewCell subclass and associated XIB) gives me this: