Creating a Customizable Segmented Control in SwiftUI
With over 4.5 million apps and games in the App Store, it’s essential for developers to create unique and engaging user interfaces to stand out from the crowd. One way to achieve this is by customizing the default look and feel of controls, such as segmented controls. In this tutorial, we’ll explore how to create a customizable segmented control in SwiftUI.
Understanding the Limitations of SwiftUI’s Picker
Before we dive into creating a custom segmented control, let’s take a closer look at the limitations of SwiftUI’s Picker. While the Picker is a convenient option for selecting from a set of mutually exclusive values, it has some limitations when it comes to customization.
- Display limitations: The default Picker can’t display more than one line of text or display vertical items.
- Styling limitations: Styling options are limited, and using UIAppearance to style the default Picker can be confusing and restrictive.
Creating a Customizable Picker
To address these limitations, we’ll create a custom picker called PickerPlus. Our custom picker will have the following features:
- Support for multiple configurations: We’ll use a function to build each item’s corresponding view inside PickerPlus, allowing for different configurations.
- Customizable background: We’ll add a background to our picker to make the selected option visible.
- Support for corner radius and borders: We’ll add corner radius and border options to our picker to enable more styles.
- Animate the position when the selection changes: We’ll use an indicator to animate the position when the selection changes.
- Check for and apply the accent color: We’ll use the accent color to style our picker.
- Support custom implementations: We’ll allow for custom indicators and implementations.
Implementing the Customizable Picker
Let’s start by implementing the basic structure of our custom picker. We’ll create a new SwiftUI view called PickerPlus and add the following properties:
- sources: An array of data that PickerPlus will iterate over.
- selection: A nullable item that should belong to sources, used to determine the currently selected index.
- itemBuilder: A function for building each item’s corresponding view inside PickerPlus.
Next, we’ll implement the body of our picker, using a ForEach loop to iterate over the sources array and build each item’s view using the itemBuilder function.
Adding a Customizable Background
To make the selected option visible, we’ll add a background to our picker. We’ll use a RoundedRectangle to create a rectangular background with a corner radius.
Supporting Corner Radius and Borders
To enable more styles, we’ll add corner radius and border options to our picker. We’ll use a modifier to apply these styles to our picker.
Animating the Position when the Selection Changes
To animate the position when the selection changes, we’ll use an indicator. We’ll create a custom indicator view that will animate its position when the selection changes.
Conclusion
In this tutorial, we’ve created a customizable segmented control in SwiftUI called PickerPlus. Our custom picker addresses the limitations of SwiftUI’s Picker, providing support for multiple configurations, customizable backgrounds, corner radius and borders, animation, and custom implementations. With PickerPlus, you can create unique and engaging user interfaces that stand out from the crowd.