UILabel subclass appearance in Storyboard

Question

I have created a subclass of UILabel called MyUILabel. The only thing changed is the font and font-size. It appears as expected when I run the app. However, the in the Storyboard, the default UILabel is showed. Is there any way to make Storyboards show the font and font-size from my subclass?

MyUILabel:

public class MyUILabel : UILabel {
    required public init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        super.init(coder: aDecoder)
        self.font = UIFont(name: Constants.DefaultFont, size: 30)
    }
}

Runge

Answer 1

You could make it @IBDesignable, and then implement prepareForInterfaceBuilder:

@IBDesignable
public class MyUILabel: UILabel {

    public override func awakeFromNib() {
        super.awakeFromNib()
        configureLabel()
    }

    public override func prepareForInterfaceBuilder() {
        super.prepareForInterfaceBuilder()
        configureLabel()
    }

    func configureLabel() {
        font = UIFont(name: Constants.DefaultFont, size: 40)
    }

}

Note, IB didn't like it when I implemented init(coder:), so I moved it into awakeFromNib.

Also note that when you make an @IBDesignable class, Apple advises that you create a separate target (e.g. "File" - "New" - "Target..." - "Cocoa Touch Framework") for this designable class. For more information, see WWDC 2014 video What’s New in Interface Builder.

Orchidectomy

Super! Thanks! Hope your answer will help someone else as well. – Runge

Thanks it works, but if it possible to change the default font in Attributes inspector? – Ivar