Swift 4
Very loosely based off of Graham Perks' answer. I could not make his code work as is but after three hours of work I've created something that works great! If you'd prefer a full implementation of this along with a bunch of nifty other performance and feature add-ons (links, async drawing, etc), check out my single file library DYLabel. If not, read on.
I explain everything I'm doing in the comments. This is the draw method, to be called from drawRect:
/// Draw text on a given context. Supports superscript using NSBaselineOffsetAttributeName
///
/// This method works by drawing the text backwards (i.e. last line first). This is very very important because it's how we ensure superscripts don't overlap the text above it. In other words, we need to start from the bottom, get the height of the text we just drew, and then draw the next text above it. This could be done in a forward direction but you'd have to use lookahead which IMO is more work.
///
/// If you have to modify on this, remember that CT uses a mathmatical origin (i.e. 0,0 is bottom left like a cartisian plane)
/// - Parameters:
/// - context: A core graphics draw context
/// - attributedText: An attributed string
func drawText(context:CGContext, attributedText: NSAttributedString) {
//Create our CT boiler plate
let framesetter = CTFramesetterCreateWithAttributedString(attributedText)
let textRect = bounds
let path = CGPath(rect: textRect, transform: nil)
let frame = CTFramesetterCreateFrame(framesetter, CFRangeMake(0, 0), path, nil)
//Fetch our lines, bridging to swift from CFArray
let lines = CTFrameGetLines(frame) as [AnyObject]
let lineCount = lines.count
//Get the line origin coordinates. These are used for calculating stock line height (w/o baseline modifications)
var lineOrigins = [CGPoint](repeating: CGPoint.zero, count: lineCount)
CTFrameGetLineOrigins(frame, CFRangeMake(0, 0), &lineOrigins);
//Since we're starting from the bottom of the container we need get our bottom offset/padding (so text isn't slammed to the bottom or cut off)
var ascent:CGFloat = 0
var descent:CGFloat = 0
var leading:CGFloat = 0
if lineCount > 0 {
CTLineGetTypographicBounds(lines.last as! CTLine, &ascent, &descent, &leading)
}
//This variable holds the current draw position, relative to CT origin of the bottom left
//https://mcmap.net/q/57090/-meaning-of-top-ascent-baseline-descent-bottom-and-leading-in-android-39-s-fontmetrics
var drawYPositionFromOrigin:CGFloat = descent
//Again, draw the lines in reverse so we don't need look ahead
for lineIndex in (0..<lineCount).reversed() {
//Calculate the current line height so we can accurately move the position up later
let lastLinePosition = lineIndex > 0 ? lineOrigins[lineIndex - 1].y: textRect.height
let currentLineHeight = lastLinePosition - lineOrigins[lineIndex].y
//Throughout the loop below this variable will be updated to the tallest value for the current line
var maxLineHeight:CGFloat = currentLineHeight
//Grab the current run glyph. This is used for attributed string interop
let glyphRuns = CTLineGetGlyphRuns(lines[lineIndex] as! CTLine) as [AnyObject]
for run in glyphRuns {
let run = run as! CTRun
//Convert the format range to something we can match to our string
let runRange = CTRunGetStringRange(run)
let attribuetsAtPosition = attributedText.attributes(at: runRange.location, effectiveRange: nil)
var baselineAdjustment: CGFloat = 0.0
if let adjust = attribuetsAtPosition[NSAttributedStringKey.baselineOffset] as? NSNumber {
//We have a baseline offset!
baselineAdjustment = CGFloat(adjust.floatValue)
}
//Check if this glyph run is tallest, and move it if it is
maxLineHeight = max(currentLineHeight + baselineAdjustment, maxLineHeight)
//Move the draw head. Note that we're drawing from the unupdated drawYPositionFromOrigin. This is again thanks to CT cartisian plane where we draw from the bottom left of text too.
context.textPosition = CGPoint.init(x: lineOrigins[lineIndex].x, y: drawYPositionFromOrigin)
//Draw!
CTRunDraw(run, context, CFRangeMake(0, 0))
}
//Move our position because we've completed the drawing of the line which is at most `maxLineHeight`
drawYPositionFromOrigin += maxLineHeight
}
}
I also made a method which calculates the required height of the text given a width. It's exactly the same code except it doesn't draw anything.
/// Calculate the height if it were drawn using `drawText`
/// Uses the same code as drawText except it doesn't draw.
///
/// - Parameters:
/// - attributedText: The text to calculate the height of
/// - width: The constraining width
/// - estimationHeight: Optional paramater, default 30,000px. This is the container height used to layout the text. DO NOT USE CGFLOATMAX AS IT CORE TEXT CANNOT CREATE A FRAME OF THAT SIZE.
/// - Returns: The size required to fit the text
static func size(of attributedText:NSAttributedString,width:CGFloat, estimationHeight:CGFloat?=30000) -> CGSize {
let framesetter = CTFramesetterCreateWithAttributedString(attributedText)
let textRect = CGRect.init(x: 0, y: 0, width: width, height: estimationHeight!)
let path = CGPath(rect: textRect, transform: nil)
let frame = CTFramesetterCreateFrame(framesetter, CFRangeMake(0, 0), path, nil)
//Fetch our lines, bridging to swift from CFArray
let lines = CTFrameGetLines(frame) as [AnyObject]
let lineCount = lines.count
//Get the line origin coordinates. These are used for calculating stock line height (w/o baseline modifications)
var lineOrigins = [CGPoint](repeating: CGPoint.zero, count: lineCount)
CTFrameGetLineOrigins(frame, CFRangeMake(0, 0), &lineOrigins);
//Since we're starting from the bottom of the container we need get our bottom offset/padding (so text isn't slammed to the bottom or cut off)
var ascent:CGFloat = 0
var descent:CGFloat = 0
var leading:CGFloat = 0
if lineCount > 0 {
CTLineGetTypographicBounds(lines.last as! CTLine, &ascent, &descent, &leading)
}
//This variable holds the current draw position, relative to CT origin of the bottom left
var drawYPositionFromOrigin:CGFloat = descent
//Again, draw the lines in reverse so we don't need look ahead
for lineIndex in (0..<lineCount).reversed() {
//Calculate the current line height so we can accurately move the position up later
let lastLinePosition = lineIndex > 0 ? lineOrigins[lineIndex - 1].y: textRect.height
let currentLineHeight = lastLinePosition - lineOrigins[lineIndex].y
//Throughout the loop below this variable will be updated to the tallest value for the current line
var maxLineHeight:CGFloat = currentLineHeight
//Grab the current run glyph. This is used for attributed string interop
let glyphRuns = CTLineGetGlyphRuns(lines[lineIndex] as! CTLine) as [AnyObject]
for run in glyphRuns {
let run = run as! CTRun
//Convert the format range to something we can match to our string
let runRange = CTRunGetStringRange(run)
let attribuetsAtPosition = attributedText.attributes(at: runRange.location, effectiveRange: nil)
var baselineAdjustment: CGFloat = 0.0
if let adjust = attribuetsAtPosition[NSAttributedStringKey.baselineOffset] as? NSNumber {
//We have a baseline offset!
baselineAdjustment = CGFloat(adjust.floatValue)
}
//Check if this glyph run is tallest, and move it if it is
maxLineHeight = max(currentLineHeight + baselineAdjustment, maxLineHeight)
//Skip drawing since this is a height calculation
}
//Move our position because we've completed the drawing of the line which is at most `maxLineHeight`
drawYPositionFromOrigin += maxLineHeight
}
return CGSize.init(width: width, height: drawYPositionFromOrigin)
}
Like everything I write, I also did some benchmarks against some public libraries and system functions (even though they won't work here). I used a huge, complex string here to keep anyone from taking unfair shortcuts.
---HEIGHT CALCULATION---
Runtime for 1000 iterations (ms) BoundsForRect: 5415.030002593994
Runtime for 1000 iterations (ms) layoutManager: 5370.990991592407
Runtime for 1000 iterations (ms) CTFramesetterSuggestFrameSizeWithConstraints: 2372.151017189026
Runtime for 1000 iterations (ms) CTFramesetterCreateFrame ObjC: 2300.302028656006
Runtime for 1000 iterations (ms) CTFramesetterCreateFrame-Swift: 2313.6669397354126
Runtime for 1000 iterations (ms) THIS ANSWER size(of:): 2566.351056098938
---RENDER---
Runtime for 1000 iterations (ms) AttributedLabel: 35.032033920288086
Runtime for 1000 iterations (ms) UILabel: 45.948028564453125
Runtime for 1000 iterations (ms) TTTAttributedLabel: 301.1329174041748
Runtime for 1000 iterations (ms) THIS ANSWER: 20.398974418640137
So summary time: we did very well! size(of...) is nearly equal to stock CT layout which means that our addon for superscript is fairly cheap despite using a hash table lookup. We do, however, flat out win on draw calls. I suspect that this is due to the very expensive 30k pixel estimation frame we have to create. If we make a better estimate performance will be better. I've already been working for about three hours so I'm calling it quits and leaving that as an exercise to the reader.
