iOS Categories and Tools

This project provides set of useful categories and classes for iOS, most of them developed by Moqod. We have tried to separate categories into logical pieces. Please, keep in mind that it's better to include only needed categories, not all of them.

#Note

• UIImage+MALoading category does not support ARC (becaus of swizzling dealloc method). Add -fno-objc-arc flag to the implementation file.

Categories

Some categories described below.

User Interface

UIImage+MALoading

This category provides a set of methods for easy images loading. The main one is maImageWithContentsOfFile - this method adds smart caching for loaded images. It's like imageNamed, but a little bit smarter - it kills images when they not needed anymore. For example, you can use same image in different views, but want to release it when these views are deallocated. Other methods are intended for loading background images and some syntax sugar.

+ (UIImage *)maImageWithContentsOfFile:(NSString *)filePath;
- (instancetype)maInitWithContentsOfFile:(NSString *)filePath;

// These methods are used for loading background images (for example, set of `Default.png` images) with one line of code.
// Adds needed modifiers and then return an image using `+ (UIImage *)maImageNamed:bundle:` method.
// Modifiers: <basename><usage_specific_modifiers><scale_modifier><device_modifier>.png
+ (UIImage *)maBackgroundImageNamed:(NSString *)imageFileName;
+ (UIImage *)maBackgroundImageNamed:(NSString *)imageFileName bundle:(NSBundle *)bundle;

// Constructs file path using NSBundle's '- (NSString *)pathForResource:ofType:' method.
// Mostly is syntax sugar for developers, but this method also uses `-(UIImage *)maImageWithContentsOfFile:` for smart caching.
+ (UIImage *)maImageNamed:(NSString *)imageFileName;
+ (UIImage *)maImageNamed:(NSString *)imageFileName bundle:(NSBundle *)bundle;

UIColor+MATools

Helpful additional methods for UIColor class.

+ (UIColor *)maRandomColor;

// Example: [UIColor maColorFromRGB:0x023593]
+ (UIColor *)maColorFromRGB:(unsigned int)rgb;
+ (UIColor *)maColorFromRGB:(unsigned int)rgb alpha:(CGFloat)alpha;

// Example: [UIColor intColorWithRed:255 gree:255 blue:255 alpha:255] returns white color.
+ (UIColor *)maIntColorWithRed:(unsigned int)red green:(unsigned int)green blue:(unsigned int)blue alpha:(unsigned int)alpha;

// These methods return color compoments.
@property (nonatomic, readonly) CGFloat		maRed;
@property (nonatomic, readonly) CGFloat		maGreen;
@property (nonatomic, readonly) CGFloat		maBlue;
@property (nonatomic, readonly) CGFloat		maAlpha;

UIAlertView+MABlocks

Adds completition block to UIAlertView. Uses NSObject+MAKeyValue.h.

typedef void (^UIAlertViewMACompletionBlock)(UIAlertView *alertView, NSUInteger buttonIndex);

- (id)initWithTitle:(NSString *)title message:(NSString *)message completitionBlock:(UIAlertViewMACompletionBlock)block cancelButtonTitle:(NSString *)cancelButtonTitle otherButtonTitles:(NSString *)otherButtonTitles, ... NS_REQUIRES_NIL_TERMINATION;

UIFont+MATools

UIFont category.

// Returns rounded line height.
@property (nonatomic, readonly) CGFloat		maLineHeight;

UIView+MALibrary

Some cool methods for UIView. Our favorite method - (BOOL)maFindAndResignFirstResponder.

- (UIImage *)maShapshot;
- (BOOL)maFindAndResignFirstResponder;
- (void)maRemoveAllSubviews;

UIView+MARoundedCorner

Adds custom rounded corners. You can specify any of them - top left, bottom right, etc.

Foundation

NSObject+MAKeyValue

Adds any property to any object in runtime using objc associated objects feature. For example, you can add userInfo property to UIAlertView class, or even to NSArray.

Provides easy to use maUserInfo property.

See UIView+MAUserInfo for more information.

- (void)maSetValue:(id)value forKey:(NSString *)key;
- (void)maSetValue:(id)value forKey:(NSString *)key associationPolicy:(objc_AssociationPolicy)associationPolicy;
- (id)maValueForKey:(NSString *)key;

@property (nonatomic, strong) id  maUserInfo;

NSError+MAErrorDescription

Category for localizing errors. Easy.

+ (instancetype)maErrorWithDomain:(NSString *)domain code:(NSInteger)code localizedDescription:(NSString *)localizedDescription;
- (instancetype)maErrorByAddingLocalizedDescription:(NSString *)localizedDescription;
- (void)maSetLocalizedDescription:(NSString *)localizedDescription;

NSFileManager+MATools

Category adds useful methods to NSFileManager. Some of methods are listed below:

- (NSString *)maDocumentsDirectory;
- (NSString *)maCachesDirectory;
- (NSString *)maTemporaryDirectory;
- (double)maSizeOfDirectoryAtPath:(NSString *)filePath;
- (BOOL)maAddSkipBackupAttributeToItemAtPath:(NSString *)filePath;
- (BOOL)maRemoveSkipBackupAttributeFromItemAtPath:(NSString *)filePath;

NSMutableArray+MATools

Category adds two methods, one for adding any objects (incapsulates nil-checking) and one for removing objects.

- (void)maAddObject:(id)object;
- (void)maRemoveObjectsEqualTo:(id)object;

NSNotificationCenter+MAKeys

Simplifies results handling. Most of operations have result or error and maybe userInfo. Uses NSNotification userInfo property (NSDictionary) as container for packing parameters. Sample: data engine sends notification when network request is done (succeed or failed) and observers can obtain result, error or userInfo using macros.

#define NTF_ERROR(x)                [[x userInfo] objectForKey:NSNotificationCenterKeys_Error]
#define NTF_RESULT(x)               [[x userInfo] objectForKey:NSNotificationCenterKeys_Result]
#define NTF_USERINFO(x)							[[x userInfo] objectForKey:NSNotificationCenterKeys_UserInfo]

- (void)maSendNotificationNamed:(NSString *)notificationName object:(id)object result:(id)result error:(NSError *)error userInfo:(id)userInfo;

Classes

Foundation

MALocalizationEngine

This class manages and uses localizations supported in the app. Sometimes standart method NSLocalizableString is not suitable because user can choose custom language from the app. This can work with different bundles, supports Localizable table only. See implementation for more details.