How to set multi line Large title in navigation bar? ( New feature of iOS 11)

Question

I am in process of adding large title in navigation bar in one of the application. The issue is title is little long so I will require to add two lines in large title. How can I add large title with two lines in navigation bar?

This is not about default navigation bar title! This is about large title which is introduced in iOS 11. So make sure you add suggestions by considering large title. Thanks

Answer 1

Just create a custom navigation controller. Rest will be handled by the OS itself

class MyNavigationViewController: UINavigationController {

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        navigationBar.delegate = self 
    }

}

extension MyNavigationViewController: UINavigationBarDelegate {
    func navigationBar(_ navigationBar: UINavigationBar, shouldPush item: UINavigationItem) -> Bool {
        item.setValuesForKeys([
            "__largeTitleTwoLineMode": true
        ])
        return true
    }
}

Answer 2

SWIFT 5 This UIViewController extension helped me. Scenario that I have is mixed with enabling and disabling large titles so FIRST ENABLE large title and then call this method. Call it in viewDidLoad, I have found bug with peeking back with swipe and then releasing touch, for some reason current navigation title become previous navigation title

    extension UIViewController {

/// Sets two lines for navigation title if needed
/// - Parameter animated: used for changing titles on one controller,in that case animation is off
func multilineNavTitle(_ animated:Bool = true) {
    
    if animated {
        // setting initial state for animation of title to look more native
        self.navigationController?.navigationBar.transform = CGAffineTransform.init(translationX: .screenWidth/2, y: 0)
        self.navigationController?.navigationBar.alpha = 0
    }
    
    //Checks if two lines is needed
    if self.navigationItem.title?.forTwoLines() ?? false {
        
        // enabling multiline
        navigationItem.setValue(true,
                                forKey: "__largeTitleTwoLineMode")
    } else {
        
        // disabling multiline
        navigationItem.setValue(false,
                                forKey: "__largeTitleTwoLineMode")
    }
    
    // laying out title without animation
    UIView.performWithoutAnimation {
        self.navigationController?.navigationBar.layoutSubviews()
        self.navigationController?.view.setNeedsLayout()
        self.navigationController?.view.layoutIfNeeded()
    }
    
    if animated {
        //animating title
        UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.3) {
            self.navigationController?.navigationBar.transform = CGAffineTransform.identity
            self.navigationController?.navigationBar.alpha = 1
        }
    }

}


}


fileprivate extension String {

/// Checks if navigation title is wider than label frame
/// - Returns: `TRUE` if title cannot fit in one line of navigation title label
func forTwoLines() -> Bool {
    
    let fontAttributes = [NSAttributedString.Key.font: SomeFont]
    let size = self.size(withAttributes: fontAttributes)
    return size.width > CGFloat.screenWidth - 40 //in my case
    
}


}

Answer 3

Get a navigation item subviews and locate UILabel from it.

Try this and see:

self.navigationController?.navigationBar.prefersLargeTitles = true
self.navigationController?.navigationItem.largeTitleDisplayMode = .automatic

self.title = "This is multiline title for navigation bar"
self.navigationController?.navigationBar.largeTitleTextAttributes = [                     
                                NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: UIColor.black,
                                NSAttributedStringKey.font : UIFont.preferredFont(forTextStyle: .largeTitle)
                                ]

for navItem in(self.navigationController?.navigationBar.subviews)! {
     for itemSubView in navItem.subviews { 
         if let largeLabel = itemSubView as? UILabel {
             largeLabel.text = self.title
             largeLabel.numberOfLines = 0
             largeLabel.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
         }
     }
}

Here is result:

Answer 4

Swift 4 : Multi line even though the sentence is only short

title = "You're \nWelcome"

for navItem in(self.navigationController?.navigationBar.subviews)! {
     for itemSubView in navItem.subviews { 
         if let largeLabel = itemSubView as? UILabel {
             largeLabel.text = self.title
             largeLabel.numberOfLines = 0
             largeLabel.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
         }
     }
}

Answer 5

If anyone looking for Title Lable Not Large Title, then below code is working.

Swift 5.X

func setMultilineNavigationBar(topText:  String, bottomText : String) {
     let topTxt = NSLocalizedString(topText, comment: "")
     let bottomTxt = NSLocalizedString(bottomText, comment: "")
        
     let titleParameters = [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : UIColor.white,
                               NSAttributedString.Key.font : UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 16, weight: .semibold)]
     let subtitleParameters = [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor : UIColor.white,
                                  NSAttributedString.Key.font : UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 13, weight: .regular)]
        
     let title:NSMutableAttributedString = NSMutableAttributedString(string: topTxt, attributes: titleParameters)
     let subtitle:NSAttributedString = NSAttributedString(string: bottomTxt, attributes: subtitleParameters)
        
     title.append(NSAttributedString(string: "\n"))
     title.append(subtitle)
        
     let size = title.size()
        
     let width = size.width
     guard let height = navigationController?.navigationBar.frame.size.height else {return}
        
      let titleLabel = UILabel(frame: CGRect.init(x: 0, y: 0, width: width, height: height))
      titleLabel.attributedText = title
      titleLabel.numberOfLines = 0
      titleLabel.textAlignment = .center
      self.navigationItem.titleView = titleLabel 
    }

Answer 6

Based in @krunal answer, this is working for me:

extension UIViewController {

func setupNavigationMultilineTitle() {
    guard let navigationBar = self.navigationController?.navigationBar else { return }
    for sview in navigationBar.subviews {
        for ssview in sview.subviews {
            guard let label = ssview as? UILabel else { break }
            if label.text == self.title {
                label.numberOfLines = 0
                label.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
                label.sizeToFit()
                UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.3, animations: {
                    navigationBar.frame.size.height = 57 + label.frame.height
                })
            }
        }
    }
}

In the UIViewController:

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    self.title = "This is a multiline title"
    setupNavigationMultilineTitle()
}

override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewDidAppear(animated)
    setupNavigationMultilineTitle()
}

And for setting font and color on the large title:

navigation.navigationBar.largeTitleTextAttributes = [NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: .red, NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 30)]

Answer 7

(Edit 7/13: I notice that this solution is not support scrollView, so now I'm in research)

I found a perfect solution on Swift5

but sorry for my poor English because I'm JapaneseStudent.

In case of 2 lines In case of 3 lines

At first, set navigation settings for largeTitle normally in viewDidLoad

//Set largeTitle
navigationItem.largeTitleDisplayMode = .automatic
navigationController?.navigationBar.prefersLargeTitles = true
navigationController?.navigationBar.largeTitleTextAttributes = [.font: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: (fontSize + margin) * numberOfLines)]//ex) fontSize=26, margin=5, numberOfLines=2
        
//Set title
title = "multiple large\ntitle is working!"

It is most important point of this solution that font-size at largeTitleTextAttributes equals actual font-size(+margin) multiplied by number of lines.

Description image

Because, default specification of navigationBar attributes may be able to display only 1 line largeTitle.

Although, somehow, I did notice that in case of label-settings(the label which subview of subview of navigationBar) on direct, it can display any number of lines in 1 line of in case of navigationBar attributes.

So, we should do set big font in navigationbar attributes, and set small font in the label(subview of subview of navigationBar), and take into consideration the margins.

Do label settings direct in viewDidAppear like this:

//Find label
navigationController?.navigationBar.subviews.forEach({ subview in
        subview.subviews.forEach { subsubview in
        guard let label: UILabel = subsubview as? UILabel else { return }
        //Label settings on direct.
        label.text = title
        label.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: fontSize)
        label.numberOfLines = 0
        label.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
        label.sizeToFit()
    }
})

Therefore, in short, the solution at minimum code is given like this:

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {
    
    private let fontSize: CGFloat = 26, margin: CGFloat = 5
    private let numberOfLines: CGFloat = 2

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        setUpNavigation()
    }
    override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
        super.viewDidAppear(animated)
        
        setMultipleLargeTitle()
    }
    private func setUpNavigation() {
        //Set largeTitle
        navigationItem.largeTitleDisplayMode = .automatic
        navigationController?.navigationBar.prefersLargeTitles = true
        navigationController?.navigationBar.largeTitleTextAttributes = [.font: UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: (fontSize + margin) * numberOfLines)]
        
        //Set title
        title = "multiple large\ntitle is working!"
    }
    private func setMultipleLargeTitle() {
        //Find label
        navigationController?.navigationBar.subviews.forEach({ subview in
            subview.subviews.forEach { subsubview in
                guard let label: UILabel = subsubview as? UILabel else { return }
                //Label settings on direct.
                label.text = title
                label.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: fontSize)
                label.numberOfLines = 0
                label.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
                label.sizeToFit()
            }
        })
    }
}

thank you for reading :)

Answer 8

The linebreak solution seems to be problematic when there's a back button. So instead of breaking lines, I made the label auto adjust font.

func setupLargeTitleAutoAdjustFont() {
    guard let navigationBar = navigationController?.navigationBar else {
        return
    }
    // recursively find the label
    func findLabel(in view: UIView) -> UILabel? {
        if view.subviews.count > 0 {
            for subview in view.subviews {
                if let label = findLabel(in: subview) {
                    return label
                }
            }
        }
        return view as? UILabel
    }

    if let label = findLabel(in: navigationBar) {
        if label.text == self.title {
            label.adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth = true
            label.minimumScaleFactor = 0.7
        }
    }
}

Then it needs to be called in viewDidLayoutSubviews() to make sure the label can be found, and we only need to call it once:

private lazy var setupLargeTitleLabelOnce: Void = {[unowned self] in
    if #available(iOS 11.0, *) {
        self.setupLargeTitleAutoAdjustFont()
    }
}()

override func viewDidLayoutSubviews() {
    super.viewDidLayoutSubviews()
    let _ = setupLargeTitleLabelOnce
}

If there's any navigationController pop event back to this controller, we need to call it again in viewDidAppear(). I haven't found a better solution for this - there's a small glitch of label font changing when coming back from a pop event:

override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewDidAppear(animated)
    if #available(iOS 11.0, *) {
        setupLargeTitleAutoAdjustFont()
    }
}

Answer 9

viewController.navigationItem
    .setValuesForKeys(["__largeTitleTwoLineMode": true])

WARNING: This method does not work on older OS versions