OLGhostAlertView

Temporary and unobtrusive translucent alert view for iOS. Here's what it looks like: iPad / iPhone

Details

OLGhostAlertView allows you to present a translucent alert view with a title and an optional message on the bottom of the screen. Use it to inform your user about temporary issues that do not require any immediate action and are not blocking the flow of your app.

OLGhostAlertView can have a title and an optional message, in a way similar to UIAlertView. It automatically fades out after a configurable time interval and, by default, can be dismissed with a tap. It can automatically adapt its size according to the device it's being deployed on, user interface orientation and length of the strings passed to it.

Usage

OLGhostAlertView requires that you include the QuartzCore.framework in your project. Once you have done that, add the OLGhostAlertView files to your project and import the header in the file where you'll be using it, like so:

#import "OLGhostAlertView.h"

After that, here's how you present an OLGhostAlertView:

OLGhostAlertView *ghastly = [[OLGhostAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"I am the walrus." message: @"Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come."];
[ghastly show];

Just like with UIAlertView, the dismissal of the view is handled by the view itself, so there's no need to call anything else. If you do want to dismiss it manually, just call hide on the instance.

OLGhostAlertView has to be shown in or after viewDidAppear: is invoked on the Root View Controller. If you attempt to call show before that, the instance may not be visible on the screen.

As of version 1.7, you can have OLGhostAlertView show only within your view of choice by calling showInView: instead of show.

Init methods

initWithTitle:message:timeout:dismissible:

Exposes all of the available options.

- (id)initWithTitle:(NSString *)title message:(NSString *)message timeout:(NSTimeInterval)timeout dismissible:(BOOL)dismissible;

Parameters

title
The string that appears in the view's title label.

message
Descriptive text that provides more details than the title. Can be nil.

timeout
Time interval before the alert is automatically dismissed.

dismissible
Whether the alert can be dismissed with a tap or not.

initWithTitle:message:

Equivalent to initWithTitle:message:timeout:dismissible:, but assumes default values for timeout (6 seconds) and dismissible (YES).

- (id)initWithTitle:(NSString *)title message:(NSString *)message;

initWithTitle:

Equivalent to initWithTitle:message:timeout:dismissible:, but assumes default values for message (nil) timeout (4 seconds) and dismissible (YES).

- (id)initWithTitle:(NSString *)title;

Properties

position

The vertical position of the view.

@property (nonatomic) OLGhostAlertViewPosition position;

This property controls the origin of the view on the Y axis.

The default value is OLGhostAlertViewPositionBottom.

style

The visual style of the view.

@property (nonatomic) OLGhostAlertViewStyle style;

The view can have either light text on a dark background (OLGhostAlertViewStyleDark) or dark text over a light background (OLGhostAlertViewStyleLight).

The default value is OLGhostAlertViewStyleDefault, which maps to OLGhostAlertViewStyleLight.

completionBlock

A block to execute after the instance has been dismissed.

@property (nonatomic, copy) void (^completionBlock)(void);

title

The string that appears in the title of the alert.

@property (nonatomic) NSString *title;

Setting this property after initialization recalculates the view's metrics.

message

Descriptive text that provides more details than the title.

@property (nonatomic) NSString *message;

Setting this property after initialization recalculates the view's metrics.

titleLabel

The label that displays the title.

@property (nonatomic, strong) UILabel *titleLabel;

messageLabel

The label that displays the title.

@property (nonatomic, strong) UILabel *messageLabel;

topContentMargin

A margin that prevents the alert from drawing above it.

@property (nonatomic) CGFloat topContentMargin;

bottomContentMargin

A margin that prevents the alert from drawing below it.

@property (nonatomic) CGFloat bottomContentMargin;

timeout

Time interval before the alert is automatically dismissed.

@property (nonatomic) NSTimeInterval timeout;

dismissible

Whether the alert can be dismissed with a tap or not.

@property (nonatomic) BOOL dismissible;

visible

A Boolean value that indicates whether the view is currently visible on the screen.

@property (nonatomic, readonly, getter=isVisible) BOOL visible;

Known Issues

Here are some current limitations in OLGhostAlertView:

• Adding an OLGhostAlertView while displaying a keyboard will cause it to be placed under the keyboard (#3). This can be worked around using the position property. Another way to go around this is described on leberwurstsaft's comment on the issue.

You can find an up-to-date list with full descriptions and discussion at the Issues page.

Help us make this better

We built OLGhostAlertView because we needed it for one of our projects. It's definitely not perfect (hell, it was built by a designer) and it doesn't do everything it could. If you improve it in any way, please send us a pull request. Enjoy!