Styling the collection view

MDCCollectionViewController provides a styler property that conforms to the MDCCollectionViewStyling protocol. By using this property, styling can be easily set for the collection view items/sections. In addition, by overriding MDCCollectionViewStyleDelegate protocol methods in a collection view controller subclass, specific cells/sections can be styled differently.

Table of Contents

Cell Styles

The styler allows setting the cell style as Default, Grouped, or Card Style. Choose to either set the styler.cellStyle property directly, or use the protocol method collectionView:cellStyleForSection: to style per section.

Swift

// Set for entire collection view.
self.styler.cellStyle = .Card

// Or set for specific sections.
override func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView,
                             cellStyleForSection section: Int) -> MDCCollectionViewCellStyle {
  if section == 2 {
    return .Card
  }
  return .Grouped
}

Objective-C

// Set for entire collection view.
self.styler.cellStyle = MDCCollectionViewCellStyleCard;

// Or set for specific sections.
- (MDCCollectionViewCellStyle)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView
                         cellStyleForSection:(NSInteger)section {
  if (section == 2) {
    return MDCCollectionViewCellStyleCard;
  }
  return MDCCollectionViewCellStyleGrouped;
}

Cell Height

The styling delegate protocol can be used to override the default cell height of 48.0f.

Swift

override func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView,
                             cellHeightAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> CGFloat {
  if indexPath.item == 0 {
    return 80.0
  }
  return 48.0
}

Objective-C

- (CGFloat)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView
    cellHeightAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
  if (indexPath.item == 0) {
    return 80.0f;
  }
  return 48.0f;
}

Cell Layout

The styler allows setting the cell layout as List, Grid, or Custom.

Swift

// Set as list layout.
self.styler.cellLayoutType = .List

// Or set as grid layout.
self.styler.cellLayoutType = .Grid
self.styler.gridPadding = 8
self.styler.gridColumnCount = 2

Objective-C

// Set as list layout.
self.styler.cellLayoutType = MDCCollectionViewCellLayoutTypeList;

// Or set as grid layout.
self.styler.cellLayoutType = MDCCollectionViewCellLayoutTypeGrid;
self.styler.gridPadding = 8;
self.styler.gridColumnCount = 2;

Cell Separators

The styler allows customizing cell separators for the entire collection view. Individual cell customization is also available by using an MDCCollectionViewCell cell or a subclass of it. Learn more by reading the section on Cell Separators in the CollectionCells component.

Swift

// Set separator color.
self.styler.separatorColor = UIColor.redColor()

// Set separator insets.
self.styler.separatorInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(0, 16, 0, 16)

// Set separator line height.
self.styler.separatorLineHeight = 1.0

// Whether to hide separators.
self.styler.shouldHideSeparators = false

Objective-C

// Set separator color.
self.styler.separatorColor = [UIColor redColor];

// Set separator insets.
self.styler.separatorInset = UIEdgeInsetsMake(0, 16, 0, 16);

// Set separator line height.
self.styler.separatorLineHeight = 1.0f;

// Whether to hide separators.
self.styler.shouldHideSeparators = NO;

Background colors

A background color can be set on the collection view. Also, individual cell background colors can be set by using the protocol method collectionView:cellBackgroundColorAtIndexPath:. The default background colors are #EEEEEE for the collection view and #FFFFFF for the cells.

Swift

// Set collection view background color.
self.collectionView?.backgroundColor = UIColor.grayColor()

// Set individual cell background colors.
override func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView,
                             cellBackgroundColorAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UIColor? {
  if indexPath.item == 0 {
    return UIColor.blueColor()
  }
  return UIColor.redColor()
}

Objective-C

// Set collection view background color.
self.collectionView.backgroundColor = [UIColor grayColor];

// Set individual cell background colors.
- (UIColor *)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView
    cellBackgroundColorAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
  if (indexPath.item == 0) {
    return [UIColor blueColor];
  }
  return [UIColor redColor];
}