MDFInternationalization

MDFInternationalization assists in internationalizing your iOS app or components' user interface.

Right-to-Left calculations for CGRects and UIEdgeInsets

A UIView is positioned within its superview in terms of a frame (CGRect) consisting of an origin and a size. When a device is set to a language that is written from Right-to-Left (RTL), we often want to mirror the interface around the vertical axis. This library contains functions to assist in modifying frames and edge insets for RTL.

// To flip a subview's frame horizontally, pass in subview.frame and the width of its parent.
CGRect originalFrame = childView.frame;
CGRect flippedFrame = MDFRectFlippedHorizontally(originalFrame, CGRectGetWidth(self.bounds));
childView.frame = flippedFrame;

Mirroring Images

A category on UIImage backports iOS 10's [UIImage imageWithHorizontallyFlippedOrientation] to earlier versions of iOS.

// To mirror on image, invoke mdf_imageWithHorizontallyFlippedOrientation.
UIImage *mirroredImage = [originalImage mdf_imageWithHorizontallyFlippedOrientation];

Adding semantic context

A category on UIView backports iOS 9's -[UIView semanticContentAttribute] and iOS 10's -[UIView effectiveUserInterfaceLayoutDirection] to earlier versions of iOS.

// To set a semantic content attribute, set the mdf_semanticContentAttribute property.
lockedLTRView.mdf_semanticContentAttribute = UISemanticContentAttributeForceLeftToRight;

// mdf_semanticContentAttribute is used to calculate the mdf_effectiveUserInterfaceLayoutDirection
if (customView.mdf_effectiveUserInterfaceLayoutDirection == UIUserInterfaceLayoutDirectionRightToLeft) {
  // Update customView's layout to be in RTL mode.
}

Embedding Bi-directional strings

A category on NSString offers a simple API to wrap strings in Unicode markers so that LTR and RTL text can co-exist in the same string.

// To embed an RTL string in an existing LTR string we should wrap it in Unicode directionality
// markers to  maintain preoper rendering.

// The name of a restaurant is in Arabic (RTL), but the rest of string is in Latin (LTR).
NSString *wrappedRestaurantName =
    [restaurantName mdf_stringWithStereoReset:NSLocaleLanguageDirectionRightToLeft
                                      context:NSLocaleLanguageDirectionLeftToRight];

NSString *reservationString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ : %ld", wrappedRestaurantName, attendees];