UICollectionView

Create a Collection View Programmatically

Swift

func createCollectionView() {
    let layout: UICollectionViewFlowLayout = UICollectionViewFlowLayout()
    let collectionView = UICollectionView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: view.frame.width, height: view.frame.height), collectionViewLayout: layout)
    collectionView.dataSource = self
    collectionView.delegate = self
    view.addSubview(collectionView)
}

Objective-C

- (void)createCollectionView {
    UICollectionViewFlowLayout *layout = [[UICollectionViewFlowLayout alloc] init];
    UICollectionView *collectionView = [[UICollectionView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, self.view.frame.size.height) collectionViewLayout:layout];
    [collectionView setDataSource:self];
    [collectionView setDelegate:self];
    [self.view addSubview:collectionView];
}

Swift - UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout

Create a UICollectionView

Initialize a UICollectionView with a CGRect frame:

Swift:

let collection = UICollectionView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 200, height: 21))

Objective C:

UICollectionView *collection = [[UICollectionView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 200, 21)];

You can also create a UICollectionView in Interface Builder

UICollectionView - Datasource

Every collection view must have a Datasource object. The Datasource object is the content that your app will display within the UICollectionView. At a minimum, all Datasource objects must implement the collectionView:numberOfItemsInSection: and collectionView:cellForItemAtIndexPath: methods.

Required Methods

Swift

func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
    // Return how many items in section
    let sectionArray = _data[section]
    return sectionArray.count
}
    
func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, cellForItemAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {

   let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCellWithReuseIdentifier(MyCellID) 
   // If you use a custom cell class then cast the cell returned, like:
   // as! MyCollectionViewCellClass
   // or you will have errors when you try to use features of that class.

   //Customize your cell here, default UICollectionViewCells do not contain any inherent
   //text or image views (like UITableView), but some could be added, 
   //or a custom UICollectionViewCell sub-class could be used
   return cell
}

Objective C

- (NSInteger)collectionView:(UICollectionView*)collectionView numberOfItemsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    // Return how many items in section
    NSArray *sectionArray = [_data objectAtIndex:section];
    return [sectionArray count];
}

- (UICollectionViewCell *)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView
                  cellForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
   // Return a cell
   UICollectionViewCell *newCell = [self.collectionView 
                                       dequeueReusableCellWithReuseIdentifier:MyCellID                                                                             
                                                                 forIndexPath:indexPath];
   //Customize your cell here, default UICollectionViewCells do not contain any inherent
   //text or image views (like UITableView), but some could be added, 
   //or a custom UICollectionViewCell sub-class could be used
   return newCell;
}

Basic Swift example of a Collection View

Create a new project

It can be just a Single View Application.

Add the code

Create a new Cocoa Touch Class file (File > New > File… > iOS > Cocoa Touch Class). Name it MyCollectionViewCell. This class will hold the outlets for the views that you add to your cell in the storyboard.

import UIKit
class MyCollectionViewCell: UICollectionViewCell {
    
    @IBOutlet weak var myLabel: UILabel!
}

We will connect this outlet later.

Open ViewController.swift and make sure you have the following content:

import UIKit
class ViewController: UIViewController, UICollectionViewDataSource, UICollectionViewDelegate {
    
    let reuseIdentifier = "cell" // also enter this string as the cell identifier in the storyboard
    var items = ["1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", "11", "12", "13", "14", "15", "16", "17", "18", "19", "20", "21", "22", "23", "24", "25", "26", "27", "28", "29", "30", "31", "32", "33", "34", "35", "36", "37", "38", "39", "40", "41", "42", "43", "44", "45", "46", "47", "48"]
    
    
    // MARK: - UICollectionViewDataSource protocol
    
    // tell the collection view how many cells to make
    func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
        return self.items.count
    }
    
    // make a cell for each cell index path
    func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, cellForItemAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {
        
        // get a reference to our storyboard cell
        let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCellWithReuseIdentifier(reuseIdentifier, forIndexPath: indexPath) as! MyCollectionViewCell
        
        // Use the outlet in our custom class to get a reference to the UILabel in the cell
        cell.myLabel.text = self.items[indexPath.item]
        cell.backgroundColor = UIColor.yellowColor() // make cell more visible in our example project
        
        return cell
    }
    
    // MARK: - UICollectionViewDelegate protocol
    
    func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, didSelectItemAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) {
        // handle tap events
        print("You selected cell #\(indexPath.item)!")
    }
}

Notes

UICollectionViewDataSource and UICollectionViewDelegate are the protocols that the collection view follows. You could also add the UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout protocol to change the size of the views programmatically, but it isn’t necessary.
We are just putting simple strings in our grid, but you could certainly do images later.

Setup the storyboard

Drag a Collection View to the View Controller in your storyboard. You can add constraints to make it fill the parent view if you like.

Make sure that your defaults in the Attribute Inspector are also

Items: 1
Layout: Flow

The little box in the top left of the Collection View is a Collection View Cell. We will use it as our prototype cell. Drag a Label into the cell and center it. You can resize the cell borders and add constraints to center the Label if you like.

Write “cell” (without quotes) in the Identifier box of the Attributes Inspector for the Collection View Cell. Note that this is the same value as let reuseIdentifier = "cell" in ViewController.swift.

And in the Identity Inspector for the cell, set the class name to MyCollectionViewCell, our custom class that we made.

Hook up the outlets

Hook the Label in the collection cell to myLabel in the MyCollectionViewCell class. (You can Control-drag.)
Hook the Collection View delegate and dataSource to the View Controller. (Right click Collection View in the Document Outline. Then click and drag the plus arrow up to the View Controller.)

Finished

Here is what it looks like after adding constraints to center the Label in the cell and pinning the Collection View to the walls of the parent.

Making Improvements

If you want to make improvements on the appearance, see the original post that this example comes from.

Further study

Performing batch updates

UICollectionViewDelegate setup and item selection

Sometimes, if an action should be bind to a collection view’s cell selection, you have to implement the UICollectionViewDelegate protocol.

Let’s say the collection view is inside a UIViewController MyViewController.

Objective-C

In your MyViewController.h declares that it implements the UICollectionViewDelegate protocol, as below

@interface MyViewController : UIViewController <UICollectionViewDelegate, .../* previous existing delegate, as UICollectionDataSource *>

Swift

In your MyViewController.swift add the following

class MyViewController : UICollectionViewDelegate {
}

The method that must be implemented is

Objective-C

-(void)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView didSelectItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
}

Swift

func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, didSelectItemAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath)
{
}

As just an example we can set the background color of selected cell to green.

Objective-C

-(void)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView didSelectItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    UICollectionViewCell* cell = [collectionView cellForItemAtIndexPath:indexPath];
    cell.backgroundColor = [UIColor greenColor];
}

Swift

class MyViewController : UICollectionViewDelegate {
    func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, didSelectItemAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath)
    {
        var cell : UICollectionViewCell = collectionView.cellForItemAtIndexPath(indexPath)!
        cell.backgroundColor = UIColor.greenColor()
    }
}

Manage Multiple Collection view with DataSource and Flowlayout

Here we are managing multiple collection there delegate methods with didselect events.

extension ProductsVC: UICollectionViewDelegate, UICollectionViewDataSource{
        
        // MARK: - UICollectionViewDataSource
        func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, numberOfItemsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
            guard collectionView == collectionCategory else {
                return arrOfProducts.count
            }
            return arrOfCategory.count
        }
        
        func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, cellForItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UICollectionViewCell {
            
            guard collectionView == collectionProduct else {
                  let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCell(withReuseIdentifier: "ProductCategoryCell", for: indexPath) as! ProductCategoryCell
                  cell.viewBackground.layer.borderWidth = 0.5
                  //Do some thing as per use
                  return cell
            }
            
            let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCell(withReuseIdentifier: cellIdentifier, for: indexPath) as! ProductCell
            cell.contentView.layer.borderWidth = 0.5
            cell.contentView.layer.borderColor = UIColor.black.cgColor
            let json = arrOfProducts[indexPath.row]
            //Do something as per use
    
            return cell
        }
        
        func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, didSelectItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) {
            guard collectionView == collectionCategory else {
                let json = arrOfProducts[indexPath.row]
                // Do something for  collectionProduct here
                return
            }
            let json = arrOfCategory[indexPath.row] as [String: AnyObject]
            let id = json["cId"] as? String ?? ""
            // Do something
        }
    }
    
    extension ProductsVC: UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout{
        
        // MARK: - UICollectionViewDelegateFlowLayout
        func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, layout collectionViewLayout: UICollectionViewLayout, sizeForItemAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> CGSize {
            
            let collectionWidth = collectionView.bounds.width
            guard collectionView == collectionProduct else {
                var itemWidth = collectionWidth / 4 - 1;
                
                if(UI_USER_INTERFACE_IDIOM() == .pad) {
                    itemWidth = collectionWidth / 4 - 1;
                }
                return CGSize(width: itemWidth, height: 50)
            }
            
            var itemWidth = collectionWidth / 2 - 1;
            if(UI_USER_INTERFACE_IDIOM() == .pad) {
                itemWidth = collectionWidth / 4 - 1;
            }
            return CGSize(width: itemWidth, height: 250);
        }
        
        func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, layout collectionViewLayout: UICollectionViewLayout, minimumInteritemSpacingForSectionAt section: Int) -> CGFloat {
            return 1
        }
        
        func collectionView(_ collectionView: UICollectionView, layout collectionViewLayout: UICollectionViewLayout, minimumLineSpacingForSectionAt section: Int) -> CGFloat {
            return 1
        }
        
    }