UI Customizations

This guide shows you how to customize the story experience of your users. These customizations apply to both storyly bar and story view.

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Before you begin

It is advised to apply these customizations after StorylyInit if you are planning to do the customizations programmatically.

Storyly Bar Customizations

This section shows supported customizations on the storyly bar.

Story Group Text Styling

This styling changes the visibility, font, text size, color and number of lines of story group text. Each of the properties except font and text size can be specified from the the attributes inspector of design view one by one:

• For visibility, change the value of the Story Group Text Is Visible under the Storyly View section.
• For color, change the color of the Story Group Text Color under the Storyly View section.
• For lines, change the value of the Story Group Text Lines under the Storyly View section.

If you want to specify programmatically, you can set the attributes one by one:

storylyView.storyGroupTextIsVisible = Bool

storylyView.storyGroupTextColorSeen = UIColor

storylyView.storyGroupTextColorNotSeen = UIColor

storylyView.storyGroupTextSize = Int

// If you want to change the text size, change it from UIFont
storylyView.storyGroupTextFont = UIFont

storylyView.storyGroupTextLines = Int

Another way is to set storyGroupTextStyling property of the StorylyView. Please check API Reference for StoryGroupTextStyling.

storylyView.storyGroupTextStyling = StoryGroupTextStyling

storylyView.storyGroupTextStyling = StoryGroupTextStyling *

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Warning

If you are planning to do ui customization, do not mix programmatical approach with attributes inspector of design view. Prefer to use programmatical approach if you want incremental updates on story group text.

Story Group Icon Background Color

This attribute changes the background color of the story group icon that is shown to the user as skeleton view till the stories are loaded. This attribute can be specified programmatically or from the attributes inspector of design view.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyGroupIconBackgroundColor = UIColor

storylyView.storyGroupIconBackgroundColor = UIColor *

In order to set this attribute from the design view, change the color of the Story Group Icon Background Color under the Storyly View section in the attributes inspector.

Story Group Icon Border Seen State Color

This attribute changes the border color of the story group icons that are seen by the user. The border consists of color gradients. This attribute can only be specified programmatically.

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Warning

At least 2 colors must be defined in order to use this attribute. If a single color is requested, a same color code can be used twice.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyGroupIconBorderColorNotSeen = [UIColor]

storylyView.storyGroupIconBorderColorNotSeen = NSArray<UIColor *> *

Story Group Icon Border Not Seen State Color

This attribute changes the border color of the story group icons that are unseen by the user. The border consists of color gradients. This attribute can only be specified programmatically.

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Warning

At least 2 colors must be defined in order to use this attribute. If a single color is requested, a same color code can be used twice.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyGroupIconBorderColorNotSeen = [UIColor]

storylyView.storyGroupIconBorderColorNotSeen = NSArray<UIColor *> *

Story Group Pin Icon Color

If any of the story groups are selected as pinned groups from the dashboard, a little star icon will appear along with the story group icon. This attribute changes the background color of this pin icon. This attribute can be specified programmatically or from the attributes inspector of design view.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyGroupPinIconColor = UIColor

storylyView.storyGroupPinIconColor = UIColor *

In order to set this attribute from the design view, change the color of the Story Group Pin Icon Color under the Storyly View section in the attributes inspector.

Story Group Ivod Icon Color

If any of the story groups are selected as the IVod group type from the dashboard, a little camera icon will appear along with the story group icon. This attribute changes the background color of this Ivod icon. This attribute can be specified programmatically or from the attributes inspector of design view.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyGroupIVodIconColor = UIColor

storylyView.storyGroupIVodIconColor = UIColor *

In order to set this attribute from the design view, change the color of the Story Group Ivod Icon Color under the Storyly View section in the attributes inspector.

Story Group Size

This attribute changes the size of the story group. This attribute can be specified programmatically or from the attributes inspector of design view. Currently, supported sizes are small, large and custom sizes. The default story group size is large.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyGroupSize = String

storylyView.storyGroupSize = String *

In order to set this attribute from the design view, change the value of the Story Group Size under the Storyly View section in the attributes inspector.

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Tip

If you set your story group size as custom, you can change a few measures of the story groups such as icon height, icon width, icon corner radius. Check the Custom Size Story Group Icon Styling.

Custom Size Story Group Icon Styling

This styling changes the shape of the story group icons, their corners, and the distance between each other. You can create square, circle, and oval-shaped icons using these attributes. This styling can be specified programmatically or from the attributes inspector of design view. You should set a StoryGroupIconStyling instance, which consists of the following variables: height, width, cornerRadius.

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Warning

This section is effective if you set your story group size as custom. If you set any other size and use this attribute, your changes will not take effect.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyGroupIconStyling = StoryGroupIconStyling

storylyView.storyGroupIconStyling = StoryGroupIconStyling *

In order to set this attribute from the design view, change the values of the Story Group Icon Height, Story Group Icon Width, and Story Group Icon Corner Radius under the Storyly View section in the attributes inspector.

Story Group List Styling

This styling changes the orientation of Story Groups, number of rows/columns (sections), horizontal and vertical distance between the Story Groups and edge paddings of the first and last Story Groups.

In order to set these attributes, use one of the following methods:

storlyView.storyGroupListOrientation = "horizontal" | "vertical"

storlyView.storyGroupListSections = Int

storlyView.storyGroupListHorizontalEdgePadding = CGFloat

storlyView.storyGroupListVerticalEdgePadding = CGFloat

storlyView.storyGroupListHorizontalPaddingBetweenItems = CGFloat

storlyView.storyGroupListVerticalPaddingBetweenItems = CGFloat

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Tip

Orientation: This is set as "horizontal" by default, if you'd like to have a vertical, grid-like view of Story Groups, you can set it as "vertical".

Sections: Based on the orientation, it's the row count of Story Groups for horizontal orientation or column count of Story Groups for vertical orientation.

Horizontal Edge Padding: Edge padding value of the first and last Story Groups for horizontal orientation.

Vertical Edge Padding: Edge padding value of the first and last Story Groups for vertical orientation.

Horizontal Padding Between Items: Horizontal padding value between Story Groups.

Vertical Padding Between Items: Vertical padding value between Story Groups.

Story Group Thematic Icon Image

This feature lets you use different story groups images for different labels. If you set dark mode images for your story groups from the Storyly dashboard, you can set a dark label to show these dark mode icons. This attribute can be specified programmatically or from the attributes inspector of design view.

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Warning

If you use the following methods to set the label without setting dark mode images from the dashboard, default group images will be used. If you already set the dark mode images but send a string label other than dark, again default group images will be used.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyGroupIconImageThematicLabel = String

storylyView.storyGroupIconImageThematicLabel = String *

In order to set this attribute from the design view, change the value of the Story Group Icon Image Thematic Label under the Storyly View section in the attributes inspector.

Story Group Animation

This attribute adds an animation to the Story Group cover.

storylyView.storyGroupAnimation = "borderAnimation" | "disabled"

storyGroupAnimation borderAnimation | disabled

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Warning

Story Group Animation is enabled by default. To disable it, you need to set it as disabled.

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Warning

• Story Group animation applies to all Story Groups.
• Story Group animation is not available for Custom Story Group Styling.

Storyly Layout Direction

This attribute changes the layout direction of the Storyly Bar. Storyly Bar can either be LTR (Left to right) or RTL (Right to left). If your UI is bidirectional and it changes depending on the device or app language you can use this attribute.

storylyView.storylyLayoutDirection = .LTR | .RTL

storylyLayoutDirection LTR | RTL

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Warning

Storyly will use the LTR layout if the StorylyLayoutDirection is not set.

Story View Customizations

This section shows supported customizations on story view.

Storyly View Header Text Color

This attribute changes the header text color of the story view. This attribute can be specified programmatically or from the attributes inspector of design view.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyItemTextColor = UIColor

storylyView.storyItemTextColor = UIColor * 

In order to set this attribute from the design view, change the color of the Story Item Text Color under the Storyly View section in the attributes inspector.

Storyly View Header Icon Border Color

This attribute changes the header icon border color of the story view. The border consists of color gradients. This attribute can only be specified programmatically.

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Warning

At least 2 colors must be defined in order to use this attribute. If a single color is requested, a same color code can be used twice.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyItemIconBorderColor = [UIColor]

storylyView.storyItemIconBorderColor = NSArray<UIColor *> *

Storyly View Progress Bar Color

This attribute changes the progress bar colors, two colors, of the story view. The first defined color is the color of the background bars and the second one is the color of the foreground bars while watching the stories. This attribute can only be specified programmatically.

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Warning

Only 2 colors must be defined in order to use this attribute.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.progressBarColor = [UIColor]

storylyView.progressBarColor = NSArray<UIColor *> *

Storyly View Header Icon and Text Visibility

This styling changes the visibility of story group text. This attribute can be specified programmatically or from the attributes inspector of design view.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyHeaderStyling = StoryHeaderStyling

storylyView.storyHeaderStyling = StoryHeaderStyling *

In order to set this attribute from the design view, change the values of the Story Header Icon Is Visible and Story Header Text Is Visible under the Storyly View section in the attributes inspector.

Storyly View Header Close and Share Icon Styling

This styling changes the visibility and icon of story header close icon and share icon. This attributes can be specified programmatically with StoryHeaderStyling, or from the attributes inspector of design view.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyHeaderStyling = StoryHeaderStyling

storylyView.storyHeaderStyling = StoryHeaderStyling *

In order to set these attributes from design view, change values of the storyHeaderCloseButtonIsVisible, storyHeaderCloseButtonIcon and storyHeaderShareButtonIcon under the Storyly View section in the attributes inspector.

Storyly View Header Text Font

This attribute changes the font of the story view header text. This attribute can only be specified programmatically.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyItemTextFont = UIFont

storylyView.storyItemTextFont = UIFont *

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Warning

Font size will be overridden in Storyly, so it is not possible to change the font size.

Storyly View Loading View

This customization changes the default loading view to the desired custom loading view. In order to change this view, you need to prepare your own loading view, which must inherit from StorylyLoadingView. You can see an example class in the following code snippet:

class LoadingView: UIView, StorylyLoadingView {
    
    override init(frame: CGRect) {
        super.init(frame: frame)
        self.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        self.isUserInteractionEnabled = true
        
        let view = UIView(frame: frame)
        addSubview(view)
        view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        view.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.topAnchor).isActive = true
        view.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.bottomAnchor).isActive = true
        view.leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.leftAnchor).isActive = true
        view.rightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.rightAnchor).isActive = true
        
    }

    required init?(coder: NSCoder) { fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented") }
    
    func getView() -> UIView {
        return self
    }
    
    func show() {}
    
    func hide() {}
}

@implementation LoadingView 
    // Check the swift sample
@end

After you create your custom loading view, set it by using the following methods:

storylyView.storylyLoadingView = StorylyLoadingView

storyly_view.storylyLoadingView = StorylyLoadingView *

Storyly View Interactive Font

This attribute changes the font of all text view's font in interactive components. This attribute can only be specified programmatically.

In order to set this attribute, use one of the following methods:

storylyView.storyInteractiveFont = UIFont

storylyView.storyInteractiveFont = UIFont *

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Warning

Storyly will use UIFont.systemFont if custom font is not set.

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Warning

Storyly will arrange font size for each text view in interactive components so that custom font size arrangement is not possible.

Custom Story Group Styling

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Warning

This section is valid if you are using Storyly SDK version 1.16.0 or higher.

This guide shows you how to customize the story group view's style. Storyly provides three different pre-defined story group styles; Small, Large and Custom. However, if you want to use different style other than these pre-defined ones or if pre-defined ones do not satisfy your expectations then you should follow this section.

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Warning

If you are using pre-defined sizes and want to apply only some customizations, follow UI Customizations section.

Story Group View Factory

You need to set storyGroupViewFactory field of StorylyView as a start point of the setup. You need to create a class that implements StoryGroupViewFactory protocol and implements createView and getSize functions.

// Assume we have a StorylyView instance called storylyView
storylyView.storyGroupViewFactory = SampleViewFactory()

class SampleViewFactory: StoryGroupViewFactory {

    func createView() -> StoryGroupView {
        return SampleView(frame: .zero)
    }

    // Size of your custom view
    func getSize() -> CGSize {
        return CGSize(width: 100, height: 178)
    }
}

StoryGroupViewFactory calls createView and getSize functions whenever a new view is required. It will request an instance of your view for each of the story groups while creating the StorylyView. Therefore, each story group is associated with different instances of your view. Note that, Storyly SDK uses UICollectionView to show lists so that a new view is not required for each time, recycled views will be used.

Story Group View

StoryGroupView class is used to represent the view that will be shown as a single story group. In order to use your own custom view, your view should be subclass of StoryGroupView class and implement its functions;

class SampleView: StoryGroupView {
    let kCONTENT_XIB_NAME = "SampleView"

    @IBOutlet var contentView: UIView!
    @IBOutlet var sampleText: UILabel!

    override init(frame: CGRect) {
        super.init(frame: frame)
        commonInit()
    }

    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        super.init(coder: aDecoder)
        commonInit()
    }
    
    func commonInit() {
        Bundle.main.loadNibNamed(kCONTENT_XIB_NAME, owner: self, options: nil)
        addSubview(contentView)
        contentView.frame = self.bounds
    }
    
    override func populateView(storyGroup: StoryGroup?) {
        // Handle populating view with Storyly related data
        // ie, self.sampleText.text = storyGroup?.title
    }
}

populateView function is called when your view is about to be shown. Its storyGroup parameter has all of the information that you provided in Storyly dashboard for your story groups. You can find the details of the StoryGroup below:

@objc public final class StoryGroup: NSObject {
    @objc public let id: Int
    @objc public let title: String
    @objc public let iconUrl: URL
    @objc public let thematicIconUrls: [String: URL]?
    @objc public let coverUrl: URL?
    @objc public let index: Int
    @objc public let seen: Bool
    @objc public let stories: [Story]
    @objc public let pinned: Bool
    @objc public let type: StoryGroupType
}

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Tip

You can find the explanation of each field from the API Reference section.

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Tip

Please check the this github page for implemented samples.

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Warning Additional data

Do not forget to use additional fields of the storyGroup parameter of the populateView function. For instance, if you want to show pinned groups, you can use pinned field of the object or if you want to show IVOD(Interactive VideOnDemand) groups, you can use the type field of the object.

Summary

To sum up, in order to use your own custom group style, you need to follow the steps below:

• Create your own custom style in XIB or programmatically.
• Use this style in a class that is subclass of StoryGroupView by using XIB and adding its view or by adding views programmatically.
• Override populateView function in the previous class you defined and by using the data in storyGroup parameter, fill your UI components.
• Create a class that implements StoryGroupViewFactory protocol in order to serve as your factory.
• Implement createView and getSize functions in the previous class you defined and return a new instance of your StoryGroupView subclass.
• Create a new instance of your factory that implements StoryGroupViewFactory and set storyGroupViewFactory variable of the StorylyView with this instance.