Adjusting your layout with keyboard layout guide

At a glance

Project structure

KeyboardTourGuide/
├── AppDelegate.swift
├── SceneDelegate.swift
├── ViewController.swift
└── Assets.xcassets/

Structure observations

• All feature behavior is intentionally colocated because layout guide, created views, and constraints share one view hierarchy.
• Helper methods separate hierarchy construction from adaptive constraint registration.

Overall architecture

flowchart LR
    Controller["ViewController"] --> Hierarchy["Title, image, controls"]
    Controller --> Guide["view.keyboardLayoutGuide"]
    Keyboard["Docked or floating keyboard"] --> Guide
    Guide --> Bottom["near bottom constraints"]
    Guide --> Horizontal["near/away leading and trailing"]
    Guide --> Top["near/away top constraints"]
    Bottom --> Hierarchy
    Horizontal --> Hierarchy
    Top --> Hierarchy

Reference code

KeyboardTourGuide/ViewController.swift:11 — startup enables floating-keyboard tracking and registers the adaptive constraints once.

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    view.keyboardLayoutGuide.followsUndockedKeyboard = true
    createTrackingConstraints()
}

Interpretation

The controller does not observe keyboard notifications or mutate frames. It declares mutually activated constraint groups, and UIKit selects them as the keyboard layout guide moves near or away from edges.

Ownership and state

classDiagram
    UIViewController *-- UIView : owns root view
    UIView *-- UIKeyboardLayoutGuide : provides
    UIView *-- UIImageView : retains subview
    UIView *-- UIStackView : retains controls container
    UIStackView *-- UITextField : arranged subview
    UIKeyboardLayoutGuide o-- NSLayoutConstraint : manages activation

Ownership evidence

KeyboardTourGuide/ViewController.swift:22 — the controller creates the feature views, inserts them, and binds their anchors to the guide.

func createTrackingConstraints() {
    let imageView = makeTitleAndImage()
    let editView = makeControlsView()
    view.addSubview(editView)

    let keyboardToImageView = view.keyboardLayoutGuide.topAnchor.constraint(
        greaterThanOrEqualToSystemSpacingBelow: imageView.bottomAnchor, multiplier: 1.0)
    view.keyboardLayoutGuide.setConstraints([keyboardToImageView], activeWhenNearEdge: .bottom)
}

Class and protocol design

No local protocols, model, service, delegate, or custom state owner are present. The architecture is deliberately a single layout example.

Access control

Reference code

KeyboardTourGuide/ViewController.swift:101 — factory-created views are returned for composition; intermediate state stays local.

func makeTitleAndImage() -> UIImageView {
    let titleLabel = UILabel()
    let imageView = UIImageView(image: #imageLiteral(resourceName: "Plants_1_Succulents"))
    view.addSubview(titleLabel)
    view.addSubview(imageView)
    return imageView
}

Logic ownership and placement

Design patterns

Naming conventions

• Methods use construction verbs: make... returns a view; createTrackingConstraints installs policy.
• Constraint variables describe both endpoints or condition, such as editViewOnKeyboard and nearLeadingConstraints.
• Constraint identifiers mirror variable names for debugging.

Architecture takeaways

• Prefer keyboard-layout-guide constraints over imperative keyboard notification/frame handling.
• Register near/away policies once and let UIKit own runtime activation.
• Keep transient construction values local when the view hierarchy and layout guide retain everything needed.

Source map

• Official Apple documentation