How to convert standard color names in string to UIColor values

Question

I have a variable:

var colorName = String()

I need the tint color of a button to be the appropriate color. Doing the following:

cell.btn.tintColor = UIColor.red 

works for me. But I need to use my colorName variable instead of "UIColor.red" expression.

How would I initialize a UIColor with the string red to be UIColor.red?

Answer 1

There is no built in feature to make a UIColor with a name. You can write an extension like the one by Paul Hudson found here: https://www.hackingwithswift.com/example-code/uicolor/how-to-convert-a-html-name-string-into-a-uicolor

Simplified example:

extension UIColor {
    public func named(_ name: String) -> UIColor? {
        let allColors: [String: UIColor] = [
            "red": .red,
        ]
        let cleanedName = name.replacingOccurrences(of: " ", with: "").lowercased()
        return allColors[cleanedName]
    }
}

And then use it:

let redColor = UIColor().named("red")

You could also define an xcassets like in this article: https://medium.com/bobo-shone/how-to-use-named-color-in-xcode-9-d7149d270a16

And then use UIColor(named: "red")