CGMutablePathRef changing colour

Question

I am using the example Apple provide in one of their samples for drawing a CGPath on an MKOverlayView. At the moment the line draws as a single colour but I would like to set this at different points along the path.

    - (CGPathRef)newPathForPoints:(MKMapPoint *)points
                   pointCount:(NSUInteger)pointCount
                     clipRect:(MKMapRect)mapRect
                    zoomScale:(MKZoomScale)zoomScale
{
    // The fastest way to draw a path in an MKOverlayView is to simplify the
    // geometry for the screen by eliding points that are too close together
    // and to omit any line segments that do not intersect the clipping rect.  
    // While it is possible to just add all the points and let CoreGraphics 
    // handle clipping and flatness, it is much faster to do it yourself:
    //
    if (pointCount < 2)
        return NULL;

    CGMutablePathRef path = NULL;

    BOOL needsMove = YES;

#define POW2(a) ((a) * (a))

    // Calculate the minimum distance between any two points by figuring out
    // how many map points correspond to MIN_POINT_DELTA of screen points
    // at the current zoomScale.
    double minPointDelta = MIN_POINT_DELTA / zoomScale;
    double c2 = POW2(minPointDelta);

    MKMapPoint point, lastPoint = points[0];
    NSUInteger i;
    for (i = 1; i < pointCount - 1; i++)
    {
        point = points[i];
        double a2b2 = POW2(point.x - lastPoint.x) + POW2(point.y - lastPoint.y);
        if (a2b2 >= c2) {
            if (lineIntersectsRect(point, lastPoint, mapRect))
            {
                if (!path) 
                    path = CGPathCreateMutable();
                if (needsMove)
                {
                    CGPoint lastCGPoint = [self pointForMapPoint:lastPoint];
                    CGPathMoveToPoint(path, NULL, lastCGPoint.x, lastCGPoint.y);
                }
                CGPoint cgPoint = [self pointForMapPoint:point];
                CGPathAddLineToPoint(path, NULL, cgPoint.x, cgPoint.y);
            }
            else
            {
                // discontinuity, lift the pen
                needsMove = YES;
            }
            lastPoint = point;
        }
    }

#undef POW2

    // If the last line segment intersects the mapRect at all, add it unconditionally
    point = points[pointCount - 1];
    if (lineIntersectsRect(lastPoint, point, mapRect))
    {
        if (!path)
            path = CGPathCreateMutable();
        if (needsMove)
        {
            CGPoint lastCGPoint = [self pointForMapPoint:lastPoint];
            CGPathMoveToPoint(path, NULL, lastCGPoint.x, lastCGPoint.y);
        }
        CGPoint cgPoint = [self pointForMapPoint:point];
        CGPathAddLineToPoint(path, NULL, cgPoint.x, cgPoint.y);
    }

    return path;
}

Essentially on the

CGPathAddLineToPoint(path, NULL, cgPoint.x, cgPoint.y);

line I would like to set an RGB colour if possible so that it can be different coloured along the way. I would be able to do this on a CALayer with a context by using

CGContextSetRGBStrokeColor(ctx, 0, 0, 0, 0.5);

But am lost if it is possible here.

Answer 1

That isn't possible. Stroke color is an attribute of the context, not the path; the context uses its current stroke color when you stroke the entire path. There's no way to tell the context “use this stroke color for this lineto, and this stroke color for this lineto,” etc.

You will need to keep the association between each color and each line segment on hand yourself, and stroke one segment at a time: Move to the previous point (or start point), plot a line to the next point, set the color you have for that segment, and stroke.