@IBDesignable error: IB Designables: Failed to update auto layout status: Interface Builder Cocoa Touch Tool crashed

Question

I have a very simple subclass of UITextView that adds the "Placeholder" functionality that you can find native to the Text Field object. Here is my code for the subclass:

import UIKit
import Foundation

@IBDesignable class PlaceholderTextView: UITextView, UITextViewDelegate
{
    @IBInspectable var placeholder: String = "" {
        didSet {
            setPlaceholderText()
        }
    }
    private let placeholderColor: UIColor = UIColor.lightGrayColor()        
    private var textColorCache: UIColor!
    
    override init(frame: CGRect) {
        super.init(frame: frame)
        self.delegate = self
    }
    
    required init(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        super.init(coder: aDecoder)
        self.delegate = self
    }
    
    func textViewDidBeginEditing(textView: UITextView) {
        if textView.text == placeholder {
            textView.text = ""
            textView.textColor = textColorCache
        }
    }
    
    func textViewDidEndEditing(textView: UITextView) {
        if textView.text == "" && placeholder != "" {
            setPlaceholderText()
        }
    }
    
    func setPlaceholderText() {
        if placeholder != "" {
            if textColorCache == nil { textColorCache = self.textColor }
            self.textColor = placeholderColor
            self.text = placeholder
        }
    }
}

After changing the class for the UITextView object in the Identity Inspector to PlaceholderTextView, I can set the Placeholder property just fine in the Attribute Inspector. The code works great when running the app, but does not display the placeholder text in the interface builder. I also get the following non-blocking errors (I assume this is why it's not rendering at design time):

error: IB Designables: Failed to update auto layout status: Interface Builder Cocoa Touch Tool crashed

error: IB Designables: Failed to render instance of PlaceholderTextView: Rendering the view took longer than 200 ms. Your drawing code may suffer from slow performance.

I'm not able to figure out what is causing these errors. The second error doesn't make any sense, as I'm not even overriding drawRect(). Any ideas?

I was getting this error. The object worked fine in a test project, but not in my main project (in a table). According to https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/recipes/xcode_help-IB_objects_media/Chapters/DebuggingCustomViews.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40014224-CH42-SW1, I chose Choose Editor > Debug Selected Views. Then I got "Could not debug views" "Ensure your framework has the correct build settings for building for iOS." Nothing came up in Google for this error. — Matt, Mar 16 '15 at 20:51

score 245 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 22 '17 at 14:49

245

There are crash reports generated when Interface Builder Cocoa Touch Tool crashes. Theses are located in ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports and named IBDesignablesAgentCocoaTouch_*.crash. In my case they contained a useful stack-trace that identified the issue in my code.

edited Feb 22 '17 at 14:49

martn_st

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answered Jul 01 '15 at 10:54

Petter

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1

Thanks! This was super helpful! Where did you find the info about the crash reports? :) – Ben-G Jul 31 '15 at 20:31
57

In my case, I discovered that `initFrame(frame: CGRect)` must be defined. Do so if you provide your own `init` method(s). – Travis Nov 17 '15 at 07:17
This was the best solution. I wasn't implementation initWithFrame on one of the views. – HotFudgeSunday Dec 09 '15 at 17:13
3

I used the diagnostic reports and like @Travis mentioned, I needed to override the `init(frame: CGRect)` explicitly because I had a custom `ini` method. You might want to look through the crash report for `use of unimplemented initializer 'init(frame:)'` directly under `Application Specific Information` in the report. Thanks guys! Double win in this answer! – Chris Feb 26 '16 at 12:51
cd ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports – Joel Teply Aug 16 '16 at 18:59
Perfect. Don't forget to restart your Xcode if it still throws the error. – geekay Feb 08 '17 at 13:32
4

As usual, this log file is also available in the **Console** macOS app, under the **User Diagnostic Reports** group. – Paulo Mattos Apr 10 '17 at 15:56

score 51 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 16 '19 at 16:07

51

I have had the same issue a couple of times. Both times it started when I was loading an IBDesignable nib onto the storyboard when the nib was not able to fit on the view (ie I had a button off of the UIView but still in the nib). Once I fixed that Xcode still gave me errors so I restarted Xcode until it randomly stopped giving me the error.

I hope this helps.

UPDATE: I just killed all processes named "Interface Builder Cocoa Touch Tool", restarted Xcode and the error went away. Don't know if this will always work or not.

edited Jul 16 '19 at 16:07

shim

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answered Jan 22 '15 at 21:14

Dustin Williams

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Confession: It randomly stopped giving me the error as well, but a lot has changed since then, and I'm not sure what made the error go away. The two most prominent changes are: 1) We rebuilt the project to use the new swift cocoa pods beta for loading in other swift frameworks. 2) I rebuilt the `PlaceholderTextView` to use a subView label instead of actual text value... It may have been either of those things. – Albert Bori Jan 23 '15 at 02:37
Update: The error is back, just as magically as it disappeared. – Albert Bori Jan 27 '15 at 21:19
2

While I still don't understand why, If you don't overwrite any of the `init` methods, the code posted as part of the question no longer shows the `IB Designables` errors and the placeholder is properly rendered in the Interface Builder. – Willington Vega Feb 25 '15 at 02:42
@wvega: Can confirm. That's very weird. And very stupid. – Nico Feb 26 '15 at 01:56
2

Perhaps this is a bug and we just need to wait for it to be fixed. Perhaps in Xcode 6.3. – Youssef Moawad Mar 01 '15 at 07:34
3

XCode 7.1.1 and still present. Restarting XCode didn't solve the problem. I had to manually kill all processes called Interface Builder Cocoa Touch Tool, then XCode crashed, restarted it and it started working. – Cristian Pena Nov 11 '15 at 19:24
1

Important point: Indeed FIRST kill the interface builder processes, then stop XCode - if you do it the other way around the problem persists ... – TheEye Nov 25 '15 at 12:44
2

XCode 8.1 this error still occurs. Originally caused by not having init override but persisted after init added. Had to kill Interface Builder processes as described THEN restart xcode as @TheEye says – John Fowler Oct 30 '16 at 16:05
@JohnFowler unfortunately, the error goes away but comes back after a few minutes working in IB for me. – Can Poyrazoğlu Feb 05 '17 at 23:14
1

Still present in Xcode 8.2.1, your fix worked, however. Thanks! – LinusGeffarth Mar 01 '17 at 12:57

jmoukel · Answer 3 · 2017-02-11T00:17:58.573

39

In my case, I was doing the next in the initWithFrame/initWithCoder methods to create the view:

className = NSStringFromClass([self class]);
self.view = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:className owner:self options:nil] firstObject];

It looks like I was Not supposed to use the Main Bundle, but instead the bundle of the class. So I replaced that code for the following and it worked:

bundle = [NSBundle bundleForClass:[self class]];
className = NSStringFromClass([self class]);
self.view = [[bundle loadNibNamed:className owner:self options:nil] firstObject];

I thought maybe this might help somebody.

edited Feb 11 '17 at 00:17

answered Feb 14 '16 at 21:04

jmoukel

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6
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This fixed my issue too! Thanks @jmoukel! – edopelawi Aug 21 '17 at 10:37
That one fixed my issue. Man!!! i couldn't notice that "bundleForClass" line even though i looked into this solution couple of times. :( – elk_cloner Sep 06 '17 at 02:13
`let bundle = Bundle(for: ValidatingTextField.self)` in Swift – Cfr Mar 14 '19 at 12:10

score 14 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 06 '16 at 20:23

14

You could select your custom view in Interface Builder and then use Editor, Debug Selected Views. It will launch so-called IBDesignableAgentCocoaTouch debug session when all breakpoints (including exception breakpoints) work and you could exactly identify the place your view crashes.

answered Dec 06 '16 at 20:23

Fyodor Volchyok

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Perfect! This found my problem, too – an incorrect font. Which explains why only one of six very similar IBDesignables was failing. – zkarj Jan 07 '18 at 00:57

score 13 · Answer 5 · edited Jul 16 '19 at 16:09

13

For Xcode 8 - Swift

Adding optional value as default value on @IBInspectable causing issue for me.

This won't work:

@IBInspectable var repeatImage: UIImage = UIImage(named:"myImage")!{
      didSet {
       // configureView
      }
}

This should work:

@IBInspectable var repeatImage: UIImage = RepeatImageView.getDefaultImage() {
    didSet {
        // configureView()
    }
}

class func getDefaultImage() -> UIImage {
    if let defaultImage = UIImage(named: "myImage") {
        return defaultImage
    } else {
        return UIImage()
    }
}

edited Jul 16 '19 at 16:09

shim

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answered Jan 12 '17 at 07:28

Mohammad Zaid Pathan

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@DungTran Which issue are you facing? – Mohammad Zaid Pathan Jan 17 '18 at 13:49
1

Optional handling prevents the crash. But do you know what is causing UIImage(named:) to return nil consistently? – ScottyBlades May 03 '18 at 01:06
Commenting out this code fixed it for me ` @objc @available(*, deprecated, renamed: "backgroundColor") @IBInspectable public var signatureBackgroundColor: UIColor = .white { didSet { backgroundColor = signatureBackgroundColor } }` – PhoneyDeveloper Aug 15 '18 at 18:27

score 9 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 25 '17 at 06:19

9

I was experiencing the similar Interface Builder issues rendering designables.

Using the technique suggested in this answer I was able to track down the issue to the use of image literals.

Rendering crash

self.backgroundImage.image =  #imageLiteral(resourceName: "rectangleCenter")

No rendering crash

self.backgroundImage.image =  UIImage(named: "rectangleCenter")

answered Aug 25 '17 at 06:19

Nick Cross

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You are a hero. – nathangitter Aug 29 '17 at 16:53
Any idea why image literals are incompatible with IB? I had the same issue. – SwiftsNamesake Jan 09 '18 at 15:47

Yusuf Kamil AK · Answer 7 · 2017-07-31T19:15:59.583

Actually if you have some old user defined attributes (which is not valid for current view) at any view in your storyboard, that may cause your agent to crash.

Besides, sometimes it happens just because of a nasty bug of Xcode. To check it out, when you're at storyboard uncheck Editor > Automatically Refresh Views, then move to another file, clean and restart your project. After you entered storyboard again, you can click Editor > Refresh Views and check automatic one again. That one also solved my problem once.

If both didn't work, then probably you have done something wrong about your IBDesignable view, so choose your crashed views in storyboard and debug by clicking Editor > Debug Views

score 4 · Answer 8 · edited Jul 16 '19 at 16:08

4

I had the same issue and I solved it by adding the 'use_frameworks!' to my project's Podfile.

Hope it helps you.

edited Jul 16 '19 at 16:08

shim

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answered May 25 '16 at 09:52

Jimmy Ng

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This worked for me when I had this issue with JVFloatLabeledTextField – saswanb Feb 06 '18 at 22:22
This was what worked for me, adopting an older Obj-C project that was fairly out-of-date. The IB light up like a Christmas tree after this! Thank you. – drew.. Jun 15 '19 at 18:45

score 4 · Answer 9 · answered May 31 '17 at 13:20

4

This is not the case for this question, but maybe I will help someone else.

I had a similar problem when in my @IBDesignable class I did not implemented both:

required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
    super.init(coder: aDecoder)

    // custom setup
}

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

    // custom setup
}

answered May 31 '17 at 13:20

zalogatomek

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You should always implement both init methods. Init with frame is used when you init your view from code and init with aDecoder is used from InterfaceBuilder. – Skodik.o Mar 08 '18 at 07:50

Paul Razvan Berg · Answer 10 · 2017-01-11T21:29:07.427

3

In my case, it was a problem with OneSignal. Apparently, they have a bug within the version 2.2.0 and above. Switched to 2.1.6 and everything's great again!

Check out this.

edited Jan 11 '17 at 21:29

answered Dec 27 '16 at 16:44

Paul Razvan Berg

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score 2 · Answer 11 · answered Dec 08 '16 at 12:45

2

In my case it was somehow related to a carthage framework that I was using. I had to add $(PROJECT_DIR)/Carthage/Build/iOS to the Runpath Search Paths build setting

answered Dec 08 '16 at 12:45

AkademiksQc

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1
6
20

After trying all other posted solutions...this was the only fix that worked for me! Thanks! – Joel Mar 13 '17 at 15:37

score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Aug 16 '17 at 10:27

When i debugged this i found out there are some classes which are modifying UI. Typically marquelabel which is a subclass of UILabel or any other class subclassing UIView and drawing ui at run time and colliding with Autolayout engine. Try giving fixed width or height for these custom views. If it doesn't solve your problem try Following solutions:-

Solution 1:- Uncomment #use_frameworks inside your pod file.

Solution 2:- Try deleting derived data. 1. Close Editor window of your Xcode and quit simulator -> 2. Go to Xcode Preferences -> Locations -> 3. Click small grey arrow showing derived data path -> 4. Select your project -> 5. Delete all the folders inside -> 6. Quit Xcode and reopen

score 1 · Answer 13 · answered May 09 '18 at 12:52

Add it to the bottom of your Podfile and run pod install

# Workaround for Cocoapods issue #7606

    post_install do |installer|
        installer.pods_project.build_configurations.each do |config|
            config.build_settings.delete('CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED')
            config.build_settings.delete('CODE_SIGNING_REQUIRED')
        end
    end

score 1 · Answer 14 · answered May 25 '18 at 01:44

Add this script at the end of my Podfile and performed pod install again.

post_install do |installer|
    installer.pods_project.build_configurations.each do |config|
        config.build_settings.delete('CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED')
        config.build_settings.delete('CODE_SIGNING_REQUIRED')
    end
end

score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Aug 09 '18 at 12:37

1

A major issue is when you are creating @IBDesignable make sure the cocoapod file isn't included in the UITests or else it will cause this crash.

answered Aug 09 '18 at 12:37

Modesto Cabrera

519
5
6

score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Jan 16 '17 at 19:37

0

I find the reason is your xib is not the same size as the design in storyboard. Make sure the xib has the same height and width.

answered Jan 16 '17 at 19:37

user6476366

21

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Apr 08 '17 at 12:54

0

I was just missing this line of code platform :ios, '7.0' and problem was solved. Just this line in your pod file and update your pod issue will be resolved.

answered Apr 08 '17 at 12:54

Shahzaib Maqbool

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16
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score 0 · Answer 18 · answered Mar 16 '18 at 07:22

0

For me it was a missing signing certificate, because I never ran the app, so Xcode did not yet create a certificate. Once I ran the app, the IBDesignable rendering worked fine.

answered Mar 16 '18 at 07:22

Florian Pfisterer

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21

score 0 · Answer 19 · answered Apr 28 '18 at 14:20

0

It's like if you got Code from other Developer and you get this error. Just run

pod install

This worked for me. Hope It helps.

answered Apr 28 '18 at 14:20

Dhruv Khatri

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Sauvik Dolui · Answer 20 · 2018-07-24T10:30:43.837

Make sure that you are not directly initialising UIImage or UIFont using assets or fonts added in your project.

I always create a private func setUp() in my @IBDesignable custom UI classes. which is called from init(frame: CGRect), init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder). So I finally updated the setup() as the following.

private func setUp() {

     //... Doing initial configurations

     // iconImageView.image = UIImage(named: "IconImageName")! // Causing the Crash, use if let OR guard let instead
     if let icon = UIImage(named: "IconImageName") {
          iconImageView.image = icon
          iconImageView.frame.size = icon.size
     }

     // nameLabel.font =  UIFont(name: "Calibri-Light", size: 15.0) // Causing the Crash, use if let OR guard let instead
     if let font = UIFont(name: "Calibri-Light", size: size) {
          nameLabel.font =  font
     } else {
          nameLabel.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: size) 
     }

     // Doing other stuffs
}

score 0 · Answer 21 · answered Nov 08 '20 at 08:21

0

I did everything and it did not work till I restarted MAC. Try restarting MAC. Worked for me.

answered Nov 08 '20 at 08:21

oto

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score -1 · Answer 22 · edited Jun 10 '17 at 06:57

-1

Just let it to build and run on simulator if you have error in somewhere else in project just comment it out and run designable first to update designable and uncomment the other codes. It works for me.

edited Jun 10 '17 at 06:57

Manfred Radlwimmer

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answered Jun 10 '17 at 06:28

Daniel

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@IBDesignable error: IB Designables: Failed to update auto layout status: Interface Builder Cocoa Touch Tool crashed

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