How to Create a Side Menu in IOS App Using Swift

How to Create a Side Menu in iOS Using Swift

Side menus provide a great way for users to quickly access different app functions or view different content without leaving the current page. And with the help of Swift, creating a side menu is easy. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to create a side menu in an iOS app using Swift.

Step 1: Organize Your Views on Storyboard

Before writing any code, you should organize the different views that will make up your side menu. To do this, open the storyboard file in Xcode and set up your interface. You should add two view controllers — one for your main content, and another for your menu. You can also drag a UIViewController object onto your storyboard to use as your menu.

Step 2: Create a UIViewController Class

Once your view is set up, it’s time to create a UIViewController class that you’ll use to manage the view. To do this, go to File > New > File and select ‘Cocoa Touch Class’ from the list. When prompted, name the class ‘SideMenuViewController’. Then, select ‘UIViewController’ as the subclass for the class.

Step 3: Connect Your Views to the New Class

Now that you have your class set up, you need to wire up your views in the storyboard to the new class. To do this, open up the storyboard file again and click on the view controller you added for your menu. Then, select the ‘Identity Inspector’ tab from the inspector pane and select ‘SideMenuViewController’ from the Class dropdown menu.

Step 4: Add Child View Controllers

Next, you need to set up the child view controllers that will be displayed when the side menu is opened. To do this, select the ‘SideMenuViewController’ class from the project navigator and add the following code to the class:

import UIKit

class SideMenuViewController: UIViewController {
    let contentVC: ContentViewController
    let menuVC: MenuViewController
    
    init(contentVC: ContentViewController, menuVC: MenuViewController) {
        self.contentVC = contentVC
        self.menuVC = menuVC
        super.init(nibName: nil, bundle: nil)
    }
    
    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
    }
    
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        
        addChild(contentVC)
        contentVC.didMove(toParent: self)
        view.addSubview(contentVC.view)
        
        addChild(menuVC)
        menuVC.didMove(toParent: self)
        view.addSubview(menuVC.view)
    }
}

Step 5: Add An Animation

To make the side menu slide in and out, you need to add an animation. To do this, go back to the SideMenuViewController class and add the following method:

func toggleMenu() {
    let menuVisible = menuVC.view.frame.origin.x == 0
    let contentVisible = contentVC.view.frame.origin.x == 0

    if menuVisible {
        // Slide the menu view off the screen
        UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.5, animations: {
            self.menuVC.view.frame.origin.x = -self.view.frame.width
            self.contentVC.view.frame.origin.x = 0
        })
    } else if contentVisible {
        // Slide the menu view onto the screen
        UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.5, animations: {
            self.menuVC.view.frame.origin.x = 0
            self.contentVC.view.frame.origin.x = self.view.frame.width
        })
    }
}

Step 6: Call the Method When Needed

Now that you have your animation set up, you need to call the method whenever the user wants to open or close the menu. To do this, go back to the ContentViewController class and add the following code to the viewDidLoad() method:

let menuButton = UIButton(type: .system)
menuButton.setImage(#imageLiteral(resourceName: "menu"), for: .normal)
menuButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(toggleMenu), for: .touchUpInside)
view.addSubview(menuButton)

The above code creates a button that calls the toggleMenu() method when tapped. The menuButton image can be a hamburger icon, which is a common menu icon used in apps.

Conclusion

That’s it! You now have a working side menu in your iOS app. You can customize it further by adding different views and animations, but the basic framework is in place. With just a few lines of code, you can easily create a side menu that can greatly improve the user experience in your app.