I have a board game app designed for iPad. At the start of each turn, if conditions are right, a user can display a popup showing a crossword-style grid. The popup is designed as a freeform XIB. I want this to be square. I worked out how to make it square in the simulator, but it's not square on an actual iPad. To make it square, I included this code in viewDidLoad:

    super.viewDidLoad()
    let screenSize = min(UIScreen.main.bounds.width,  UIScreen.main.bounds.height)
    preferredContentSize = CGSize(width: screenSize - 50, height: screenSize - 50)

This is how it displays on the simulator.

This is how it displays on the physical iPad.

I note this is a portrait-only app. Views are rotated using transforms to orient properly for each player, presumably sitting around a table with the iPad lying flat. There's no issue with the transform logic. So why do the preferredContentSize work on the simulator but not the physical device? Perhaps relevantly, the simulator is on iPadOS 18 and the device is on iPadOS 17.

This is how the XIB is presented:

private func showCrosswordViewController() {
    let crosswordViewController = CrosswordViewController(nibName: "CrosswordViewController", bundle: nil)
    crosswordViewController.delegate = self
    crosswordViewController.view.transform = .identity.rotated(by: activePlayerAngle)
    if let activePlayerHomeView = activePlayerHomeView() {
        crosswordViewController.cardViews.removeAll(keepingCapacity: true)
        for sv in activePlayerHomeView.subviews {
            if let cardView = sv as? CardView {
                cardView.cell = nil
                crosswordViewController.cardViews.append(cardView)
            }
        }
    }
    let sideCount = 12 - (playerPositions.count - 2)
    crosswordViewController.cellsPerRow = sideCount
    present(crosswordViewController, animated: true)
}

I have a board game app designed for iPad. At the start of each turn, if conditions are right, a user can display a popup showing a crossword-style grid. The popup is designed as a freeform XIB. I want this to be square. I worked out how to make it square in the simulator, but it's not square on an actual iPad. To make it square, I included this code in viewDidLoad:

    super.viewDidLoad()
    let screenSize = min(UIScreen.main.bounds.width,  UIScreen.main.bounds.height)
    preferredContentSize = CGSize(width: screenSize - 50, height: screenSize - 50)

This is how it displays on the simulator.

This is how it displays on the physical iPad.

I note this is a portrait-only app. Views are rotated using transforms to orient properly for each player, presumably sitting around a table with the iPad lying flat. There's no issue with the transform logic. So why do the preferredContentSize work on the simulator but not the physical device? Perhaps relevantly, the simulator is on iPadOS 18 and the device is on iPadOS 17.

This is how the XIB is presented:

private func showCrosswordViewController() {
    let crosswordViewController = CrosswordViewController(nibName: "CrosswordViewController", bundle: nil)
    crosswordViewController.delegate = self
    crosswordViewController.view.transform = .identity.rotated(by: activePlayerAngle)
    if let activePlayerHomeView = activePlayerHomeView() {
        crosswordViewController.cardViews.removeAll(keepingCapacity: true)
        for sv in activePlayerHomeView.subviews {
            if let cardView = sv as? CardView {
                cardView.cell = nil
                crosswordViewController.cardViews.append(cardView)
            }
        }
    }
    let sideCount = 12 - (playerPositions.count - 2)
    crosswordViewController.cellsPerRow = sideCount
    present(crosswordViewController, animated: true)
}

• swift
• ipad
• uiviewcontroller

• FYI, the same dimensions are uses no matter the orientation of the physical iPad. – Victor Engel Commented Feb 7 at 16:22

1 Answer 1

This seems to resolve my issue, I change the way it is presented to this (this method is called in response to a user tapping on the little green view visible in my original post:

private func showCrosswordViewController() {
    let crosswordViewController = CrosswordViewController(nibName: "CrosswordViewController", bundle: nil)
    crosswordViewController.delegate = self
    crosswordViewController.view.transform = .identity.rotated(by: activePlayerAngle)

 // Each player has a rectangular area on their side of the board. The active player's instance is retrieved with function activePlayerHomeView().
    if let activePlayerHomeView = activePlayerHomeView() {
        crosswordViewController.cardViews.removeAll(keepingCapacity: true)
        for sv in activePlayerHomeView.subviews {
            if let cardView = sv as? CardView {
                cardView.cell = nil
                crosswordViewController.cardViews.append(cardView)
            }
        }
    }
    let sideCount = 12 - (playerPositions.count - 2)
    crosswordViewController.cellsPerRow = sideCount
    
    let screenSize = min(UIScreen.main.bounds.width,  UIScreen.main.bounds.height)
    let vcSize = CGSize(width: screenSize - 50, height: screenSize - 50)
    crosswordViewController.modalPresentationStyle = .formSheet
    crosswordViewController.preferredContentSize = vcSize
    present(crosswordViewController, animated: true)
}