Help with UILabel subclass please

Question

Hello all... I have a UILabel subclass I call CustomLabel. Ive been googling and reading the apple docs this entire week to figure this out. The few examples Ive seen, I dont think Im doing it right.
Im trying to create a subclass to use throughout my project. Every label will have these properties so I figured why not subclass. So through a lot of trial and error I ended up with this...
CustomLabel.h
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
@interface CustomLabel : UILabel {
@property (nonatomic) CGSize shadowOffset;
@property (nonatomic) UITextAlignment *textAlignment;
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIColor *shadowColor;
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIColor *textColor;
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIColor *backgroundColor;
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIFont *font;
@end
CustomLabel.m
#import "CustomLabel.h"
#import "Constants.h"
@implementation CustomLabel
@synthesize textColor;
@synthesize backgroundColor;
@synthesize font;
@synthesize shadowColor;
@synthesize shadowOffset;
- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
if ((self = [super initWithFrame:frame])) {
self.textColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
self.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
self.font = SMALL_CHALKDUSTER;
self.shadowColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:0.0f green:0.0f blue:0.0f alpha:0.35f];
self.shadowOffset = CGSizeMake (0, 2);
self.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
return self;
- (void)dealloc {
[super dealloc];
@end
I then allocate a label like so...
ViewController.h
CustomLabel *myLabel;
@property (nonatomic, retain) CustomLabel *myLabel;
ViewController.m
myLabel = [[CustomLabel alloc] init];
myLabel.text = @"Blah blah blah";
I feel like Im way off on this... I must be since it isnt setting any of the properties Im trying to use in the subclass.
I found an older post on the forums here for setting the textAlignment but for some reason I couldnt apply the same logic to mine.
So can anyone help me with this subclass please and thank you?

Answer 1

xnav... thanks a ton for pointing me to this link. Its got me closer to my end goal than I was before. Right now I have...
CustomLabel.h
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
@interface CustomLabel : UILabel {
@end
CustomLabel.m
#import "CustomLabel.h"
#import "Constants.h"
@implementation CustomLabel
- (void) drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
CGContextRef ctx = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
UIColor *lineColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
UIColor *shColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:0.0f green:0.0f blue:0.0f alpha:0.35f];
//UIColor *bkgColor = [UIColor clearColor];
CGContextSetFillColorWithColor(ctx, lineColor.CGColor);
CGContextSetShadowWithColor(ctx, CGSizeMake(0, 2), self.font.pointSize / 2.0, shColor.CGColor);
//CGRect drawRect = CGRectMake(rect.origin.x, rect.origin.y,rect.size.width, rect.size.height);
//CGContextSetAlpha(ctx, 0) ;
//CGContextFillRect(ctx, drawRect);
//CGContextSetStrokeColorWithColor(ctx, [[UIColor clearColor] CGColor]);
//CGContextSetFillColorWithColor(ctx, [[UIColor clearColor] CGColor]);
CGContextSetBlendMode(ctx, kCGBlendModeClear);
//CGContextAddEllipseInRect(ctx,CGRectMake(size.width-(size.width/2)-(size.width/10), (size.width/10), (size.width/2), (size.height/2)));
//CGContextClosePath(ctx);
//CGContextDrawPath(ctx, kCGPathFillStroke);
//CGContextSetTextDrawingMode(ctx, kCGTextFillStroke);
//self.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
//[self setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
[self.text drawInRect:self.bounds withFont:TINY_CHALKDUSTER lineBreakMode:self.lineBreakMode alignment:UITextAlignmentCenter];
- (void)dealloc {
[super dealloc];
@end
As you can see I have a couple of things commented out. LOL I still cant figure out how to make the background color clear. I also dont know if I need the dealloc in this subclass. But the other properties seem to be working like the font and line color.
Thanks again for the link and getting me in the right direction xnav. If you can lend any more assistance on how to get that darn background color clear I would appreciate it!