Parsing HTML into NSAttributedText - how to set font?

Question

Swift 2 version, based on the answer given by Javier Querol

extension UILabel {
    func setHTMLFromString(text: String) {
        let modifiedFont = NSString(format:"<span style=\"font-family: \(self.font!.fontName); font-size: \(self.font!.pointSize)\">%@</span>", text) as String

        let attrStr = try! NSAttributedString(
            data: modifiedFont.dataUsingEncoding(NSUnicodeStringEncoding, allowLossyConversion: true)!,
            options: [NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute: NSHTMLTextDocumentType, NSCharacterEncodingDocumentAttribute: NSUTF8StringEncoding],
            documentAttributes: nil)

        self.attributedText = attrStr
    }
}

Swift 3.0 and iOS 9+

extension UILabel {
    func setHTMLFromString(htmlText: String) {
        let modifiedFont = String(format:"<span style=\"font-family: '-apple-system', 'HelveticaNeue'; font-size: \(self.font!.pointSize)\">%@</span>", htmlText)

        let attrStr = try! NSAttributedString(
            data: modifiedFont.data(using: .unicode, allowLossyConversion: true)!,
            options: [NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute: NSHTMLTextDocumentType, NSCharacterEncodingDocumentAttribute: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue],
            documentAttributes: nil)

        self.attributedText = attrStr
    }
}

Swift 5 and iOS 11+

extension UILabel {
    func setHTMLFromString(htmlText: String) {
        let modifiedFont = String(format:"<span style=\"font-family: '-apple-system', 'HelveticaNeue'; font-size: \(self.font!.pointSize)\">%@</span>", htmlText)

        let attrStr = try! NSAttributedString(
            data: modifiedFont.data(using: .unicode, allowLossyConversion: true)!,
            options: [.documentType: NSAttributedString.DocumentType.html, .characterEncoding:String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue],
            documentAttributes: nil)

        self.attributedText = attrStr
    }
}

#import "UILabel+HTML.h"

@implementation UILabel (HTML)

- (void)jaq_setHTMLFromString:(NSString *)string {

    string = [string stringByAppendingString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"<style>body{font-family: '%@'; font-size:%fpx;}</style>",
                                              self.font.fontName,
                                              self.font.pointSize]];
    self.attributedText = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithData:[string dataUsingEncoding:NSUnicodeStringEncoding]
                                                           options:@{NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute: NSHTMLTextDocumentType,
                                                                     NSCharacterEncodingDocumentAttribute: @(NSUTF8StringEncoding)}
                                                documentAttributes:nil
                                                             error:nil];
}


@end

This way you don't need to specify which font you want, it will take the label font and size.

I actually found a working solution to this problem:

Changing the font in your HTML response string before it gets parsed.

NSString *aux = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"<span style=\"font-family: YOUR_FONT_NAME; font-size: SIZE\">%@</span>", htmlResponse];

Example:

NSString *aux = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"<span style=\"font-family: HelveticaNeue-Thin; font-size: 17\">%@</span>", [response objectForKey:@"content"]];

Swift version:

let aux = "<span style=\"font-family: YOUR_FONT_NAME; font-size: SIZE\">\(htmlResponse)</span>"

Figured it out. Bit of a bear, and maybe not the best answer.

This code will go through all the font changes. I know that it is using "Times New Roman" and "Times New Roman BoldMT" for the fonts. But regardless, this will find the bold fonts and let me reset them. I can also reset the size while I'm at it.

I honestly hope/think there is a way to set this up at parse time, but I can't find it if there is.

    NSRange range = (NSRange){0,[str length]};
    [str enumerateAttribute:NSFontAttributeName inRange:range options:NSAttributedStringEnumerationLongestEffectiveRangeNotRequired usingBlock:^(id value, NSRange range, BOOL *stop) {
        UIFont* currentFont = value;
        UIFont *replacementFont = nil;

        if ([currentFont.fontName rangeOfString:@"bold" options:NSCaseInsensitiveSearch].location != NSNotFound) {
            replacementFont = [UIFont fontWithName:@"HelveticaNeue-CondensedBold" size:25.0f];
        } else {
            replacementFont = [UIFont fontWithName:@"HelveticaNeue-Thin" size:25.0f];
        }

        [str addAttribute:NSFontAttributeName value:replacementFont range:range];
    }];

A more generic approach is to look at the font traits while enumerating, and create a font with the same traits (bold, italic, etc.):

extension NSMutableAttributedString {

    /// Replaces the base font (typically Times) with the given font, while preserving traits like bold and italic
    func setBaseFont(baseFont: UIFont, preserveFontSizes: Bool = false) {
        let baseDescriptor = baseFont.fontDescriptor
        let wholeRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: length)
        beginEditing()
        enumerateAttribute(.font, in: wholeRange, options: []) { object, range, _ in
            guard let font = object as? UIFont else { return }
            // Instantiate a font with our base font's family, but with the current range's traits
            let traits = font.fontDescriptor.symbolicTraits
            guard let descriptor = baseDescriptor.withSymbolicTraits(traits) else { return }
            let newSize = preserveFontSizes ? descriptor.pointSize : baseDescriptor.pointSize
            let newFont = UIFont(descriptor: descriptor, size: newSize)
            self.removeAttribute(.font, range: range)
            self.addAttribute(.font, value: newFont, range: range)
        }
        endEditing()
    }
}

Swift 4+ update of UILabel extension

extension UILabel {
    func setHTMLFromString(text: String) {
        let modifiedFont = NSString(format:"<span style=\"font-family: \(self.font!.fontName); font-size: \(self.font!.pointSize)\">%@</span>" as NSString, text)

        let attrStr = try! NSAttributedString(
            data: modifiedFont.data(using: String.Encoding.unicode.rawValue, allowLossyConversion: true)!,
            options: [NSAttributedString.DocumentReadingOptionKey.documentType:NSAttributedString.DocumentType.html, NSAttributedString.DocumentReadingOptionKey.characterEncoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue],
            documentAttributes: nil)

        self.attributedText = attrStr
    }
}

iOS 9+

extension UILabel {
    func setHTMLFromString(htmlText: String) {
        let modifiedFont = NSString(format:"<span style=\"font-family: '-apple-system', 'HelveticaNeue'; font-size: \(self.font!.pointSize)\">%@</span>" as NSString, htmlText) as String


        //process collection values
        let attrStr = try! NSAttributedString(
            data: modifiedFont.data(using: .unicode, allowLossyConversion: true)!,
            options: [NSAttributedString.DocumentReadingOptionKey.documentType:NSAttributedString.DocumentType.html, NSAttributedString.DocumentReadingOptionKey.characterEncoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue],
            documentAttributes: nil)


        self.attributedText = attrStr
    }
}

Yes, there is an easier solution. Set the font in the html source!

NSError* error;
NSString* source = @"<strong>Nice</strong> try, Phil";
source = [source stringByAppendingString:@"<style>strong{font-family: 'Avenir-Roman';font-size: 14px;}</style>"];
NSMutableAttributedString* str = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithData:[source dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]
                                                           options:@{NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute: NSHTMLTextDocumentType,
                                                                     NSCharacterEncodingDocumentAttribute: [NSNumber numberWithInt:NSUTF8StringEncoding]}
                                                              documentAttributes:nil error:&error];

Hope this helps.