Programmatically disable auto-layout constraint

Question

Is there any programatic way to temporarily disable an auto-layout constraint? I do not want that constraint to be considered for a certain period of time at all until I need it again.

Answer 1

When developing for iOS 8.0 or later, just use isActive property of NSLayoutConstraint after creating your IBOutlet.

UPDATED

• to have strong reference to the outlet per below suggestion, thank you @rob mayoff.
• to use .isActive instead of .active with Swift 4 per below suggestion, thank you @Mohit Singh.

your cell would have the following outlet:

@IBOutlet var photoBottomConstraint: NSLayoutConstraint! 

and you would access the constraint in willDisplayCell like:

myCell.photoBottomConstraint.isActive = false 

and when you need it again:

myCell.photoBottomConstraint.isActive = true 

Answer 2

Base on oyalhi's answer, also want to point out that you have to make a strong reference to your constraints if you want to make it inactive:

@IBOutlet var photoBottomConstraint: NSLayoutConstraint! 

It is not abvious, but if you are using weak reference, photoBottomConstraint could be nil after this call:

myCell.photoBottomConstraint.active = false