Swift - Set label to be on top of other view items

Question

I'm creating a basic sketching app using swift 1.2 and Xcode 6.4. The feature I'm working on is adding text to the image for future manipulation.

So far I have the text the user enters adding to the drawing via label, but it is being placed (I assume) behind the UIImage that is to be drawn upon. This is preventing the associated tap gesture from being recognised. The label is also obscured when drawn over.

How do I place the label on top of everything else to prevent it being drawn over? The end goal is to allow the user to move the label.

If I was using my usual web stack I'd set the z-index of the element to a high value via CSS.

Edit: Using view.bringSubviewToFront(label) prevents the text from being drawn over, but does not allow the tap gesture to be picked up.

Heres my code:

    func printText(){
        println(textString)

        var label = UILabel(frame: CGRectMake(5, 100, 200, 50 ))
        label.textAlignment = NSTextAlignment.Center
        label.text = textString;

        let tap = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: Selector("handleTap"))
        label.addGestureRecognizer(tap)

        self.view.addSubview(label);
    }

    func handleTap() {
        print("tap working")
    }

Any help much appreciated.

Answer 1

If you want z-index use:

label.layer.zPosition = 1;

Also you could play with bringToFront method on the parent view:

self.view.bringSubviewToFront(label);

You can check that function here : https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/UIKit/Reference/UIView_Class/

Also, you should add the following:

label.userInteractionEnabled = true

to enable touches.

Answer 2

Try using those in the parent view:

view.bringSubviewToFront(label)
view.sendSubviewToBack(imageView)

It all depends on what you can, or want to do.

Answer 3

You can call label to front by

self.view.bringSubviewToFront(label)

or

You can send image view to the back by

self.view.sendSubviewToBack(imageView)