If you want to use your own drawing methods you should apply them in the drawRect: method of the UIView. You need to subclass UIView to create your own drawing logic: In XCode use File->New File and select UIView as a template which will give you the basic framework. In Interface-Builder you can first add a new view and then set it use your class under Identity Tab in the Inspector window.
The method should then start with something like this to give you a reference to the context:
- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)fr {
CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
... DRAWING CODE ...
}
This methods automatically gets called when the view is first displayed. If your logic depends on some variables you should call setNeedsDisplay
on the UIView to let the view re-run the drawing logic.
However, this will not work on UIImageView
(LINK):
Subclassing Notes
Special Considerations
The UIImageView class is optimized to draw its images to the display. UIImageView will not call drawRect: a subclass. If your subclass needs custom drawing code, it is recommended you use UIView as the base class.