AsyncDisplayKit/_docs/node-overview.md

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AsyncDisplayKit offers the following nodes. A key advantage of using nodes over UIKit components is that all nodes preform layout and display off of the main thread, so that the main thread is available to immediately respond to user interaction events.

The most common nodes include:

• ASDisplayNode in place of UIKit's UIView. ASDisplayNode is the root AsyncDisplayKit node, from which all other nodes inherit.

• ASCellNode (and the lighter-weight ASTextCellNode) in place of UIKit's UITableViewCell and UICollectionViewCell. ASCellNodes are used in ASTableNode, ASCollectionNode and ASPagerNode.

• ASScrollNode in place of UIKit's UIScrollView. This node is useful for creating a customized scrollable region that contains other nodes.

• ASEditableTextNode in place of UIKit's UITextView

• ASControlNode in place of UIKit's UIControl

• ASTextNode in place of UIKit's UILabel

• ASMapNode in place of UIKit's MKMapView

• ASButtonNode in place of UIKit's UIButton

• ASImageNode in place of UIKit's UIImageView

• ASVideoNode in place of UIKit's AVPlayerLayer

• ASVideoNodePlayer in place of UIKit's UIMoviePlayer

• ASNetworkImageNode

• ASMultiplexImageNode

Despite having rough equivalencies to UIKit components, in general, AsyncDisplayKit nodes offer more advanced features and conveniences. For example, an ASNetworkImageNode does automatic loading and cache management, and even supports progressive jpeg and animated gifs.

The AsyncDisplayKitOverview example app gives basic implementations of each of the nodes listed above.

Node Inheritance Hierarchy

All AsyncDisplayKit nodes inherit from ASDisplayNode.

Updates to the framework (not reflected in the chart below):

• `ASVideoNode` now inherits from `ASNetworkImageNode`.
• `ASScrollNode` is now available. It inherits from `ASDisplayNode`.
• `ASCellNode` used by `ASTableNode`, `ASCollectionNode` and `ASPagerNode` inherits from `ASDisplayNode`.

The blue and green colored nodes are synchronous wrappers of UIKit elements. For example, ASScrollNode wraps a UIScrollView and ASCollectionNode wraps a UICollectionView. An ASMapNode in liveMapMode is a synchronous wrapper of UIMapView.