-(NSArray *)getGradientColorWithStartColor:(UIColor *)startColor endColor:(UIColor *)endColor step:(NSInteger)step inverse:(BOOL)inverse {
//1 get start color rgb
CGFloat startR = 0.0, startG = 0.0, startB = 0.0;
CGColorRef startColorRGB = [startColor CGColor];
NSInteger startNumComponents = CGColorGetNumberOfComponents(startColorRGB);
if (startNumComponents == 4)
{
const CGFloat *components = CGColorGetComponents(startColorRGB);
startR = components[0];
startG = components[1];
startB = components[2];
}
//2 get end color rgb
CGFloat endR = 0.0, endG = 0.0, endB = 0.0;
CGColorRef endColorRGB = [endColor CGColor];
NSInteger endNumComponents = CGColorGetNumberOfComponents(endColorRGB);
if (endNumComponents == 4)
{
const CGFloat *components = CGColorGetComponents(endColorRGB);
endR = components[0];
endG = components[1];
endB = components[2];
}
//3 calculate total threshold by step
CGFloat stepR = 0.0, stepG = 0.0, stepB = 0.0;
stepR = step == 1 ? 0 : (endR-startR) / (step - 1);
stepG = step == 1 ? 0 : (endG-startG) / (step - 1);
stepB = step == 1 ? 0 : (endB-startB) / (step - 1);
//calculate uicolor by step
CGFloat green = startG;
CGFloat red = startR;
CGFloat blue = startB;
NSMutableArray *stepColorArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:step];
for (NSInteger i = 0; i < step - 1; i++) {
red = red + stepR;
green = green + stepG;
blue = green + stepB;
UIColor *color = [UIColor colorWithRed:red green:green blue:blue alpha:0];
[stepColorArray addObject:color];
}
return stepColorArray;
}