How to create backBarButtomItem with custom view for a UINavigationController

by

As of iOS5 we have an excellent new way of customizing the appearance of almost any control using the UIAppearance protocol, i.e. [UIBarButtonItem appearance]. The appearance proxy allows you to create application wide changes to the look of controls. Below is an example of a custom back button created with the appearance proxy.

enter image description here

Use the example code below to create a back button with custom images for normal and highlighted states. Call the following method from you appDelegate’s application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: 

- (void) customizeAppearance {

UIImage *i1 = [[UIImage imageNamed:@"custom_backButton_30px"]
                      resizableImageWithCapInsets:UIEdgeInsetsMake(0, 15, 0, 6)];
UIImage *i2 = [[UIImage imageNamed:@"custom_backButton_24px"] 
                      resizableImageWithCapInsets:UIEdgeInsetsMake(0, 15, 0, 6)];

[[UIBarButtonItem appearance] setBackButtonBackgroundImage:i1 
                              forState:UIControlStateNormal 
                              barMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];

[[UIBarButtonItem appearance] setBackButtonBackgroundImage:i2 
                              forState:UIControlStateNormal 
                              barMetrics:UIBarMetricsLandscapePhone];

[[UIBarButtonItem appearance] setBackButtonBackgroundImage:i1
                              forState:UIControlStateHighlighted 
                              barMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];

[[UIBarButtonItem appearance] setBackButtonBackgroundImage:i2 
                              forState:UIControlStateHighlighted 
                              barMetrics:UIBarMetricsLandscapePhone];
}

This is just a quick example. Normally you would want to have separate images for normal and highlighted (pressed) state.

If you are interested in customizing the appearance of other controls, some good examples can be found here: http://ios.biomsoft.com/2011/10/13/user-interface-customization-in-ios-5/

More Related Contents:

  1. UITableViewCell with UITextView height in iOS 7?
  2. Is it possible to prevent an NSURLRequest from caching data or remove cached data following a request?
  3. How to get the screen width and height in iOS?
  4. How to zoom in/out an UIImage object when user pinches screen?
  5. What are best practices for validating email addresses on iOS 2.0
  6. Which should I use, -awakeFromNib or -viewDidLoad?
  7. Fix warning “Capturing [an object] strongly in this block is likely to lead to a retain cycle” in ARC-enabled code
  8. Sizing a UILabel to fit?
  9. What is the entry point of swift code execution?
  10. Non-English default language for iOS App?
  11. How can I display a splash screen for longer on an iPhone?
  12. UIButton Touch and Hold
  13. Have a reloadData for a UITableView animate when changing
  14. How do I pan the image inside a UIImageView?
  15. How do I animate MKAnnotationView drop?
  16. How to make completely transparent navigation bar in iOS 7
  17. How to get notified when scrollToRowAtIndexPath finishes animating
  18. Persisting Cookies In An iOS Application?
  19. Does iOS 5 support blur CoreImage fiters?
  20. What is the most robust way to force a UIView to redraw?
  21. Is there a decent OpenGL text drawing library for the iPhone SDK?
  22. Measuring the pixel width of a string
  23. Return a list of running background apps/processes in iOS
  24. Couldn’t UIToolBar be transparent?
  25. UIView animations canceling any touch input?
  26. WWDC 2010 Sample Code [closed]
  27. Trim audio with iOS
  28. How to detect microphone input permission refused in iOS 7
  29. Get a user-readable version of the class name in swift (in objc NSStringFromClass was fine)
  30. Ignoring certificate errors with NSURLConnection

Leave a Comment