How to highlight the background of a UIButton when it is clicked and "unhighlight" it? - swift

Question

I am trying to create 4 UIButtons that highlight and stay highlighted when they are clicked. The only problem is I need only one UIButton to be Highlighted at a time. So, if there is a UIButton highlighted already, I need it to be "unhighlighted" and highlight the UIButton I clicked. I have tried to do this before and failed. Please help me with this problem.
I am using the Swift coding language to do this.
Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

If you give this answer an upvote, remember to upvote dasblikenlight's answer as well.
class ViewController: UIViewController {
// Connect all 4 buttons to this outlet
#IBOutlet var radioGroup: [UIButton]!
// Connect this action to all 4 buttons
#IBAction func radioGroupClicked(sender: AnyObject) {
// Unhighlight all buttons
unhighlightRadioGroup()
// Highlight the one being clicked on
highlightRadioGroup(sender as! UIButton)
}
// Set all 4 buttons in unselected state
func unhighlightRadioGroup() {
for button in radioGroup {
button.selected = false
}
}
// Set one button in the selected state
func highlightRadioGroup(button : UIButton) {
button.selected = true
}
}

Answer 2

You can do it with an IBOutletCollection. Command-drag one of the buttons into the view controller code, and choose creating of an IBOutletCollection on drop, and name your collection something - say, radioGroup. Then control-drag the remaining three buttons into the same IBOutletCollection.
Next thing is to add a method to un-highlight all buttons in your radioGroup. This can be done with a simple loop.
Finally, add calls to unhighlightRadioGroup from the event handler of your buttons. Event handler should first call your unhighlightRadioGroup method, and then highlight the sender received in the event handler.

Answer 3

lazy var buttonsArray: [UIButton] = {
var buttons = [UIButton]()
let firstButton = UIButton()
let secondButton = UIButton()
let thirdButton = UIButton()
let fourthButton = UIButton()
buttons = [firstButton, secondButton, thirdButton, fourthButton]
return buttons
}()
private func setupButtonMethods() {
filteredButtons[0].addTarget(self, action: #selector(firstButtonPressed(sender:)), for: .touchUpInside)
filteredButtons[1].addTarget(self, action: #selector(secondButtonPressed(sender:)), for: .touchUpInside)
filteredButtons[2].addTarget(self, action: #selector(thirdButtonPressed(sender:)), for: .touchUpInside)
filteredButtons[3].addTarget(self, action: #selector(fourthButtonPressed(sender:)), for: .touchUpInside)
}
private func setupHiglightedStateOnButton(button: UIButton) {
for btn in buttonsArray {
btn.isSelected = false
btn.backgroundColor = .gray
btn.setTitleColor(.white, for: .normal)
btn.isUserInteractionEnabled = true
}
button.isSelected = true
button.backgroundColor = .yellow
button.setTitleColor(.black, for: .normal)
button.isUserInteractionEnabled = false
}
#objc func firstButtonPressed(sender: UIButton) {
setupHiglightedStateOnButton(button: sender)
}
#objc func secondButtonPressed(sender: UIButton) {
setupHiglightedStateOnButton(button: sender)
}
#objc func thirdButtonPressed(sender: UIButton) {
setupHiglightedStateOnButton(button: sender)
}
#objc func fourthButtonPressed(sender: UIButton) {
setupHiglightedStateOnButton(button: sender)
}
remember to call setupButtonMethods() inside viewDidLoad()