Can't adjust spacing of UIBarButtonItem(s) when assigned to navigationItem.rightBarButtonItems - iphone

Question

This is a weird problem.
The situation is that I want to adjust the spacing between my UIBarButtonItem(s) so that they are just 2 pixels apart.
I am able to do this quite easily with UIToolbar:
// Make bottom button bar buttons
NSMutableArray *bottomButtons = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:3];
// Create spacer between buttons
UIBarButtonItem *spacer = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace target:nil action:nil];
[bottomButtons addObject:spacer];
UIBarButtonItem* noSpace = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFixedSpace target:nil action:nil];
noSpace.width = -10;
// Add button 1
self.addAlbumButton = [UIGlossyButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[self.addAlbumButton setTitle:#"Button 1" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[self.addAlbumButton addTarget:self action:#selector(addAlbum:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
self.addAlbumBarButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:self.addAlbumButton];
[bottomButtons addObject:self.addAlbumBarButton];
[bottomButtons addObject:noSpace];
// Add button2
self.downloadAllItemsButton = [UIGlossyButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[self.downloadAllItemsButton setTitle:#"Button 2" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[self.downloadAllItemsButton addTarget:self action:#selector(downloadAllItemsAction:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
self.downloadAllItemsBarButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:self.downloadAllItemsButton];
[bottomButtons addObject:self.downloadAllItemsBarButton];
// add all button to bottom toolbar
[self.bottomToolbar setItems:bottomButtons];
The problem is when I try to do this with the navigationbar. For some reason, when I insert a fixed length button (with a negative value), it won't shrink the space between the buttons. I know the fixed length button is there and working because if I change the width to a positive number, the spacing between the buttons increases.
The code is basically the same except that instead of adding the buttons to self.bottomToolbar, I'm calling the following code:
self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItems = bottomButtons;
I have found the same issue with the MasterViewController. I'm using a splitviewcontroller and the bottom toolbar works fine but the top toolbar has the same spacing problem. That problem, is I can't make the space between buttons less than the default.
It seems like navigationItem.rightBarButtonItems works differently than all other toolbars.

Answer 1

after adding all navigationButtonItem in to an array you can do it like the following way. i guess this will help you also coz this works for me and if you want to change space between button you can change it with help of macro
#define ONE_BUTTON_WIDTH 30.0f
#define SPACE_BETWEEN_BUTTONS 12.0f
#define ONE_BUTTON_TOTAL_WIDTH (ONE_BUTTON_WIDTH + SPACE_BETWEEN_BUTTONS)
#define kBookmarksImage [UIImage imageNamed:#"bookmarks.png"]
/* CREATE BOOKMARKS BUTTON */
UIButton *bookmarksButton = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, kBookmarksImage.size.width, kBookmarksImage.size.height)];
[bookmarksButton setImage:kBookmarksImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[bookmarksButton addTarget:target action:#selector(toolbarButtonTapped:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
bookmarksButton.tag = kBookmarksButtonTag;
UIBarButtonItem *bookmarksButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:bookmarksButton];
UIBarButtonItem *spacer = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace target:nil action:nil];
spacer.width = SPACE_BETWEEN_BUTTONS;
[buttons addObjectsFromArray:#[bookmarksButtonItem,spacer]];
/* ADD ALL THESE BUTTONS TO CUSTOM TOOLBAR AND TOOLBAR TO NAVIGATION BAR */
UIToolbar *customToolbar = [[UIToolbar alloc]
initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, ([bottomButtons count]/2*ONE_BUTTON_TOTAL_WIDTH), 44.01f)]; // 44.01 shifts it up 1px for some reason
customToolbar.clearsContextBeforeDrawing = NO;
customToolbar.clipsToBounds = NO;
customToolbar.tintColor = [UIColor colorWithWhite:0.305f alpha:0.0f]; // closest I could get by eye to black, translucent style.
customToolbar.barStyle = -1; // clear background
[customToolbar setItems: bottomButtons animated:NO];
UIBarButtonItem *customUIBarButtonitem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:customToolbar];
self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = customUIBarButtonitem;

Answer 2

Easiest way just create a method to set up UIButton for each UIBarButtonItem like so:
- (UIBarButtonItem*)createAddAlbumBarButtonWithImage:(NSString*)imageName
{
UIButton* button = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 30, 30)];
[button setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:imageName] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[button addTarget:self action:#selector(addAlbum:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
UIBarButtonItem* barButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:button];
return barButton;
}