Select image to use as UIViewController background throughout my app - iphone

Question

When my iPhone app runs for the first time it asks you to select an image from your iPhone library to use as the background throughout your app. Here is the relevant code:
/*
* Responds when an image is selected (from browsing)
*/
-(void)imagePickerController:(UIImagePickerController *)picker
didFinishPickingMediaWithInfo:(NSDictionary *)info
{
NSString *mediaType = [info objectForKey:UIImagePickerControllerMediaType];
[self dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:YES];
if ([mediaType isEqualToString:(NSString *)kUTTypeImage])
{
//Not really sure what to do here
UIImage *image = [[UIImage alloc] initWithData:UIImageJPEGRepresentation([info objectForKey:UIImagePickerController], .2)];
}
}
I now what to save this image (or a reference to this image) so that I can use it throughout my app as the background for some (60%) of my UIViewController
self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithPatternImage:image];
What is the best/most efficient/easiest way to do this. I thought about saving the image into NSUserDefaults but this didn't seem right because NSUserDefaults is only supposed to be for small objects. Should I save it to disk? But then won't my app be really slow having to read from disk every time I segue? (If this is the proper way, how would I do this?)

Answer 1

Store your Image in Documents Directory
To save Image
- (void)saveImage:(UIImage *)image {
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *savedImagePath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"savedImage.png"];
// Convert to Data
NSData *imageData = UIImagePNGRepresentation(image);
// write to file
[imageData writeToFile:savedImagePath atomically:NO];
}
To read Image use following
- (UIImage *)getImage {
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *getImagePath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"savedImage.png"];
UIImage *img = [UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:getImagePath];
return img;
}

Answer 2

Use a subclassed UIViewController where the background is always this selected background image, which you could have saved off using #Dipen's suggestions below (and +1 to him).
Literally the only thing that needs to exists in your new view controller is that in it's "viewDidLoad:" method, you add a subview that is a "UIImageView", set to your background image which you saved off as some preference.
You can then subclass further view controllers off your new "NosetrapViewController", which will automatically pick up the selected background image.