Objective C: Subview not clickable - iphone

Question

I'm about to implement a Facebook-like side navigation for an iPhone App. I can slide it in and out without problems but when I want to click a button or anything in that navigation view nothing happens.
Here is the code for my side navigation view I initialize in viewDidLoad:
self.sideNavigationView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(self.navigationController.view.frame.size.width, 20, 238, self.navigationController.view.frame.size.height-20)];
[self.navigationController.view addSubview:self.sideNavigationView];
Then I have the following method to slide it in:
- (IBAction) openMenuBar: (id) sender {
if (!self.sideNavigationIsExpanded) {
self.sideNavigationView.frame = CGRectMake(self.navigationController.view.frame.size.width, 20, 238, self.navigationController.view.frame.size.height-20);
}
CGRect destination = self.navigationController.view.frame;
CGRect sideNavigationDestination = self.sideNavigationView.frame;
sideNavigationDestination.size.width = 238;
// Slide back
if (self.sideNavigationIsExpanded) {
sideNavigationDestination.origin.x = self.view.frame.size.width;
destination.origin.x = 0;
sideNavigationDestination.origin.y = 20;
self.sideNavigationIsExpanded = NO;
}
// Slide in
else {
sideNavigationDestination.origin.x = self.view.frame.size.width;
destination.origin.x = - sideNavigationDestination.size.width;
sideNavigationDestination.origin.y = 20;
self.sideNavigationIsExpanded = YES;
self.sideNavigationView.hidden = NO;
}
[UIView animateWithDuration:0.25 animations:^{
self.sideNavigationView.frame = sideNavigationDestination;
self.navigationController.view.frame = destination;
} completion:^(BOOL finished) {
if (!self.sideNavigationIsExpanded)
self.sideNavigationView.hidden = YES;
self.view.userInteractionEnabled = !self.sideNavigationIsExpanded;
self.sideNavigationView.userInteractionEnabled = self.sideNavigationIsExpanded;
}];
}
I tried several combinations of userInteractionEnabled = YES at every subview... Changed nothing...
Could it be that the subviews of my sideNavigationView aren't selectable because when I initialize it it is out of sight? I tried initializing it with a frame in sight (CGRectMake(0,0,238,300)) and that worked. -_-
So how could I solve my problem?

Answer 1

As sideNavigationView is a subview of self.view then this line:
self.view.userInteractionEnabled = !self.sideNavigationIsExpanded;
is preventing touches from reaching your sideNavigationView at all. A view will not pass a touch on to its subviews if its own userInteractionEnabled property is set to NO, even though you have set the subview's property to YES in the next line.
As for initialising off-screen, I don't believe this will have any bearing on whether the view can receive touches once it is moved back onscreen.