Subclassing UINavigationController to have extra icons for rightbarbuttonitem and leftbarbuttonitem - iphone

I'm looking at some other iPad apps that have the capability to add extra icons into the leftBarButtonItem and rightBarButtonItem for UINavigationController. Here is a picture of one taken from nngroup.com:
In order to do something like this, are they subclassing UINavigationController or adding a category for it? Or are they doing something different? I kind of just wanted the general approach of how to do something like this, but don't need all the code since I'm sure it's a lot of work. Thanks.

You can create a toolbar object and add the buttons to that toolbar and then set the custom view of the right bar button item or left bar button item as this toolbar.
A sample implementation is like this.
UIToolbar * toolbar = [[UIToolbar alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0,0,160, 44.5)];
UIBarButtonItem *spacer = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace
target:nil
action:nil];
[buttons addObject:spacer];
[spacer release];
UIBarButtonItem * deleteButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
initWithTitle:#"Delete"
style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered
target:self
action:#selector(deletePressed)];
// Button style is the default style
[buttons addObject:deleteButton];
[deleteButton release];
UIBarButtonItem * barItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Logout" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered
target:[Y3AppDelegate mainApplicationInstance] action:#selector(logout)];
[buttons addObject:barItem];
[barItem release];
// put the buttons in the toolbar and release them
[toolbar setItems:buttons animated:YES];
[buttons release];
// place the toolbar into the navigation bar as Right Button item
self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = [[[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
initWithCustomView:toolbar] autorelease];
[toolbar release];
One thing to note here is that you may have to change the tint color of the toolbar to match with that of the navigation bar. Hope this answer helps you.

You can hide Navigation bar and instead of that show an image of navigation bar and then place buttons on it :))

Related

Centering UIBarButtonItem in a UIToolbar and adding custom text

I need to add a button to the center of the ToolBar. I have done the adding the button to the toolbar part successfully. My problems are as follows;
1.) I need to center this barbutton. It should be in the center of the Tool Bar
2.) I need to have a text after the refresh button image is displayed.
toolBar = [[UIToolbar alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0 , 320 , 60)];
NSMutableArray* button = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:1];
UIBarButtonItem *barButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemRefresh target:self action:#selector(refreshButtonAction:)];
[button addObject:barButton];
[toolBar setItems:button animated:NO];
[self.view addSubview:toolBar];
1. Add flexible spacers before and after your bar button in the toolbar items array:
toolBar = [[UIToolbar alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0 , 320 , 60)];
UIBarButtonItem *flexibleSpace = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace target:nil action:nil];
UIBarButtonItem *barButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemRefresh target:self action:#selector(refreshButtonAction:)];
NSArray *toolbarItems = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:flexibleSpace, barButton, flexibleSpace];
[toolBar setItems:toolbarItems animated:NO];
[self.view addSubview:toolBar];
Configuring toolbars is much easier to do in Interface Builder. If your view controller is inside a UINavigationController stack, you can still use IB to create an outlet collection of UIBarButtonItems and set self.toolbarItems in -viewDidLoad.
2. To get custom content in a toolbar you can create a bar button item with a custom view:
UIView *customView = <# anything, could be a UILabel #>;
UIBarButtonItem *customItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:customView];
I know this can be done in IB, but I believe if you want to center a button, you will need to add a fixed or flexible space button on either side to keep your button in the middle. If you are going to do this with just code... try and sandwich your button between the 2 space buttons.

How can i add a next and previous button at the segmented Controller on a navigation bar in iphone application development?

I am in great trouble....How can i set next and previous button/arrow at my segmented bar...if anyone need brief about my problem then please see this link...How can i add a next and previous button at the segmented Controller?
i have attached an image to understand the problem...so anybody help me please....
NOTE THAT: In my current project it has more than 5 buttons to add at the segmented bar so when i will press next/previous arrow then segmented bar should be move from his place.If my question is not clear to you then please see my another link....
Thanks in Advance
EDIT:
UIBarButtonItem *previousBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] //init];
initWithTitle:#"<"
style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered
target:self
action:#selector(previousBarButtonAction:)];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = previousBarButtonItem;
[previousBarButtonItem release];
UIBarButtonItem *nextBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] //init];
initWithTitle:#">"
style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered
target:self
action:#selector(nextBarButtonAction:)];
self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = nextBarButtonItem;
[nextBarButtonItem release];
//This Portion For UIToolbar
topToolBar = [UIToolbar new];
topToolBar.barStyle = UIBarStyleDefault;
[topToolBar sizeToFit];
topToolBar.frame = CGRectMake(50, 410, 280, 50);
//Add buttons
UIBarButtonItem *systemItem1 = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemAdd
target:self
action:#selector(pressButton1:)];
UIBarButtonItem *systemItem2 = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemAction
target:self
action:#selector(pressButton2:)];
UIBarButtonItem *systemItem3 = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemCamera
target:self action:#selector(pressButton3:)];
//Use this to put space in between your toolbox buttons
UIBarButtonItem *flexItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace
target:nil
action:nil];
//Add buttons to the array
NSArray *items = [NSArray arrayWithObjects: systemItem1, flexItem, systemItem2, flexItem, systemItem3, nil];
//release buttons
[systemItem1 release];
[systemItem2 release];
[systemItem3 release];
[flexItem release];
//add array of buttons to toolbar
[topToolBar setItems:items animated:NO];
self.navigationItem.titleView = topToolBar;
this is my current coding position now i have 4 buttons in the uitoolbar but only 3 button can see so i want to move this toolbar when i will press next or previous button to see the others button whose are out of frame of uitoolbar??
EDIT:
I able to scroll the navigation bar item using uiview animation but now my problem is when i press the next/prev button then it is moving from the current place according to the changing of the coordinate of the uitoolbar and moving over the pre/next baritem frame whose are not in the uitoolbar items. but it should be wothin a uiview and should change the coordinate within the uiview not out of the view...now tell me what can i do for this problem.
Firstly in figure the NavigationBar you are seeing is actually UIToolBar. Unfortunately it is not possible to add anymore controls on the UINavigationBar. But you can achieve exactly same UI with UIToolBar where you can add any controls.
So to achieve this use UIToolBar and not UINavigationBar. Also use UIBarButtonItem with custom title to achieve Next and Previous functionality.
EDIT
Here are few links for example of UIToolBar
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/43658/How-to-Make-a-Toolbar-with-UIToolbar
http://osmorphis.blogspot.com/2009/05/multiple-buttons-on-navigation-bar.html
http://atastypixel.com/blog/making-uitoolbar-and-uinavigationbars-background-totally-transparent/
But this all explains using codes. Instead using Interface Builder, it becomes too easy to use UIToolBar (if coding is not so important).
I think this is being slightly overcomplicated- can you not just set the text of the two UIBarButtonItems to "<" and ">"?

Removing UIBarButtonItem from UIToolBar

I have a UIToolBar that is created in XCode. In it, there is a UISegmentControl. Based on when one action is pressed, a new view is added as a subView that has a UIToolBar, but without the UISegmentControl. On this view, I add a UIBarButtonItem to go back that looks like this:
UIBarButtonItem *backButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Back" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered target:self action:#selector(GoBack)];
NSArray *barItems = [NSArray arrayWithObject:backButton];
[self.MainToolbar setItems:barItems];
[backButton release];
How do I remove this UIBarButtonItem once my selector(GoBack) is called? I assume I put the code in that method to remove the UIBarButtonItem. I tried this, but it did not work.
[self.MainToolbar setItems:[NSArray arrayWithObject:nil]];
I wasn't sure how to remove it, and how or if this affects the UISegmentControl that is in the UIToolBar created in the .xib.
I have seen code about using the navigationItem, but I'm not sure how the UIToolBar relates to the navigationItem as well. Thanks!

Need 2 UIBarButtonItems where back button is located

I have a typical UINavigationController scheme but I have many many views which can mean you can end up having quite a few views stacked on top of each other. I want to provide a home button and originally I was going to put that on the right hand side of the navigation bar; however, I have a search bar there and another button so I am hoping to put it next to the back button.
In ascii art:
< Back | |Home| Title |Browse| [Search Bar]
Now I tried to set the backButtonItem of the previous view controller using the following:
UIToolbar* toolbar = [[UIToolbar alloc]
initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 100, 45)];
[toolbar setBarStyle: UIBarStyleBlackOpaque];
// create an array for the buttons
NSMutableArray* buttons = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:3];
UIBarButtonItem *back = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] init];
back.title = #"Back";
// create a standard save button
[buttons addObject:back];
[back release];
// create a spacer between the buttons
UIBarButtonItem *spacer = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFixedSpace
target:nil
action:nil];
[buttons addObject:spacer];
[spacer release];
UIBarButtonItem *homeButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"home32.png"]
style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain
target:self
action:#selector(onHomeButton:)];
homeButton.style = UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered;
[buttons addObject:homeButton];
[homeButton release];
// put the buttons in the toolbar and release them
[toolbar setItems:buttons animated:NO];
[buttons release];
// place the toolbar into the navigation bar
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
initWithCustomView:toolbar];
[toolbar release];
but that doesn't seem to replace the standard back button. If I just try one UIBarButtonItem and set the backButton, that works.
Now the other approach I tried is that on the View that is pushed on the stack, to set the leftBarButtonItem but I can't seem to find a way to create a back button that has the pointy shape to the left.
Any suggestions?
can you try
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem=[[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
initWithCustomView:toolbar];
good luck

UIBarButtonItem doesn't highlight when tapped if in a Toolbar?

I need two buttons on the left side of a nav bar. The only way I've figured out how to do that is by first putting them into a UIToolbar and then setting the leftBarButtonItem to that.
If I do this it works as normal (you can see it highlight when tapped):
UIBarButtonItem* myBtn = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Button" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered target:self action:#selector(doSomething:)];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = myBtn;
But if I do it like this, the button action still happens but there is no highlight (no visual feedback that you are tapping the button):
NSMutableArray* buttons = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:2];
UIBarButtonItem* myBtn = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Button" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered target:self action:#selector(doSomething:)];
UIBarButtonItem* myBtn2 = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Button2" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered target:self action:#selector(doSomethingElse:)];
[buttons addObject:myBtn];
[buttons addObject:myBtn2];
UIToolbar* toolbar = [[UIToolbar alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 133, 44)];
[toolbar setItems:buttons animated:NO];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:toolbar];
Any idea why this causes the buttons to not highlight when touched?
I dont think the UIBarButtonItem object will be highlighted when touched up. Even for default back button in the navigation bar dosent highlight when touched up. It works in that way only . Not sure but you can try using UISegmentedControl with the single segment . It might create the highlighted illusion and would look like barbutton only.
In your selector function (e.g. doSomething), set the tintColor property of the button to your desired highlighted color if pressed, and the default if unpressed. And make sure the highlight color of your button is different than the default color so that you know that it is highlighted.
As per the Apple Docs, the function of showsTouchWhenHighlighted is:
A Boolean value that determines whether tapping the button causes it to glow.
but this is only for UIButton. I don't believe UIBarButtonItem has a highlight option.
Note that UIBarButtonItem inherits from UIBarItem which inherits from NSObject, not UIButton, so you can expect different behavior.