How to wire custom UINavigationBar to UINavigationController - iphone

Question

So I've been researching on how to have an image in UINavigationBar and the safest way to do it that works for iOS 4 and iOS 5 is via subclassing the UINavigationBar, so I had:
#interface CustomNavigationBar : UINavigationBar
#end
#implementation CustomNavigationBar
-(void) drawRect:(CGRect)rect
{
UIImage *image = [UIImage imageNamed: #"myNavBarImage"];
[image drawInRect:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.frame.size.width, self.frame.size.height)];
}
#end
Now say I wanted to hook up ProfileViewController to have this custom UINavigationBar, how do I do that? Here's how I set ProfileViewController.
ProfileViewController *profile = [[ProfileViewController alloc] init];
localNavigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:profile];
[localControllersArray addObject:localNavigationController];
[localNavigationController release];
[profile release];
Any idea on how to wire this up? I've read that this has to be done via IB by changing the class of my UINavigationBar to the class that I just created. However, I don't have any UINavigationBar in my xib file, as it is created programatically via the UINavigationController.
One other issue also is that if I wanted to have a dynamic image that I can change/specify to the UINavigationBar, how do I do this? As of now it is hard wired that the UINavigationbar will have an image called myNavBarImage, but what if I wanted to set it to something else so I don't have to create 10 custom UINavigationBar, I somehow wanted to set the image name.

Answer 1

There is a solution similar to yours but uses categories instead of subclassing:
http://www.developers-life.com/custom-uinavigationbar-with-image-and-back-button.html
However, you have other choices that will make it easier for you such as adding an image as a subview to UINavigationBar. It is a safe way to do it,and I used it in a previous project which was approved.
My favorite way to do it is hiding the navigation bar and adding an imageView with buttons to have full control on how the navigation bar looks like (I especially use it when I need to add custom buttons as well).
Edit (Code to use for the second issue):
At viewDidLoad
UIImageView *imageview = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage: [UIImage imageNamed: #"image1.png"]];
[self.navigationController.navigationBar addSubview:imageview];
[self.navigationController.navigationBar sendSubviewToBack:imageview];
[imageview release];
At the method that changes the image:
-(void) changeNavigationBarImage: (NSString *) imageName{
for (UIView *view in self.navigationController.navigationBar.subviews) {
if ([view isKindOfClass:[UIImageView class]])
{
[(UIImageView *)view setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:imageName]];
break;
}
}
}
You can call this method when you want to change the image (i.e. button or timer)