Add toolbar to UITableViewController - iphone

Question

What is the simplest way to add UIToolBar to UITableViewController? I'm depending on edit functionality, so I can't change UITableViewController to UIViewController easily.

Answer 1

No problem at all, UITableViewController is a subclass of UIViewController. And it so happens that in iPhone OS 3.0 any UIViewController (and subclasses) can work in conjunction with a UINavigationController to provide a context aware toolbar.
In order for this to work you must:
Make sure that you use a UINavigationController to contain all your view controllers that needs a toolbar.
Set the toolbarsItems property of the view controller that wants a toolbar.
This is almost as easy as as setting the view controller's title, and should be done the same way. Most probably by overriding the initWithNibName:bundle: initializer. As an example:
-(id)initWithNibName:(NSString*)name bundle:(NSBundle*)bundle;
{
self = [super initWithNibName:name bundle:bundle];
if (self) {
self.title = #"My Title";
NSArray* toolbarItems = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:
[[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemAdd
target:self
action:#selector(addStuff:)],
[[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemSearch
target:self
action:#selector(searchStuff:)],
nil];
[toolbarItems makeObjectsPerformSelector:#selector(release)];
self.toolbarItems = toolbarItems;
self.navigationController.toolbarHidden = NO;
}
return self;
}
You can also use setToolbarItems:animated: instead of assigning to the toolbarItems property, to add and remove toolbar items in an animated fashion on the fly.

Answer 2

In order to make PeyloW's recipe to work, I needed to add the following additional line of code:
self.navigationController.toolbarHidden = NO;
Hope that helps...

Answer 3

- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
[super viewWillAppear:animated];
//Initialize the toolbar
toolbar = [[UIToolbar alloc] init];
toolbar.barStyle = UIBarStyleDefault;
//Set the toolbar to fit the width of the app.
[toolbar sizeToFit];
//Caclulate the height of the toolbar
CGFloat toolbarHeight = [toolbar frame].size.height;
//Get the bounds of the parent view
CGRect rootViewBounds = self.parentViewController.view.bounds;
//Get the height of the parent view.
CGFloat rootViewHeight = CGRectGetHeight(rootViewBounds);
//Get the width of the parent view,
CGFloat rootViewWidth = CGRectGetWidth(rootViewBounds);
//Create a rectangle for the toolbar
CGRect rectArea = CGRectMake(0, rootViewHeight - toolbarHeight, rootViewWidth, toolbarHeight);
//Reposition and resize the receiver
[toolbar setFrame:rectArea];
//Create a button
UIBarButtonItem *infoButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
initWithTitle:#"back" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered target:self action:#selector(info_clicked:)];
[toolbar setItems:[NSArray arrayWithObjects:infoButton,nil]];
//Add the toolbar as a subview to the navigation controller.
[self.navigationController.view addSubview:toolbar];
[[self tableView] reloadData];
}
- (void) info_clicked:(id)sender {
[self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
[toolbar removeFromSuperview];
}
And in Swift 3:
override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewDidAppear(animated)
//Initialize the toolbar
let toolbar = UIToolbar()
toolbar.barStyle = UIBarStyle.default
//Set the toolbar to fit the width of the app.
toolbar.sizeToFit()
//Caclulate the height of the toolbar
let toolbarHeight = toolbar.frame.size.height
//Get the bounds of the parent view
let rootViewBounds = self.parent?.view.bounds
//Get the height of the parent view.
let rootViewHeight = rootViewBounds?.height
//Get the width of the parent view,
let rootViewWidth = rootViewBounds?.width
//Create a rectangle for the toolbar
let rectArea = CGRect(x: 0, y: rootViewHeight! - toolbarHeight, width: rootViewWidth!, height: toolbarHeight)
//Reposition and resize the receiver
toolbar.frame = rectArea
//Create a button
let infoButton = UIBarButtonItem(title: "Back", style: UIBarButtonItemStyle.plain, target: self, action: #selector(infoClicked))
toolbar.items = [infoButton]
//Add the toolbar as a subview to the navigation controller.
self.navigationController?.view.addSubview(toolbar)
}
func infoClicked() {
//Handle Click Here
}