Transparent UIToolbar

Question

I wrote the following code to make my toolbar transparent.

[mtoolbar setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];

How do I make UIToolbar

Answer 1

The following works in iOS 5 (and iOS 6 beta 4, although a slight top shadow is still visible there).

Please note: Making a UIToolbar or UINavigationBar transparent is rarely a good idea, and modifying Apple's UIKit elements in such a way is bound to break sooner or later.

TransparentToolbar.h

#import 

@interface TransparentToolbar : UIToolbar

@end

TransparentToolbar.m

#import "TransparentToolbar.h"

@implementation TransparentToolbar

-(void)insertSubview:(UIView *)view atIndex:(NSInteger)index
{
    //  This method is called with a view of class "UINavigationBarBackground" or "_UIToolbarBackground", respectively. It would be possible to check for this with NSStringFromClass([view class]) to be completely sure that we're skipping the right view.

    if (index != 0)
    {
        [super insertSubview:view atIndex:index];
    }
    else
    {
        // insert your custom background view, if you want to
    }
}


@end

EDIT: In iOS 5+, it's also possible to simply set the backgroundImage (which could be transparent). This is certainly the "cleaner" solution, but is less flexible than a custom UIView.

[someToolbar setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"clear"] forToolbarPosition:UIToolbarPositionAny barMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];