How can I create a button with a background color for tvOS while still showing focus?

Question

All I want to do is add a background color to a button for all states. But I want to maintain the automatic focus shadow that you get \"for free\" when using a system button

Answer 1

Swift 4 /tvOS11 and better:

Set the ButtonType in the Interface Builder button properties to "Plain".

Add this private extension to your class:

private extension UIImage {

    static func imageWithColor(color: UIColor, size: CGSize) -> UIImage? {
        let rect = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: size.width, height: size.height)
        UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(size, false, 0)
        color.setFill()
        UIRectFill(rect)
        let image: UIImage? = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext()
        UIGraphicsEndImageContext()

        return image
    }
}

Then in your connected IBOutlet set the background image for the focused state of the button:

@IBOutlet weak var myButton: UIButton! {
    didSet {
        let backgroundImageSelected = UIImage.imageWithColor(color: .red, size: myButton.bounds.size)
        myButton.setBackgroundImage(backgroundImageSelected, for: .focused)
    }
}