Custom UINavigationController UIToolbar Background Image

Question

I have an iPhone application using UINavigationController and would like to customize the elements with custom background images. I was able to do this for the

Answer 1

You need to subclass instead of creating a category.

I'm not too sure why a category works for UINavigationBar but not UIToolbar, but subclassing works for both of them and I think it's the more standard way of customizing stuff like that.

So to subclass UIToolbar, create a class called MyToolbar (or something similar) and put this in the .h:

#import 
#import 

@interface MyToolbar : UIToolbar {}

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect;

@end

And this in the the .m file:

#import "MyToolbar.h"

@implementation MyToolbar

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
    backgroundImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"my-awesome-toolbar-image.png"];
    [backgroundImage drawInRect:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.frame.size.width, self.frame.size.height)];
}

@end

From there you've got to tell the Navigation Controller to use MyToolbar instead of UIToolbar. Easiest way I've found to do that is to select your Navigation Controller in Interface Builder, then in the Attributes Inspector check the 'Shows Toolbar' box. The toolbar should show up in the NavigationController window. Click on it and then in the Identity Inspector change the class to MyToolbar.