How do I show/hide a UIBarButtonItem?

Question

I created a toolbar in IB with several buttons. I would like to be able to hide/show one of the buttons depending on the state of the data in the main window.

Answer 1

Here's a simple approach:

hide:  barbuttonItem.width = 0.01;
show:  barbuttonItem.width = 0; //(0 defaults to normal button width, which is the width of the text)

I just ran it on my retina iPad, and .01 is small enough for it to not show up.

Answer 2

Some helper methods I thought I'd share based upon lnafziger's accepted answer as I have multiple toolbars and multiple buttons in each:

-(void) hideToolbarItem:(UIBarButtonItem*) button inToolbar:(UIToolbar*) toolbar{
    NSMutableArray *toolbarButtons = [toolbar.items mutableCopy];
    [toolbarButtons removeObject:button];
    [toolbar setItems:toolbarButtons animated:NO];
}

-(void) showToolbarItem:(UIBarButtonItem*) button inToolbar:(UIToolbar*) toolbar atIndex:(int) index{
    NSMutableArray *toolbarButtons = [toolbar.items mutableCopy];
    if (![toolbarButtons containsObject:button]){
        [toolbarButtons insertObject:button atIndex:index];
        [self setToolbarItems:toolbarButtons animated:YES];
    }
}

Answer 3

You can easily get the view and hide it this way

let view: UIView = barButtonItem.valueForKey("view") as! UIView
view.hidden = true

Answer 4

I am currently running OS X Yosemite Developer Preview 7 and Xcode 6 beta 6 targeting iOS 7.1 and following solution works fine for me:

• Create outlet for UINavigationItemand UIBarButtonItems

• Run following code to remove

  [self.navItem setRightBarButtonItem:nil];
  [self.navItem setLeftBarButtonItem:nil];
  

• Run following codes to add buttons again

  [self.navItem setRightBarButtonItem:deleteItem];
  [self.navItem setLeftBarButtonItem:addItem];
  

Answer 5

@IBDesignable class AttributedBarButtonItem: UIBarButtonItem {

    var isHidden: Bool = false {

        didSet {

            isEnabled = !isHidden
            tintColor = isHidden ? UIColor.clear : UIColor.black
        }
    }
}

And now simply change isHidden property.

Answer 6

Improving From @lnafziger answer

Save your Barbuttons in a strong outlet and do this to hide/show it:

-(void) hideBarButtonItem :(UIBarButtonItem *)myButton {
    // Get the reference to the current toolbar buttons
    NSMutableArray *navBarBtns = [self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItems mutableCopy];

    // This is how you remove the button from the toolbar and animate it
    [navBarBtns removeObject:myButton];
    [self.navigationItem setRightBarButtonItems:navBarBtns animated:YES];
}


-(void) showBarButtonItem :(UIBarButtonItem *)myButton {
    // Get the reference to the current toolbar buttons
    NSMutableArray *navBarBtns = [self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItems mutableCopy];

    // This is how you add the button to the toolbar and animate it
    if (![navBarBtns containsObject:myButton]) {
        [navBarBtns addObject:myButton];
        [self.navigationItem setRightBarButtonItems:navBarBtns animated:YES];
    }
}

When ever required use below Function..

[self showBarButtonItem:self.rightBarBtn1];
[self hideBarButtonItem:self.rightBarBtn1];