UISearchBar: clear background color or set background image [duplicate]

Answer 1

This worked for me (ios4.2+)

// Change the search bar background
-(void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated {
    for (UIView *subview in self.searchBar.subviews) {
        if ([subview isKindOfClass:NSClassFromString(@"UISearchBarBackground")]) {
            UIView *bg = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:subview.frame];
            bg.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithPatternImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"search_bar_bg"]];
            [self.searchBar insertSubview:bg aboveSubview:subview];
            [subview removeFromSuperview];
            break;
        }
    }   
}