How to disable the edit button that appears in the more section of a UITabBarController?

Question

In my application (based on the Tab bar application XCode template) I use a UITabBarController to display a list of different sections of the application that the user can a

Answer 1

I was able to get this working with the following code. I created a CustomTabViewController and then modified my Tab Bar Controller's Class Identity in Interface Builder to use this custom class. Here is the code that it uses (.h and .m file contents). The key is setting the property to nil, which causes the Edit button to not be displayed. For details see: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/uikit/reference/UITabBarController_Class/Reference/Reference.html#//apple_ref/occ/instp/UITabBarController/customizableViewControllers "If the array is empty or the value of this property is nil, the tab bar does not allow any items to be rearranged."

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface CustomTabBarController : UITabBarController {

}
@end

#import "CustomTabBarController.h"


@implementation CustomTabBarController

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    self.customizableViewControllers = nil;
    [super viewDidLoad];
}   

@end

Answer 2

@m4rkk & @lan terrell that code does not work.

I wasn't able to get it so I just disable the navigation bar altogether.

tabBarController.moreNavigationController.navigationBar.hidden = YES;

Answer 3

i have tried and here's a example.

In AppDelegate.m

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {    

    // Override point for customization after application launch.

    // Add the tab bar controller's view to the window and display.
    [self.window addSubview:tabBarController.view];
    [self.window makeKeyAndVisible];

    //setting delegate to disable edit button in more.
    tabBarController.moreNavigationController.delegate = self;

    return YES;
}

to remove the "Edit" Button

    - (void)navigationController:(UINavigationController *)navigationController willShowViewController:(UIViewController *)viewController animated:(BOOL)animated {
        UINavigationBar *morenavbar = navigationController.navigationBar;
        UINavigationItem *morenavitem = morenavbar.topItem;
        /* We don't need Edit button in More screen. */
morenavitem.rightBarButtonItem = nil;
}

In your AppDelegate.h

@interface TestAppDelegate : NSObject <UIApplicationDelegate, UITabBarControllerDelegate, UINavigationControllerDelegate>

correct me if i'm wrong.

Answer 4

This is a late addition but I think it is a helpful contribution. Aleks N's answer can create a situation where the rightBarButtonItem is removed for every view controller under the "More Tab" (as Bao Lei mentioned). I would like to recommend using Bao Lei's Code, but with the difference of implenting it it the didShowViewController delegate method.

As his code exists now, users tapping the "More" tab to return to the base UIMoreViewController table can cause rightBarButtonItem's belonging to other viewControllers to be set to nil.

- (void)navigationController:(UINavigationController *)navigationController
       didShowViewController:(UIViewController *)viewController
                    animated:(BOOL)animated
{
    if (navigationController.viewControllers.count == 1)
    {
        UINavigationBar *morenavbar = navigationController.navigationBar;
        UINavigationItem *morenavitem = morenavbar.topItem;
        /* We don't need Edit button in More screen. */
        morenavitem.rightBarButtonItem = nil;
    }
}

The distinction is small but it took me a considerable amount of time to find this bug.

Answer 5

This can be achieved like such. It is not the most elegant solution, but It Works™.

// Optional UITabBarControllerDelegate method
- (void)tabBarController:(UITabBarController *)tabBarController didSelectViewController:(UIViewController *)viewController {
    [self performSelector:@selector(removeEdit) withObject:nil afterDelay:.0001];
}
- (void)removeEdit
{
    tabBarController.moreNavigationController.navigationBar.topItem.rightBarButtonItem = nil;   
}

Answer 6

I don't know about iOS4, but it matters if you put the code in viewDidLoad vs viewWillAppear.

Ie., this will work.

- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
self.customizableViewControllers = nil;
}