using image or tint color on uinavigationbar in iphone?

Question

how do i show a background image on a navigation bar or give tint color to the navigation bar in a native iphone application??

Answer 1

Was looking for this a week ago. Found this over here discussions. apple. com/thread.jspa?threadID=1649012&tstart=0 (sorry won't let me post a real link).

-(void)setBackgroundImage:(UIImage*)image withTag:(NSInteger)bgTag{
if(image == NULL){ //might be called with NULL argument
    return;
}
UIImageView *aTabBarBackground = [[UIImageView alloc]initWithImage:image];
aTabBarBackground.frame = CGRectMake(0,0,self.frame.size.width,self.frame.size.height);
aTabBarBackground.tag = bgTag;
[self addSubview:aTabBarBackground];
[self sendSubviewToBack:aTabBarBackground];
[aTabBarBackground release];
}
/* input: The tag you chose to identify the view */
-(void)resetBackground:(NSInteger)bgTag {
    [self sendSubviewToBack:[self viewWithTag:bgTag]];
}

I made this as a category to UINavigationBar. To set it a background image for a UINavigationBar inside a UINavigationBarController, I did this:

[navigationControllerForChannels.navigationBar setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"top_bar.png"] withTag:48151623];

I've had some buginess when updating the tab bar, so you'll want to call

[self.navigationController.navigationBar resetBackground:48151623];

After any modifications to the bar.

Answer 2

If you use the CGImage solution, you may have a problem with image size:

CGRect layer=self.navigationController.navigationBar.frame;
layer.size.height=57.0;
layer.origin.y=0;
self.navigationController.navigationBar.frame=layer;
CGImageRef imageRef         = [UIImage imageNamed:@"myImg.png"].CGImage;
self.navigationController.navigationBar.layer.contents = (id)imageRef;

It seems to me that the image is streched down, since the layer seems to have a height of 44.0 pixel, but a background image for the UINavigationBar should be at least 57.0.

If you try to move the layer's frame, all the buttons will move within it.

Answer 3

You can override UINavigationBar drawRect. The code can be placed to appDelegate.m I've tested it and it's working on 3x and 4x iOS.

@implementation UINavigationBar (UINavigationBarCategory)
- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
    UIColor *color = [UIColor blackColor]; //tint color
    UIImage *img = [UIImage imageNamed: @"navBarBg.png"]; // your image
    [img drawInRect:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.frame.size.width, self.frame.size.height)];
    self.tintColor = color;
 }@end

Answer 4

This's how I did on iOS4:

#import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h> // For .layer 

self.navigationController.navigationBar.layer.contents = (id)[UIImage imageNamed:@"navigationBarBackgroundImage"].CGImage;
self.navigationController.navigationBar.tintColor = [UIColor orangeColor];

No need to switch subviews between z-orders (-exchangeSubviewAtIndex:withSubviewAtIndex:), both background image and tintColor set in one line of code, and works with @2x image too.

Answer 5

For the iOS5 and iOS6 I've used this solutions and it worked perfectly, Making a Universal UINavigationBar Background Image.

iPhone Retina Portrait 640px x 88px / iPhone Non-Retina Portrait 320px x 44px

Inside AppDelegate.m

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

Place this code

// Set the status bar to black color.
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarStyle:UIStatusBarStyleBlackOpaque animated:NO];

// Change @"menubar.png" to the file name of your image.
UIImage *navBar = [UIImage imageNamed:@"menubar.png"];

[[UINavigationBar appearance] setBackgroundImage:navBar forBarMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];

Don't forget to change the image name (menubar.png)

Check out this link for the full answer http://www.lwxted.com/blog/2012/add-custom-background-image-uinavigationbar-ios-5/

Answer 6

a background image is going to take a bit more work (you might want to try setting a titleView that's the same size as the bar itself; I haven't tried this myself) or adding a view behind existing subviews. Tint color is easy: navBar.tintColor = [UIColor orangeColor];