How do I prevent a button's background image from stretching?

Question

I\'m allocating a UIButtonTypeCustom UIButton to a UIView with a background image that is smaller than the button\'s frame. Reason why the image is smaller is because I\'m tryin

Answer 1

What you need to do is add your image as a UIImageView.

Than add a button with transperent background (UIColor ClearColor) on top of it with your desired width and height.

Answer 2

Stumbled on this problem too.

Adding image programmatically, as memmons thoroughly explained, did not help:(

I had a button 100x40 and image 100x100, it would appear squeezed, not fitted, as one would infer from "Aspect Fit" option. Actually, non of those view options had an effect.

I just had to rescale it so it would fit on a button, then use setImage:

UIImage *img=[UIImage imageNamed:@"myimage.png"];
CGImageRef imgRef = [img CGImage];
CGFloat imgW = CGImageGetWidth(imgRef);
CGFloat imgH = CGImageGetHeight(imgRef);
CGFloat btnW = myBttn.frame.size.width;
CGFloat btnH = myBttn.frame.size.height;
//get lesser button dimension
CGFloat minBtn=btnW;
if (btnW>btnH) {
    minBtn=btnH;
}
//calculate scale using greater image dimension
CGFloat scl=imgH/minBtn;
if (imgW>imgH) {
    scl=imgW/minBtn;
}
//scale image
UIImage *scaledImage = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:[img CGImage] scale:(img.scale * scl) orientation:(img.imageOrientation)];
//clean up
UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
//set it on a button
[myBttn setImage:scaledImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];

Answer 3

Another consideration is the BaseLine constraint. If your buttons have this constraint set (depicted as a horizontal or vertical line through multiple controls on your layout), it will cause your images to stretch without stretching the underlying button control. If your button is otherwise properly constrained (leading/trailing and top/bottom spaces, and etc...) removing the BaseLine constraint should have no impact on the layout, while allowing the foreground image to scale properly to the underlying button shape.

Answer 4

A lot of people make the same mistake you do in regards to button images and then jump through hoops trying to make the button behave as they expect it to. Let's clear this up once and for all:

A UIButton has two types of images it can display -- a foreground image and a background image. The background image for a button is expected to replace the button's background texture. As such, it makes sense that it stretches to fill the entire background. However, the button's foreground image is expected to be an icon that may or may not display alongside text; it will not stretch. It may shrink if the frame is smaller than the image, but it will not stretch. You can even set the alignment of the foreground image using the Control alignment properties in Interface Builder.

A button's foreground and background image can be set in code like this:

// stretchy
[self setBackgroundImage:backgroundImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];  

// not stretchy
[self setImage:forgroundImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];