How can I change the UINavigationBar of a UINavigationController?

Question

I have a UINavigationController that I'm creating programatically:

 MessageTableViewController* homeStream = [[MessageTableViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"MessageTableViewController" bundle:nil];
          homeStream.fetchHomeStream = YES;
          homeStream.title = @"Home";
          UINavigationController* navBarController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:homeStream];
          navBarController.tabBarItem.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"hometab.png"];
          [homeStream release];

I have a custom UINavigationBar called STNavigationBar. How can I use STNavigationBar instead of the default UINavigationBar that is part of the UINavigationController?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 24 '11 at 02:28

3

I ended up using the iOS5 UIKit appearance proxy:

[[UINavigationBar appearance] setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"header"] forBarMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];

No subclassing, or categories needed.

answered Oct 24 '11 at 02:28

Sheehan Alam

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Wolfert · Answer 2 · 2011-10-23T22:53:02.707

0

Edit for future readers, the answer below does not work anymore on iOS 5.

You can't just set it to the existing instance, because UINavigationController has a readonly property for navigationBar. And I don't think subclassing a UINavigationController is what you want.

I recon the best way to do this is to create a category that extends a UINavigationBar, as discussed here.

edited Oct 23 '11 at 22:53

answered Oct 23 '11 at 22:43

Wolfert

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I originally had it as a category which worked fine, but iOS5 breaks this functionality, and it is now bad practice to use categories to over-ride actual methods. So I decided to subclass it. It works when I set the navigation bar in IB, but I also need to set it programatically... – Sheehan Alam Oct 23 '11 at 22:45
I was not aware of that. What about option no. 3 in this answer? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1869331/set-programmatically-a-custom-subclass-of-uinavigationbar-in-uinavigationcontrol/3080665#3080665 – Wolfert Oct 23 '11 at 22:50
Just posted an answer, I used iOS5 UIKit appearance proxy – Sheehan Alam Oct 24 '11 at 02:28

How can I change the UINavigationBar of a UINavigationController?

2 Answers2