Add a custom back button to Navigation Bar using MonoTouch

Question

Just want to confirm this, as I'm trying to learn monoTouch alone..

I have a view which I navigate to using NavigationController.PushViewToController(). On the destination view, I have a Navigation Bar. I can add a button to the bar and use code to push to another view (I happen to know where Back is), fine.

Is there a existing "back button" control? Or a way in to code to change the existing back button to say "Go back"?

In Interface Builder I can see there is a property on the navigationItem called "Back". When I add text to this I can see a new BarButtonItem added to the navigationBar. However I never see this button when I navigate to the view in the simulator. If I try to drag the item onto the view manually, the "Back" text is cleared and the button is treated like a custom button.

Do I always have to manually code the back button?

Answer 1

The default back button (the one that takes the name of the previous controller) cannot be customized. But you can hide it and replace that button with a new one.

If you have a controller, you can do that on the viewDidLoad method. Overriding this method you are sure that all the elements have been set.

// allows you to hide the back button
NavigationItem.SetHidesBackButton(true,true);

// allows you to create a new customized button
NavigationItem.LeftBarButtonItem = new UIBarButtonItem(...);

UIBarButtonItem takes an handler that you can use to control the navigation.

In the handler you can do this:

NavigationController. PopViewControllerAnimated(true);