UIBarButton won't show in my UINavigationController

Question

I want to make a simple view with a navigation bar and a table view. So I created a subclass of UINavigationController and I added a UITableView in it. My is is also the UITableViewDataSource and UITableViewDelegate . Now I want to add UIBarButton in the navigation bar but it doesn't work :

UIBarButtonItem *anotherButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:[[Translator instance] getTranslation:@"Back"] 
                                                                  style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain 
                                                                 target:self.parentViewController  
                                                                 action:@selector(dismissFiltersModal:)];          
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = anotherButton;

There's no error the view is displayed but not the button. How can I do to display it?

Answer 1

The backBarButtonItem should be set on the previous view controller, not the current one to be displayed. For example, if your you are on view A, navigate to B from it, inside BA's backBarButtonItem will be displayed, not B's.

If you just want to display an item on the left hand side of the navigation bar, you can use leftBarButtonItem instead, which will display a normal bar button on that controller. It will be rectangular, not an arrow like normal back buttons though.

Answer 2

jafar,

as Apple doc suggested you should avoid to subclass UINavigationController .

This class is not intended for subclassing.

Said this, you could follow these simply steps (some advice for you):

• Create your controller (say MyController ) that extends UIViewController and add the table here. Set your controller as the delegate and data source for that table. If you have created by xib you need an outlet for your table view.

[ PS . you could also subclass a UITableViewController , it has a table view its own]

• In viewDidLoad of MyController customize the navigation bar.

For example

UIBarButtonItem* myButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemAdd target:self action:@selector(someSelector)];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = myButton;

You could also customize the title.

For example

self.title = @"Your custom title";

• Somewhere in your code create a UINavigationController and add as a root view controller an instance of MyController .

For example:

MyController* myCtr = // alloc-init here
UINavigationController* nc = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:myCtr];

Answer 3

How about you try this :

UIButton* backButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:101]; // left-pointing shape!
        [backButton addTarget:self action:@selector(dismissFiltersModal:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
        [backButton setTitle:@"Back" forState:UIControlStateNormal];

// create button item -- 
UIBarButtonItem* backItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:backButton];

// add to toolbar
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = backItem;