Question

I have a tab bar based app.
But from one screen the user may go to a more detailed view which does not have the tab bar.

The detailed screen has a navigation bar at the top and a simple button on the right as part of the navigation bar which works. ( I have created the navigation bar and the right button within Bar Button Item in IB and attached it to the outlets)

However since I have to go back from this screen I like to add the STANDARD back button using the standard navigation bar. (I could add it manually in IB, but I do not have the standard image readily available and thought using the standard would be “smarter”)

This is where I create the detail view (which is SettingsVC2) within SettingsVC1 :

SettingsVC2 *settingsVC2 = [[SettingsVC2 alloc] initWithNibName:@"SettingsVC2" bundle:nil selectedTCNumber:tcNumber];
settingsVC2.delegate = self;
UIBarButtonItem *temporaryBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] init];
temporaryBarButtonItem.title = @"Back";
settingsVC2.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = temporaryBarButtonItem;
settingsVC2.modalTransitionStyle = UIModalTransitionStyleFlipHorizontal;
[self presentViewController:settingsVC2 animated:YES completion:nil];   

While the navigation bar itself appears in SettingsVC2 no back button appears in it.

This is the code within SettingsVC2 itself:

- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil selectedNumber: (NSInteger) numberx
{
    self = [super initWithNibName:nibNameOrNil bundle:nibBundleOrNil];
    if (self) {
        self.tabBarItem.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"settings"];
        self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
        self.tableView.opaque = TRUE;

        navBar.tintColor = [UIColor colorFromRGBIntegers:W_COLOR_R green:W_COLOR_G blue:W_COLOR_B alpha:W_COLOR_A];
        navBar.topItem.title =  NSLocalizedString(@"Settings2", @"Settings2");

        UIBarButtonItem *temporaryBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] init];
        temporaryBarButtonItem.title = @"Back";
     /*
        self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = temporaryBarButtonItem;
        [self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem setEnabled:YES];
        [self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem setStyle:UIBarButtonItemStyleDone];
      */
        navBar.topItem.backBarButtonItem = temporaryBarButtonItem;
    }
    return self;
}

Neither this code nor the code commented out makes the back button appear.

Is there a “standard” way to get the back button (without using a UINavigationController in my case) or do I have to just add it manually in the IB and get the appropriate background image?

Many thanks!

Answer 1

You have to add the backbuttonItem to the first view, not the second one. This if course is very confusing. Anyway, I use these two methods to set and clear that back button title:

- (void)defaultBackButtonTitle
{   
    UIBarButtonItem *temporaryBarButtonItem = [UIBarButtonItem new];
    [temporaryBarButtonItem setTitle:@"Back"];
    self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = temporaryBarButtonItem;
}

- (void)clearBackButtonTitle
{   
    self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = nil;
}

You call the first when you push the viewController you want to have the back button, and the second when you get viewWillAppear (in the first top view controller).