Question

I need to change the default title value of the back button in a navigationcontroller to something else.

I am trying this with the following code:

UIBarButtonItem *newBackButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle: @"Terug" style:    UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered target:nil action:nil];
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = newBackButton;
[newBackButton release];

i also tried:

UIBarButtonItem *newBackButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle: @"Terug" style:    UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:nil action:nil];
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = newBackButton;
[newBackButton release];

I am using this code at the end of the viewDidLoad.

I am able to create a normal button (square) with the following code:

UIBarButtonItem *newBackButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle: @"Terug" style:    UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered target:nil action:nil];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = newBackButton;
[newBackButton release];

The problem with this solution is that I need to create a seperate method that pop’s the view controller. Another issue would be the shape of the button, I need an arrow shaped button.

do you have any idea?

Answer 1

If you want to have a custom back button you need to create new one and assign a new selector to it.
The backBarButtonItem is not editable, so you need to set the leftBarButtonItem.

This is how you can create a custom back button

UIButton *button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[button setTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"Back", nil) forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[button setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"back.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];

[button addTarget:navigationController action:@selector(backAction:)forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

UIBarButtonItem *backButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:button];
navigationController.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = backButton;
[backButton release];

And this is the selector to simulate the back button

- (IBAction)backAction:(id)sender
{
    [self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}