Question

I set the button background in the interface builder, but that wasn’t showing up so I set it programmatically. All (but one button… why?) shows on the simulator but never show on a device.

I get this output:

Could not load the "gray_button.png" image referenced from a nib in the bundle with identifier "com.example.ios"

This is the code:

- (void) viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
    [super viewWillAppear:animated];

    [self.getMyTripButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:
                                          [[self getFullPathname] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"images/gray_button.png"]]
                                forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [self.popupButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:
                                      [[self getFullPathname] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"images/gray_button.png"]]
                            forState:UIControlStateNormal];


    [self.viewOurPackages reloadData];
}

I have also tried replacing imageWithContentsOfFile with imageNamed and both yield the same results.

I have added the images directory in my Project > Targets > Build Phases > Copy Bundle Resources, but I think this is where it all starts to go wrong and I can’t figure out why. Possibly because it’s a directory?

I would like to point out that I have double and triple checked that it is not a capitalization/case-sensitive issue.

UPDATE: I have solved the one button not showing. It would seem that real issue is that the images show on iOS6 and NOT on iOS5.

Answer 1

What worked for me was one (or a combination) of the following 3 things:

1. Make sure your image file is formatted correctly. Sometimes png files need a little coercing. (I think this specifically was my problem)
2. Make sure your button is of type Custom in the Interface Builder or UIButtonTypeCustom.
3. If you are setting the image in Interface Builder and it’s still not showing, set it explicitly in the code using [button setBackgroundImage:image forState:UIControlStateNormal] (or [button setImage:image forState:UIControlStateNormal] depending on which one you need.