Question

In my RootViewController, I set an image as a rightBarButtonItem exactly like this, but in this second ViewController I created, this “back” button won’t display. I run it on the simulator and on my iPhone and I can tap the area where the button should be showing up and the goBack{} method is being called. Just the image(s) aren’t showing. Any thoughts?

Also, as far as the images go, I’m exporting them the exact same way I’ve been exporting all my other images. All the others have been working fine. It doesn’t seem like a problem with the images, as I’ve substituted the back button images for several others and none of them are displaying. I’m pretty sure I’m creating these images in the right order. Anyway, any help would be much appreciated.

From my NewGameViewController.m file:

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];

    CGFloat startingPoint = 0.0;
    CGRect bounds = self.view.bounds;
    bounds.origin.y = startingPoint;
    bounds.size.height -= startingPoint;

    self.ivarNewGameTableView = [[UITableView alloc] initWithFrame:bounds style:UITableViewStyleGrouped];
    self.ivarNewGameTableView.separatorStyle = UITableViewCellSeparatorStyleSingleLine;
    self.ivarNewGameTableView.autoresizingMask = UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleWidth | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleHeight;
    [self.view addSubview:self.ivarNewGameTableView];

    UIImageView *backgroundImageView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"background.png"]];
    self.ivarNewGameTableView.backgroundView = backgroundImageView;

    UIImage *mainNavBar = [UIImage imageNamed:@"startNewGameNavBar.png"];
    UIImageView *navBarView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:mainNavBar];
    [navBarView setFrame:CGRectMake(0.0, 0.0, 320.0, 44.0)];
    [self.navigationController.navigationBar addSubview:navBarView];

    UIButton *back = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];

    // neither one of the following lines work.  I know they're supposed to be identical, but
    // seen Xcode be picky.
    back.frame = CGRectMake(0.0, 0.0, 54.0, 36.0);
//    [back setFrame:CGRectMake(0.0, 0.0, 54.0, 36.0)];

    [back addTarget:self action:@selector(goBack) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    [back setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"back.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [back setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"backTouched.png"] forState:UIControlStateHighlighted];
    UIBarButtonItem *backButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:back];
    self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = backButton;
}

-(void)goBack {
    NSLog(@"goBack called.");
//    [self.ivarNewGameTableView pushViewController:];
}

Answer 1

Ok. Finally figured this out. The problem was with this line in the creation of my New Game View Navigation Bar:

[self.navigationController.navigationBar addSubview:navBarView];

I did this in my Root View’s Navigation Bar too. It now looks like this, in both files:

UIImage *startNewGameNavBar = [UIImage imageNamed:@"startNewGameNavBar.png"];

// with the key line being this one
[self.navigationController.navigationBar setBackgroundImage:startNewGameNavBar forBarMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];

In noob-speak, as I wish more programmers would use for noobs like me, if you’re having problems with buttons disappearing behind the your custom navigation bar, and you’re using code that looks like my example, it’s because you’re not supposed to be adding it as a subview. This puts it on top of everything else. Instead, change the navigation bar’s background image and, of course, the image winds up in the…(drumroll, please)…background. (end drumroll)

As for the adding of the button images, I just created a UIButton with custom type, set the images for the normal and highlighted states, set the button to call my goBack method, set its frame size, and assigned it to the navigationItem’s leftBarButtonItem property:

UIButton *backButton =  [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[backButton setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"back.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[backButton setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"backTouched.png"] forState:UIControlStateHighlighted];
[backButton addTarget:self action:@selector(goBack) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
[backButton setFrame:CGRectMake(0.0, 0.0, 54.0, 36.0)];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:backButton];