Question

This is my code, which occurs 48 times (one for each button in a calendar).

calenderButton *a1 = [calenderButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[a1 makeFrame:CGRectMake(75, 50, 70, 70) number:1 color:[UIColor orangeColor]];
[self.view addSubview:a1];

What I want to do is put this in a “for loop”, changing the “a1” to “a2”, “a3”, etc, to cut down on the amount of code. I figure I can cut it down to 6 “for loops”.

How do I get the “a1″s to be a variable that I can then reference in not only the code above but in the “for loop”? (the for loop would be something like this:)

for(int i = 0, j=75; i < 7; i++, j+=75);

I know I have to concatenate the “a” with the integer “i”, but how do I place that in the message?

Answer 1

You can put your buttons into an array, like this:

Declare an instance variable NSMutableArray *allButtons in your header, then…

allButtons = [NSMutableArray array];
for(int i = 0, j=75; i < 7; i++, j+=75) {
    calenderButton *cb= [calenderButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
    // Configure the button here...
    // use values of i and j to call CGRectMake, or as you see fit
    [allButtons addObject:cb];
}

Now all your buttons are in an array. You can access them by index or in any other way that you may need, e.g. with a fast enumeration loop.