How to add UISegmentedControl in toolbar on iPad programmatically

Question

I have some weird problem adding UISegmentedControl in toolbar on iPad. I have created a UINavigationController with the root controller which has the following methods:

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

    UINavigationController *navigationController = [self navigationController];
    navigationController.toolbar.barStyle = UIBarStyleBlackOpaque;
    navigationController.toolbarHidden = NO;
}

- (NSArray *)toolbarItems
{
    UIBarButtonItem *flexibleSpace = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace target:nil action:NULL];
    return [NSArray arrayWithObjects:[self segmentedControlItem], flexibleSpace, nil];
}

- (UISegmentedControl *)segmentedControl
{
    if (_segmentedControl) {
        return _segmentedControl;
    }

    NSArray *items = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:@"Segment 1", @"Segment 2", nil];
    _segmentedControl = [[UISegmentedControl alloc] initWithItems:items];
    _segmentedControl.segmentedControlStyle = UISegmentedControlStyleBar;

    return _segmentedControl;
}

- (UIBarButtonItem *)segmentedControlItem
{
    UIBarButtonItem *buttonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:self.segmentedControl];
    buttonItem.style = UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered;
    return buttonItem;
}

But after the controller appears the segmentedControl is not visible on toolbar. How to fix it? I am already checked that the segmentedControl exists in toolbar items, it has size, it is not hidden, but nevertheless I cannot see it.

(lldb) po [[[[[self navigationController] toolbar] items] objectAtIndex:0] customView]
(id) $3 = 0x08e39a10 <UISegmentedControl: 0x8e39a10; frame = (7 8; 300 30); opaque = NO; layer = <CALayer: 0x8e63230>>

Good question but I have a lot of custom logic when generating the view controller. So it seemed easier to handle it programmatically. — voromax, Aug 16 '12 at 11:36

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 16 '12 at 13:04

I have a workaround. It seems is not safe to overwrite the - (NSArray *)toolbarItems if you want to add UISegmentedControl in the toolbar. It is better to add some method to configure the toolbar somewhere after the controller did load.

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

- (void)configureToolbar
{
    UINavigationController *navigationController = [self navigationController];
    navigationController.toolbar.barStyle = UIBarStyleBlackOpaque;
    navigationController.toolbarHidden = NO;
    // Add toolbar items here
    UIBarButtonItem *flexibleSpace = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace target:nil action:NULL];
    self.toolbarItems = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:[self segmentedControlItem], flexibleSpace, nil];
}

This approach allows you to get the result

How to add UISegmentedControl in toolbar on iPad programmatically

1 Answers1