I am converting an app that is written in ios 2 to ios 9. I am not really familiar with ios 2 and I need some help. Back in ios 2 there were no view controllers and xib files were used. There was one xib file called the main window which would hold all the navigation items. In my case the main window xib has a navigation bar. And in code there is the following line
self.navigationItem.title = #"Back";
So I could see when i run the app on a simulator, in one of my views there is a button with titled "Back". But i cannot find a method for this button. Like there is no IBAction for it or a method. I am trying to add a selector for the navigationitem but it doesn't work. This is what I tried:
self.navigationItem.selector = #selector(backButtonClicked:)
How can I add a selector to a navigationItem so I can search that in the project or create my own selector.
You can add custom back button to your navigation bar this way
UIBarButtonItem *btn = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Back" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered target:self action:#selector(backButtonClicked:)];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = btn;
-(void)backButtonClicked: (id)sender
{
[self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated: YES]; // or popToRoot... if required.
}
Similar to the issue described here, with the exception that my TabBar is actually showing the BackButton on my NavigationBar is not. In the question I provided a link to the answer that solved the problem was that there was a NavigationController within a NavigationController, I do not have that so this is a different issue.
The basic flow of my storyboard is Login (UIView) - TabBar (UITabBarController) - NavigationController (UINavigationController) - Actual visible screen (UITableViewController) - New TableView where the issue occurs (UITableViewController).
On the new actual visible screen or the TableView the NavigationBar at the top shows just fine and I can click in the general area that the BackBarButton should be and it will go back, but no BackBarButton item is visible.
I tried changing the color, allocating it in the previous ViewController, making sure it was visible, etc. And none of them have shown the Back Button. It seems to be there but it is not shown.
Any ideas? From the other question that is similar to my issue this seems to be a iOS 9 specific thing.
EDIT from looking at the Debug View Hierarchy I can tell that the back button is in fact there but it just has no label or back arrow on it. How can I make the back label visible?
EDIT 2
Here is the viewDidLoad method of the view controller where the back button should appear.
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#" " style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:nil action:nil];
[self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem setTintColor:[UIColor whiteColor]];
// Other unimportant stuff
}
The way I am segueing to this view controller is through the storyboard with a Push segue. Code is below.
- (void)segueToUser: (UIButton*)button {
long row = button.tag;
PFObject *PFQuote = [_recent quoteAtIndex:(row-1)/2];
PFUser *u = [PFQuote objectForKey:#"creator"];
_send = u;
[self performSegueWithIdentifier:#"showUser" sender:self];
}
Here is my prepareForSegue in the same file as the segueToUser
- (void)prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(id)sender {
if ([segue.identifier isEqualToString:#"showUser"]) {
BRETTFUserTableViewController *bfutvc = [segue destinationViewController];
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#" " style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:nil action:nil];
bfutvc.us = _send;
}
}
Here is a picture of a section of my storyboard.
The first view is a tabView
The second view is a navView
The third view is a tableView
The fourth view is a tableView
Since no one has seemed to have found a solution I will provide additional information. From my digging deeper into the Debug View Hierarchy I have found some more information regarding the backButton. I can see that the back arrow is intact there and there is a NSString next to it that seems to be nil, I do not know why it is nil but that is what I found. Here are additional pictures of what I have found.
In your
(void)prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(id)sender {
you have Write a code line
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#" " style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:nil action:nil];
In Above line you have set title " " Empty String.
Instead of empty string use the title which you want to show on back-button item. fr ex:
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Back" style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:nil action:nil];
Check it might that help.
Adding a image of storyboard, how i have embedded the view controller in navigation controller.
or in case if you have put navigation appearance code anywhere in your app then also post that code.
In your viewDidLoad and prepareForSegue methods you have this :
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#" " style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:nil action:nil];
Which replace the default back button of the navigation controller by a button without a label.
You should simply remove these 2 lines to have the default back button.
I have finally solved the issue. To accomplish this I had to go into the navigation bar for the first tableViewController and set the Back Button title to Back and then set the tint color (as it defaulted to clear) and now it works.
I use a UINavigationController in my app and am having an issue with the back button titles. I have the title programmatically set for any page that I push to. On some of the pages the back button will correctly display the previous pages title, but then on select other pages it just says 'back'.
I have a basic implementation on pushing to a new VC:
- (void)pushToNewVC
{
NewVC *newVC = [[NewVC alloc] init];
[self.navigationController pushViewController:newVC animated:YES];
}
In the viewDidLoad of newVC/all of myVC's I have self.title = #"Title".
The problem is that in some cases it works, but then in others in will just say 'Back' rather than the previous pages title.
I've noticed a similar behavior that if the back button's title length won't fit in the Navigation Bar with the title of the pushed VC, the Back Button's title will fallback to just < Back.
On the VCs where the inconsistent behavior is happening, try setting the title of pushing VC to a shorter word just to test and confirm if that is indeed what's happening. Hope this helps.
Setting self.title = #"Title" will just set the title og the UINavigationBar, not the back button. Use the following code to set the back button title:
UIBarButtonItem *backButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
initWithTitle: #"Back Button Text"
style: UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered
target: nil action: nil];
[self.navigationItem setBackBarButtonItem: backButton];
On iOS if you do not set the bar button item in the navigation stack manually, one is added for you with the previous controller's title and a back arrow. I want to keep the arrow only. e.g. if my previous controller's title was Hello, my current controller would have the leftbarbuttonitem as "< CustomTitle". Currently, I just have this:
UIBarButtonItem *goBackAndSaveButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]initWithTitle:#"[insert arrow here]CustomTitle" style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:self action:#selector(goBackAndSave)];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = asdf;
Is there any way to control the title so I can set a custom title but still use the back arrow"
Rather than using a custom bar button item you could alternatively use one of the view controller life cycle methods like willMoveToParentViewController: as the trigger for your save. If you use willMoveToParentViewController: (when the parent is nil) you can save once when the view is removed. If you use viewWillDisappear: your save will run more frequently when pushing other views.
In the -viewDidLoad method of the controller you're pushing a new view controller from, use this code:
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem =
[[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"CustomTitle"
style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered
target:nil
action:nil];
Then when you push your new view controller, its back button will have your custom title.
The "back button" of a UINavigationController by default shows the title of the last view in the stack. Is there a way to have custom text in the back button instead?
From this link:
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem =
[[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Custom Title"
style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain
target:nil
action:nil];
As Tyler said in the comments:
don't do this in the visible view controller, but in the view
controller that you'd see if you hit the back button
You can set the text in the Interface Builder:
Select the navigation item of the ViewController that the back button would return to:
In the utilities panel attribute inspector, enter your label for the Back Button:
I would prefer this approach over setting the title in code as in the accepted answer.
Also note, you need to do this in the view controller one level up the
stack. In other words, don't do this in the visible view controller,
but in the view controller that you'd see if you hit the back button.
--Tyler
I use this:
// In the current view controller, not the one that is one level up in the stack
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
self.navigationController.navigationBar.backItem.title = #"Custom text";
}
I found a handy solution to this by simply setting the title of the controller before pushing another controller onto the stack, like this:
self.navigationItem.title = #"Replacement Title";
[self.navigationController pushViewController:newCtrl animated:YES];
Then, make sure to set the original title in viewWillAppear, like this:
-(void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
...
self.navigationItem.title = #"Original Title";
...
}
This works because the default behavior of UINavigationController when constructing the back button during a push operation is to use the title from the previous controller.
The title of the back button defaults to the previous view's title so a quick trick I use is to place the following code on the previous view's .m file.
-(void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated {
// Set title
self.navigationItem.title=#"Original Title";
}
-(void)viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated {
// Set title
self.navigationItem.title=#"Back";
}
in your init method, add the following code:
- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewStyle)style {
if(self = [super init]) {
//...
UIBarButtonItem *customBackButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Back"
style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain
target:self
action:#selector(goBack)];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = customBackButton;
[customBackButton release];
//...
}
return self;
}
then add a simple method, to allow viewcontroller dismissing:
-(void)goBack {
[self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}
Add the following code in viewDidLoad or loadView
self.navigationController.navigationBar.topItem.title = #"Custom text";
I tested it in iPhone and iPad with iOS 9
Adding to rein's answer. Note from Apple's docs that the declaration of backBarButtonItem is this:
#property(nonatomic, retain) UIBarButtonItem *backBarButtonItem
Therefore, rein's answer will leak memory because the synthesized setter will retain the instance you pass it, which is never released explicitly. You can remedy this by using autorelease
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem =
[[[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Custom Title"
style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered
target:nil
action:nil] autorelease]; //<-- autoreleased
Or you could point a variable at the instance so you can explicitly release it later:
UIBarButtonItem* item = ...
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = item;
[item release];
Hope this helps!
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
UIBarButtonItem *backButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Back" style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:nil action:nil];
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = backButton;
[backButton release];
}
I've discovered something interesting.
If you subclass the UINavigationController and override the pushViewController:animated: method and do something like this: (bear in mind that I'm using ARC)
UIBarButtonItem *backButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
initWithTitle: #"Back"
style: UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered
target: nil action: nil];
viewController.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = backButton;
[super pushViewController:viewController animated:animated];
Then for all ViewControllers that are pushed with your navigation controller will have the "Back" button in them automatically. If you want to change the text for certain view controllers you can try and maybe cast the viewcontroller to a certain class or your own custom protocol (which your viewcontroller inherits from which could have a method like backButtonText or something silly like that) which can give you certain information on the viewcontroller that's coming in sothat you can customize the back button text for it. Now the back button text is taken care of in a place which should hold the responsibility solely. I have to admit that creating a new button to change the text sucks, but oh well.
Can anyone think of a reason why not to do it like this? Atleast you don't have to fiddle with viewcontroller titles or have to remember to create a new back button before pushing the viewcontroller on the navigation controller.
rein's answer works well.
Note that if you push more than one view controller, the changed back button title will appear for each of them, which may not be what you want.
In that case, you'll need to create the custom UIBarButtonItem each time you push a view controller.
Also, make sure you do it before pushing the view controller, otherwise you will get a screen hiccup as the title changes.
Expanding on Aubrey's suggestion, you can do this in the child view controller:
create two variables for storing the old values of the parent's navigationItem.title and the parent's navigationItem
UINavigationItem* oldItem;
NSString* oldTitle;
in viewDidLoad, add the following:
oldItem = self.navigationController.navigationBar.topItem;
oldTitle = oldItem.title;
[oldItem setTitle: #"Back"];
in viewWillDisappear, add the following:
[oldItem setTitle: oldTitle];
oldTitle = nil; // do this if you have retained oldTitle
oldItem = nil; // do this if you have retained oldItem
It's not perfect. You will see the the title of the parent view change as the new controller is animated in. BUT this does achieve the goal of custom labeling the back button and keeping it shaped like a standard back button.
Put this into you viewDidLoad, hope it will result into what you are looking for
UIBarButtonItem *backBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"Close"
style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:nil action:nil];
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = backBarButtonItem;
[backBarButtonItem release];
if You want to set title in ARRIVING controller (sometimes more logic..)
in swift 3 do:
func setBackButtonNavBar(title: String, delay: Double){
let when = DispatchTime.now() + delay
DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: when, execute: { () -> Void in
if let navBar = self.navigationController?.navigationBar{
navBar.backItem?.title = title
}
})
}
in upcoming controller:
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
self.setBackButtonNavBar(title: "back", delay: 0.3)
}
usually I put self.setBackButtonNavBar in a controller extension.
I know this is an old question and the answers' kind of out updated!
The easy way is to do this in parent ViewController:
i.e the one that takes you to next view controller.
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(title: "Custom text here", style: .plain, target: nil, action: nil)
Doing this in code remove the back button style of the UINavigationConroller. If you add a Navigation Item in each of yours views, you can set the title of the back botton in the StoryBoard.