Adding a background imageview programmatically with autolayout - ios

Question

I need to add a background image view for my views for a project I've done using storyboards + autolayout. I want to add this image programmatically using code. so basically it should be from top layoutguide to bottom layoutguide, without going under them. I've tried few ways which failed horribly.
one way I first adjust the VC'c view before adding like this
id topGuide = self.topLayoutGuide;
UIView *superView = self.view;
NSDictionary *viewsDictionary = NSDictionaryOfVariableBindings (superView, topGuide);
[self.view addConstraints:
[NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:#"V:[topGuide]-20-[superView]"
options:0
metrics:nil
views:viewsDictionary]
];
[self.view layoutSubviews];
but for some reason my imageview still goes under statusbar.
this is how I add the bg imageview
self.backgroundView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"Default"]];
self.backgroundView.contentMode = UIViewContentModeTop;
[self.view insertSubview:self.backgroundView atIndex:0];
[self.view addConstraints:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:#"V:|[backgroundImageView]|" options:0 metrics:nil views:#{#"backgroundImageView":self.backgroundView}]];
[self.view addConstraints:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:#"H:|[backgroundImageView]|" options:0 metrics:nil views:#{#"backgroundImageView":self.backgroundView}]];

Answer 1

Adding the constraint related to the topLayoutGuide to self.view is useless. The view controller layout its root view (self.view) independently from AutoLayout, and will override the constraints effects (don't quote me on this, this is an observation more than a real understanding of the layout system).
Instead, add the first constraint (#"V:[topGuide]-20-[superView]") to self.backgroundView:
self.backgroundView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"Default"]];
self.backgroundView.contentMode = UIViewContentModeTop;
[self.view insertSubview:self.backgroundView atIndex:0];
[self.view addConstraints:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:#"V:[topGuide]-(20)-[backgroundImageView]|" options:0 metrics:nil views:#{#"backgroundImageView":self.backgroundView, #"topGuide": self.topLayoutGuide}]];
[self.view addConstraints:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:#"H:|[backgroundImageView]|" options:0 metrics:nil views:#{#"backgroundImageView":self.backgroundView}]];
[self.view layoutSubviews];