Center elements vertically inside UINavigationBar with custom height - ios

Question

I'm developing an iOS 6 and 7 app that requires the navigation bar to be taller than the usual 44/64 pts
I've searched high and low and so far it seems the cleanest solution is to use a category (or subclass) and implement the - (CGSize)sizeThatFits:(CGSize)size method to return a different size.
This works fine in just making , however doing this causes all the items inside to rest at the bottom of the navigation bar, while I'd like to have them centered.
I have tried using the Appearance Proxy protocol to define vertical offsets for the buttons, specifically this code
[[UIBarButtonItem appearance] setBackgroundVerticalPositionAdjustment: -10 forBarMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];
[[UIBarButtonItem appearance] setBackButtonBackgroundVerticalPositionAdjustment: -10 forBarMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];
[[UINavigationBar appearance] setTitleVerticalPositionAdjustment: -10 forBarMetrics: UIBarMetricsDefault];
Works just fine on iOS 6, producing this result
But doesn't work on iOS 7, giving me this instead.
I have read around that under iOS 7 the adjustments only work when using custom views but it seems odd to me, especially considering that setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment:forBarMetrics: actually moves the text for the back button up, but not the chevron and that the title actually does nudge up.
I've also tried going for a subclassing route, using layoutSubviews to move down the views inside the UINavigationBar.
This works, but of course when a new view controller is pushed the buttons jump around during the transition.
Am I missing something? Thanks in advance
UPDATE I have edited the description to make it clearer that my issue is with what's inside the bar, not the bar itself.

Answer 1

The cleanest solution I've found to this problem was to use my own subclass of UINavigationBar and center the buttons vertically by overriding the layoutSubviews method:
- (void)layoutSubviews
{
[super layoutSubviews];
NSArray *subviews = self.subviews;
for (UIView *view in subviews) {
if ([view isKindOfClass:[UIButton class]]) {
view.frame = ({
CGRect frame = view.frame;
CGFloat navigationBarHeight = CGRectGetHeight(self.frame);
CGFloat buttonHeight = CGRectGetHeight(view.frame);
frame.origin.y = (navigationBarHeight - buttonHeight) / 2.0f;
frame;
});
}
}
}
To make a UINavigationController use your subclass of UINavigationBar you can use the initWithNavigationBarClass:toolbarClass: initialiser:
UINavigationController *navigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithNavigationBarClass:[MyNavigationBar class] toolbarClass:nil];

Answer 2

Did you try to add the following code to your viewDidLoad Method :
if ([self respondsToSelector:#selector(edgesForExtendedLayout)])
self.edgesForExtendedLayout = UIRectEdgeNone;
It is quickly explained in Apple migrating to iOS 7 Documentation : https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/userexperience/conceptual/TransitionGuide/AppearanceCustomization.html
//it's leave the status-bar height above.

Answer 3

There is a quick crack to this, unless you find the proper solution, this would definitely work ;)
Check for system running iOS7.
if ([[[UIDevice currentDevice] systemVersion] floatValue] >= 7.0)
{
// Add below code
}
Add Label to the Navigation Bar :
UINavigationBar *bar = [self.navigationController navigationBar];
UILabel *label = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(110, 55, 150, 20)]; //Set the frame appropriate to your screen
label.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
label.font = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:14];
label.adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth = NO;
label.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
label.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
label.highlightedTextColor = [UIColor blackColor];
[bar addSubview:label];

Answer 4

Swift 3 version of Tiago his answer
override func layoutSubviews() {
super.layoutSubviews()
subviews.filter { (subview) -> Bool in
return subview is UIButton
}.forEach { (subview) in
subview.center.y = frame.height / 2
}
}
Adjusting the titleView vertical postion
setTitleVerticalPositionAdjustment(-10, for: .default)

Answer 5

You can change size of navigation bar with just changing it's frame:
CGRect navigationBarFrame = self.navigationController.navigationBar.frame;