Programmatically created UIButtonBarItem not picking up UIAppearance - ios

Question

I've added UIAppearance code in my appdelegate to customize UIButtonBarItem.
The back buttons in a nav controller pick up the UIappearance.
But the UIButtonBarItems I create programmically to appear on the first navbar dont get the uiappearance.
Isn't UIAppearance supposed to apply to all UIButtonBarItems that are created?
The same thing happens if I put in a UIButtonBarItem into a navbar in storyboard.
The navbar picks up the UIAppearance but the UIButtonBarItem does not.
in appdelegate
-(void) configureAppearance
{
// navbar background
UIView* bk0 = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, 480.0f, 44.0f)];
UIView* bk1 = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, 480.0f, 22.0f)];
UIView* bk2 = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0.0f, 22.0f, 480.0f, 22.0f)];
[bk0 addSubview:bk1];
[bk0 addSubview:bk2];
bk1.backgroundColor=LIGHT_PURPLE;
bk2.backgroundColor=DARK_PURPLE;
UIImage* navimg=ChangeViewToImage(bk0);
[[UINavigationBar appearance] setBackgroundImage:navimg forBarMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];
#define BUTTON_SIZE 34.0f
UIView* bbk0 = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, BUTTON_SIZE, BUTTON_SIZE)];
UIView* bbk1 = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, BUTTON_SIZE, BUTTON_SIZE)];
bbk0.backgroundColor=[UIColor clearColor];
bbk1.backgroundColor=DARK_PURPLE;
[bbk0 addSubview:bbk1];
addBorderAndShadow(bbk1, VERY_DARK_PURPLE, 1.0, 2.0);
UIImage* bimg=ChangeViewToImage(bbk0);
bimg = [bimg resizableImageWithCapInsets:UIEdgeInsetsMake(0.0f, BUTTON_SIZE, 0, 0)]; // this will keep it square
[[UIBarButtonItem appearance] setBackButtonBackgroundImage:bimg
forState:UIControlStateNormal
barMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];
[[UIBarButtonItem appearance] setBackButtonTitlePositionAdjustment:UIOffsetMake(0, bimg.size.height*2) forBarMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault]; // to not show text on button but still get nav ani
//[[UIBarButtonItem appearanceWhenContainedIn:[UINavigationBar class], nil] setBackButtonBackgroundImage:bimg forState:UIControlStateNormal barMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];
}
in one of my viewcontrollers (which doesnt get uiappearance
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Uncomment the following line to preserve selection between presentations.
// self.clearsSelectionOnViewWillAppear = NO;
// Uncomment the following line to display an Edit button in the navigation bar for this view controller.
// self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = self.editButtonItem;
//AppDelegate* appdel = (AppDelegate*)[[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate];
//[appdel configureAppearance];
UIBarButtonItem* backButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"" style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:self
action:#selector(revealMenu:)];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = backButton;
}

Answer 1

Try like this:
[UIBarButtonItem apperanceWhenContainedIn: [UINavigationController class],nil]
setBackgroundImage:bimg
forState:UIControlStateNormal
barMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];