iOS UIButton with multiple labels - ios

Question

I have a UI button that I'd like to put two labels on it, similar to how a cell has a title text and detail text.
I'd like the button to have a larger font for the main text, and have smaller detail text under that.
Is this possible? I've tried to put multiple lines on a button, but I need to have different text sizes for each line, so setting the lineBreakMode and numberOfLines of the titleLabel doesn't really quite work.

Answer 1

Here's the code we finally used. Assistance from John Wang.
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions!
// Formats a label to add to a button. Supports multiline buttons
// Parameters:
// button - the button to add the label to
// height - height of the label. usual value is 44
// offset - the offset from the top of the button
// labelText - the text for the label
// color - color of the text
// formatAsBold - YES = bold NO = normal weight
// tagNumber - tag for the label
- (void) formatLabelForButton: (UIButton *) button withHeight: (double) height andVerticalOffset: (double) offset andText: (NSString *) labelText withFontSize: (double) fontSize withFontColor: (UIColor *) color andBoldFont:(BOOL) formatAsBold withTag: (NSInteger) tagNumber {
// Get width of button
double buttonWidth= button.frame.size.width;
// Initialize buttonLabel
UILabel *buttonLabel = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, offset, buttonWidth, height)];
// Set font size and weight of label
if (formatAsBold) {
buttonLabel.font = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:fontSize];
}
else {
buttonLabel.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:fontSize];
}
// set font color of label
buttonLabel.textColor = color;
// Set background color, text, tag, and font
buttonLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
buttonLabel.text = labelText;
buttonLabel.tag = tagNumber;
// Center label
buttonLabel.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
// Add label to button
[button addSubview:buttonLabel];
[buttonLabel autorelease];
} // End formatLabelForButton

Answer 2

A trick I would recommend is putting a UIButton with a transparent interior on top of UILabels. I've used this trick before and, although it may present some problems in terms of maintenance and i18n, it works like a charm.
Here is a 5 minutes sample using the suggestion above.
Given more time, you can make a better label with round corners.

Answer 3

you should be able to add subviews to it. Since everything is a view, everything can potentially have subviews.
I would subclass it and put the labels on it within the subclass, Then you can extend properties for text and subtext to change their values.
Not saying it can 100% work. But off the top of my head. UIView can have SubViews