What's the best way to add a view under UINavigationBar in iOS7

Question

On ios7, a lot of apps (Apple Messages, Facebook Messenger, Calendar)have views appearing under the UINavigationBar, often with what seems to be standard animation. As it seems quite standard and looks a lot with a UIToolBar, I was looking for the standard way of implementing it but couldn't find anything.

Is there a better way to adding a UIToolBar to the UINavigationBar?

Answer 1

You should follow this simple approach.

• Add a UIToolBar like this.

  UIBarButtonItem *flexiableItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace target:self action:nil];
  UIBarButtonItem *item1 = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemAdd target:self action:nil];
  UIBarButtonItem *item2 = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemAction target:self action:nil];
  
  NSArray *items = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:item1, flexiableItem, item2, nil];
  self.toolBar = [[UIToolbar alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, -44, self.view.frame.size.width, 44)];
  [self.toolBar setItems:items];
  self.toolBar.tintColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
  self.toolBar.barTintColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:0.6 green:0.1 blue:0.2 alpha:1];
  [self.contentView addSubview:self.toolBar];
  

• Add a Menu Button on Top navigation item

  self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"Menu" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered target:self action:@selector(toggleMenu:)];
  

• Now Implement toggleMenu function. Add a BOOL variable to track the movement.

  if(!moved) {
  [UIView animateWithDuration:0.5 animations:^{
      self.toolBar.alpha = 1;
      self.toolBar.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, 44);
  }];
  moved = YES;
  }else {
  [UIView animateWithDuration:0.5 animations:^{
      self.toolBar.alpha = 1;
      self.toolBar.frame = CGRectMake(0, -44, self.view.frame.size.width, 44);
  }];
  moved = NO;
  }
  

• Here is the attached video for this.

Hope that helps.