Programmatically changing the identifier property of UIBarButtonItem

Question

Through Interface Builder I have the ability to change the Identifier of a UIBarButtonItem to something like "Add" (or "Undo", "Redo" etc...). This gives my button a nice "+" image.

How can I set this programatically? The UIBarButtonItem does not accept a "setIdentifier" message.

Answer 1

Once constructed, a UIBarButtonItem's "Identifier" can not be modified. However, the UI can be changed by replacing the button with a programmatically constructed variant. For example:

UIBarButtonItem *addButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemAdd 
                                                                           target:self 
                                                                           action:@selector(doAddAction:)];

Answer 2

If you want one button style: bordered and identifier: camera use

UIBarButtonItem *btn;
btn = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemCamera target:self action:@selector(shotAction:)];
btn.style=UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered;

Answer 3

Once the UIBarButtonItem is created, there is no way to change the identifier. However, you can create a new UIBarButtonItem to replace the old UIBarButtonItem

UIBarButtonItem *barButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemAction
                                                              target:self
                                                              action:@selector(buttonClickedAction:)];

self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = barButton;