AutoResizing a button based on title text content

Question

So I have a strange issue which could be a bug or me being stupid.

I have a button in a cell. The cell shows the logged in users facebook friends. If they are already a user of the app it shows the button as Play, else it shows Invite Me...

UIButton *playButton = (UIButton *)[cell.contentView viewWithTag:30];
playButton.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
[playButton setBackgroundImage:[[UIImage imageNamed:@"fbCell_Invite_30h"] resizableImageWithCapInsets:UIEdgeInsetsMake(15, 5, 15, 5)] forState:UIControlStateNormal];    
playButton.titleLabel.text = @"Invite me";
if ([self.fbFriendsUsingApp containsObject:[friend valueForKey:@"id"]]) {
    playButton.titleLabel.text = @"Play";
}

This all works fine and not an issue. However, when the button text is invite me it shows as this:

In storyboard interface builder the button is setup like this:

What is strange is that if I click the middle arrow <------> to make the width stretch, the title text stops working and they all show 'Play' ???

Answer 1

Try setting the text of the button using

[playButton setTitle:@"Invite Me" forState:UIControlStateNormal];

instead of

playButton.titleLabel.text = @"Invite Me;

I've found that if I don't use the first approach above the changes to the button text don't show up.

Answer 2

You can find the size of the NSString that you are setting as the button label and then resize the button accordingly:

CGSize labelSize = [labelString sizeWithFont:[UIFont systemFontOfSize:12]]; 
[button setFrame:CGRectMake(10,0,labelSize.width, labelSize.height)];

You will probably want to add a little to the CGSize as padding, but play with it and find the result you desire.