Create UIActionSheet 'otherButtons' by passing in array, not varlist

Question

I have an array of strings that I want to use for button titles on a UIActionSheet. Unfortunately, the otherButtonTitles: argument in the method invocation takes a variable length list of strings, not an array.

So how I can I pass these titles into the UIActionSheet? The workaround I've seen suggested is to pass nil into otherButtonTitles:, then specify the button titles individually by using addButtonWithTitle:. But this has the problem of moving the "Cancel" button to the first position on the UIActionSheet rather than the last; I want it to be the last one.

Is there a way to 1) pass an array in lieu of a variable list of strings, or alternatively 2) move the cancel button to the bottom of the UIActionSheet?

Thanks.

Hypersensitize

not sure if this will work but the cancelButtonIndex property of UIActionSheet is not read-only. Try setting it and see if that changes the order of the buttons? – Assuasive

Answer 1

I got this to work (you just need to, be ok with a regular button, and just add it after :

NSArray *array = @[@"1st Button",@"2nd Button",@"3rd Button",@"4th Button"];

    UIActionSheet *actionSheet = [[UIActionSheet alloc] initWithTitle:@"Title Here"
                                                             delegate:self
                                                    cancelButtonTitle:nil
                                               destructiveButtonTitle:nil
                                                    otherButtonTitles:nil];

    // ObjC Fast Enumeration
    for (NSString *title in array) {
        [actionSheet addButtonWithTitle:title];
    }

    actionSheet.cancelButtonIndex = [actionSheet addButtonWithTitle:@"Cancel"];

    [actionSheet showInView:self.view];

Procarp

This works; thanks. Didn't realize that the cancelButtonIndex property could be set. One thing I think we can all agree on: Apple's API for this sucks. – Hypersensitize

I second this! And 99,99% of their documentation also sucks. It is like trying to learn brain surgery from a book written in archaic hebrew without knowing that language. – Malayoindonesian

I very much wish I could up vote this many many more times. Cracking answer and I cannot believe I've gone this long not knowing about this! – Colbycolbye

What about if we want the cancel button to be red like usual? – Highoctane

@JimThio cancelButton is not red. The destructiveButton is red. – Incumbency

Sadly, this solution suffers from a bug in UIActionSheet that [UIActionSheet addButtonWithTitle] does not seem to correctly set firstOtherButtonIndex (which should be used in the delegate's actionSheet:clickedButtonAtIndex: rather than hardcoding 0 or similar stuff). Getting nasty with converting an NSArray to va_list doesn't sound like a great solution either. :-( This API is so damn ugly. – Kerbstone

I used this recently showing the action sheet from a bar button item, and it seems to have a bug because the last item is not being shown. I had to add an empty button title to workaround this. I'm not sure if this is only on iOS 7 – Chrystal

To solve the problems with the indexes, i created a NSDictionary containing the titles as keys with NSNumber (e.g. @(0)) as values. In actionSheet:clickedButtonAtIndex: for example i get the title for the specific pressed buttonIndex via buttonTitleAtIndex on the actionSheet. Then i get the value with the title as key from my dictionary and take the integerValue of this value to do a switch-case. For me this is working great. Don't forget to add the all button titles also cancel etc. to your dictionary – Abigail

Answer 2

One little note: [actionSheet addButtonWithTitle:] returns the index of that button, so to be safe and "clean" you can do this:

actionSheet.cancelButtonIndex = [actionSheet addButtonWithTitle:@"Cancel"];

Councilman

Will that turn the cancel button red? – Highoctane

@JimThio No, red button is called "destructiveButton", and there's a respective property destructiveButtonIndex for it – Councilman

Answer 3

Taking Jaba's and Nick's answers and extending them a little further. To incorporate a destruction button into this solution:

// Create action sheet
UIActionSheet *actionSheet = [[UIActionSheet alloc] initWithTitle:title
                                                         delegate:self
                                                cancelButtonTitle:nil
                                           destructiveButtonTitle:nil
                                                otherButtonTitles:nil];
// Action Buttons
for (NSString *actionName in actionNames){
    [actionSheet addButtonWithTitle: actionName];
}

// Destruction Button
if (destructiveName.length > 0){
    [actionSheet setDestructiveButtonIndex:[actionSheet addButtonWithTitle: destructiveName]];
}

// Cancel Button
[actionSheet setCancelButtonIndex: [actionSheet addButtonWithTitle:@"Cancel"]];

// Present Action Sheet
[actionSheet showInView: self.view];

Montgolfier

Answer 4

There is the swift version for the response :

//array with button titles
private var values = ["Value 1", "Value 2", "Value 3"]

//create action sheet
let actionSheet = UIActionSheet(title: nil, delegate: self, cancelButtonTitle: nil, destructiveButtonTitle: nil)
//for each value in array
for value in values{
    //add a button
    actionSheet.addButtonWithTitle(value as String)
}
//display action sheet
actionSheet.showInView(self.view)

To get value selected, add delegate to your ViewController :

class MyViewController: UIViewController, UIActionSheetDelegate

And implement the method "clickedButtonAtIndex"

func actionSheet(actionSheet: UIActionSheet, clickedButtonAtIndex buttonIndex: Int) {
    let selectedValue : String = values[buttonIndex]
}

Effulgent

For future users... It worked... but it is deprecated... use https://mcmap.net/q/196310/-how-to-use-uialertcontroller-to-replace-uiactionsheet – Leduc