How to set target and action for UIBarButtonItem at runtime

Question

Tried this but only works for UIButton:

[btn setTarget:self action:@selector(btnClicked:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

Succinic

That does not appear to be valid even for UIButton. – Bakki

For UIButton, the right method is -addTarget:action:forControlEvents: – Lanellelanette

Answer 1

Just set the UIBarButtonItem's target and action properties directly.

Donela

N.B. This only works if the UIBarButtonItem doesn't use a custom view, like a UIButton – Quinones

For custom views, use: [button addTarget:self action:@selector(buttonPressed) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside]; – Sato

Can you please give an example of what those should be set to? The target says it takes an AnyObject? Should that be set to a UIGestureRecognizer? – Corcovado

assuming btn is a UIBarButtonItem, [btn setTarget:self]; [btn setAction:@selector(btnClicked:)] or DOT notation btn.target = self; btn.action = @selector(btnClicked:); Both should work as @Ole-Begemann is describing. – Gildea

@Gildea hey, does it still work (6 years later)? how can I set a target and action to a UITabBarItem today? – Honorable

@wp42 Should still work. This was just used last year on my end. – Gildea

Per the documentation this doesn't work on an instance that has been initialized with a custom view. "The bar button item created by this method does not call the action method of its target in response to user interactions. Instead, the bar button item expects the specified custom view to handle any user interactions and provide an appropriate response." See apple.co/2egXdmR for reference – Trousseau

This only works if the UIBarButtonItem doesn't use a custom view – Noway

Did you figure out what worked if you used a custom view? – Demetria

For a custom view where you add a UIButton, button, to a UIBarButtonItem, barButtonItem: button.addTarget(self, action: #selector(yourFunction), for: .touchUpInside). In other words, add it to the button that you're adding to the barbuttonitem. – Formenti

Answer 2

UIBarButtonItem doesnt have the same addTarget method so you have to set them directly as follows

btn.target = self;
btn.action = @selector(barButtonCustomPressed:);

...

// can specify UIBarButtonItem instead of id for this case
-(IBAction)barButtonCustomPressed:(UIBarButtonItem*)btn 
{
    NSLog(@"button tapped %@", btn.title);
}

Galvanize

Thank you!! this is exactly what i needed to implement my custom UIBarButtonItem class – Counterattraction

great answer, especially if you want to create the buttons at design time! – Berwickupontweed

Answer 3

Set target and action of your UIBarButtonItem

Swift 5 & 4

button.target = self
button.action = #selector(action)

@objc func action (sender:UIButton) {
    print("action")
}

Irvinirvine

This only works if the UIBarButtonItem doesn't use a custom view. – Noway

Answer 4

I ran into a similar problem... I assume you mean that if your UIButton is not part of your UITabBar to call btnClicked then it works appropriately. If this is the problem you are proposing then, check your btnClicked method and change it from:

-btnClicked:(id)sender

to

-(void) btnClicked:(id)sender

that, and declare btnClicked in the header file...

For what it's worth, this is how I setup a button in tabbarbuttonitem:

UIBarButtonItem *exampleButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"button.png"] style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain target:self action:@selector(btnClicked:)];

Divisible

additionally, you can take out the ":" making ...:@selector(btnClicked:)]; into ...:@selector(btnClicked)]; – Divisible

Answer 5

If you need this enough times in your code, it's nice to go ahead and extend UIBarButtonItem which I've done below in Swift. :)

import UIKit

extension UIBarButtonItem {
    func addTargetForAction(target: AnyObject, action: Selector) {
        self.target = target
        self.action = action
    }
}

As an example, with self as a UIViewController, you'd simply call:

self.myBarButtonItem.addTargetForAction(self, action: #selector(buttonPressed(_:))

Perrault

This is a bad name, it suggests that previous target/actions are preserved as is the case with UIButton – Luana

Answer 6

UIBarButtonItem *barListBtn = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem: UIBarButtonSystemItemAdd target:self action:@selector(getTruckStopListAction)];   
self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = barListBtn;
[barListBtn release];

Overestimate

Answer 7

For a custom UIBarButtonItem this works.

let button = UIButton(type: .custom)
button.setImage(image, for: .normal)
button.addTarget(self, action: #selector(yourFunction), for: .touchUpInside)
let barButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(customView: button)

You set the target and action to the button that you are adding to your UIBarButtonItem.

Formenti

Answer 8

@wp42 It does work today.

A nifty way of doing this in objective-C is adding a category to UIBarButtonItem class:

.h file

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UIBarButtonItem (addons)

-(void)addTarget:(id)target andAction:(SEL)action;

@end

.m file

#import "UIBarButtonItem+addons.h"

@implementation UIBarButtonItem (addons)

-(void)addTarget:(id)target andAction:(SEL)action{
   [self setTarget:target];
   [self setAction:action];
}

@end

In practice:

[myBtn addTarget:self andAction:@selector(myFunction:)];

Insured

Answer 9

For custom views: use an UITapGestureRecognizer and set up isUserInteractionEnabled to true.

profileImageView.isUserInteractionEnabled = true
let tap = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleProfileImageTap))
profileImageView.addGestureRecognizer(tap)
navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(customView: profileImageView)

Holophytic

Answer 10

If you are programmatically adding the UIBarButtonItem, the best way to set the target and action is to initialize the button with one of the following methods:

UIBarButtonItem *customButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithImage:<#(UIImage)#> style:<#(UIBarButtonItemStyle)#> target:<#(id)#> action:<#(SEL)#>

UIBarButtonItem *customButton = [UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:<#(NSString *)#> style:<#(UIBarButtonItemStyle)#> target:<#(id)#> action:<#(SEL)#>

UIBarButtonItem *customButton = [UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithImage:<#(UIImage *)#> landscapeImagePhone:<#(UIImage *)#> style:<#(UIBarButtonItemStyle)#> target:<#(id)#> action:<#(SEL)#>

Dejadeject

Answer 11

Swift 5:

Extract to extensions:

extension UIBarButtonItem {

    static func nextBtn(target: AnyObject, action: Selector) -> UIBarButtonItem {
        let title = "Next"
        return button(title: title, target: target, action: action)
    }

    private static func button(title: String, target: AnyObject, action: Selector) -> UIBarButtonItem {
        return UIBarButtonItem(title: title, style: .done, target: target, action: action)
    }

}

Call in code:

navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = .nextBtn(target: self, action: #selector(rightBarButtonAction))

Action:

@objc func rightBarButtonAction() {
    Swift.print("Button tapped!")
}

Pretty easy to add new buttons to this factory.

Guardhouse

Answer 12

You may want to try out the addTarget method.

Bookbinding

There is no addTarget method for UIBarButtonItem. – Defile

That methohd does not exist, check the docs please: developer.apple.com/library/IOs/documentation/UIKit/Reference/… What you are thinking of is a UIButton – Remediosremedy