Put UIView on UIButton and still have it highlight

Question

In the past I've done the following:

thumbnailButton = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame: thumbnailButtonFrame];
[thumbnailButton addTarget:self action:@selector(thumbnailButtonPushed:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
[thumbnailButton setBackgroundImage: thumbnailButtonImage forState: UIControlStateNormal];
[thumbnailButtonImage release];

Which has created a button that has a thumbnail image on it, and when pushed it sort of puts a grey highlight over it (much like the in the photos app when you're selecting a photo to display from the list of thumbnails).

I have a scenario now where I have a UIView class that draws a graphic in it's drawRect method. I'd like to put this UIView on the UIButton and have it highlight the same way if I add an image. I'd like to do this without subclassing UIButton. Is this possible?

y dont you use 2 images and set the images according to whether the button is selected or not selected?? — Sharanya K M, Oct 12 '12 at 08:45

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:56

This should work. It may not be the exact method you are looking for however.

It involves converting a UIView in UIImage.

+ (UIImage *) imageWithView:(UIView *)view
{
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(view.bounds.size, view.opaque, 0.0);
    [view.layer renderInContext:UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()];

    UIImage * img = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();

    UIGraphicsEndImageContext();

    return img;
}

Then simply call this method in your code.

[thumbnailButton setBackgroundImage:[MyClass imageWithView:myCustomView] forState: UIControlStateNormal];

This may not give you your desired performance, but it should work.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 12 '12 at 08:53

You may try this approach.. You can have two images one for normal state and one for the highlighted state..

btnImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"buttonInactiveImage.png"];
btnImageSelected = [UIImage imageNamed:@"buttonActiveImage.png"];
btn = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame: thumbnailButtonFrame];
btn = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[btn setBackgroundImage:btnImage forState:UIControlStateNormal]; // Set the image for the normal state of the button
[btn setBackgroundImage:btnImageSelected forState:UIControlStateSelected]; // Set the image for the selected state of the button

This way you don have to put any view on the button

Put UIView on UIButton and still have it highlight

2 Answers2