Best way to get a "back" nav button with the arrow icon in it?

Question

Apple frequently uses a left arrow icon in the their navigation controller "back" button, rather than the word "back" or other text:

enter image description here

It doesn't seem possible to assign an image to this special button with the standard SDK. Am I missing something obvious? If not, what's the most effective way of achieving this? (Can it be done without Photoshopping the whole button in multiple states?)

Thanks.

See this discussion as well: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/227078/creating-a-left-arrow-button-like-uinavigationbars-back-style-on-a-uitoolbar — Sophie Alpert, Mar 09 '11 at 01:49

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 09 '11 at 02:00

4

Create a UIBarButtonItem with the image and assign it as the backBarButtonItem property of your view controller's navigationItem.

answered Mar 09 '11 at 02:00

Anomie

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I'll be darned. I had no idea it would realize the back button was special and work anyways. Thanks. – Ben Zotto Mar 10 '11 at 06:18

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 09 '11 at 01:32

1

You can use -initWithImage:style:target:action: of UIBarButtonItem and put your image instead.

- (id)initWithImage:(UIImage *)image
              style:(UIBarButtonItemStyle)style
             target:(id)target
             action:(SEL)action

answered Mar 09 '11 at 01:32

Angelo

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Best way to get a "back" nav button with the arrow icon in it?

2 Answers2