Tab bar in iPhone application is a desirable control when your application has multiple section and subsections. It takes viewControllers to create the tabs and display on the view/window. The default color of tab bar controller is black.
With introduction of iOS 5.0, we can change its tint color using,
With introduction of iOS 5.0, we can change its tint color using,
tabBar.tintColor=[UIColor greenColor];
But, this is not enough to satisfy our taste buds. We are not at all going to create a custom tab bar, any inheritance etcs. We are just going to have some Image layers put onto the tab bar. With a little tweak, we can use whatever image we like in tab bar.
But, this is not enough to satisfy our taste buds. We are not at all going to create a custom tab bar, any inheritance etcs. We are just going to have some Image layers put onto the tab bar. With a little tweak, we can use whatever image we like in tab bar.
For this we will need a set of Image for every tab like,
Now, we will need to initialize our view controller in "didFinishLaunchingWithOptions" method as below,
FirstViewController *firstViewController=[[FirstViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"FirstViewController" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
..
..
FifthViewController *fifthViewController=[[FifthViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"FifthViewController" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
and add to tab bar controller,
NSArray *arr=[NSArray arrayWithObjects:firstViewController,secondViewController,thirdViewController,fourthViewController,fifthViewController,nil];
tabBarController=[[UITabBarController alloc] init];
[tabBarController setViewControllers:arr];
Finally add this tab bar controller to the window,
[self.window addSubview:tabBarController.view];
Complete "didFinishLaunchingWithOptions" method in AppDelegate.m of application will typically look like below,
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
// Override point for customization after application launch.
FirstViewController *firstViewController=[[FirstViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"FirstViewController" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
SecondViewController *secondViewController=[[SecondViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"SecondViewController" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
ThirdViewController *thirdViewController=[[ThirdViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"ThirdViewController" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
FourthViewController *fourthViewController=[[FourthViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"FourthViewController" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
FifthViewController *fifthViewController=[[FifthViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"FifthViewController" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
NSArray *arr=[NSArray arrayWithObjects:firstViewController,secondViewController,thirdViewController,fourthViewController,fifthViewController,nil];
tabBarController=[[UITabBarController alloc] init];
[tabBarController setViewControllers:arr];
[self.window addSubview:tabBarController.view];
[self.window makeKeyAndVisible];
return YES;
}
Now, the idea is that, we can add an ImageView over the tab bar and update the image with tab change in viewWillAppear method of every viewController as below,
- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated {
[super viewWillAppear:animated];
for(UIView *view in self.tabBarController.tabBar.subviews) {
if([view isKindOfClass:[UIImageView class]]) {
[view removeFromSuperview];
}
}
[self.tabBarController.tabBar insertSubview:[[[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"1.png"]] autorelease] atIndex:1];
}
