Custom background for UINavigationBar?

Question

Hi,
how to set a custom background image for the whole navigation bar of a navigation controller? I can't find any appropriate API method.
I tried already to mess around with the views of the UINavigationBar to insert my background view - with the result no not-showing buttons and titles :-/
Also subclassing of UINavigationBar with a new drawRect method does not lead to anywhere - there is simply now way to set the navigation bar for a UINavigationController!
Any help would be highly appreciated!
Best regards,
Matthias Huber

Answer 1

Create a category that extends UINavigationBar:
@implementation UINavigationBar (UINavigationBarCategory)
-(void)setBackgroundImage:(UIImage*)image{
if(image == NULL){ //might be called with NULL argument
return;
UIImageView *aTabBarBackground = [[UIImageView alloc]initWithImage:image];
aTabBarBackground.frame = CGRectMake(0,0,self.frame.size.width,self.frame.size.height);
[self addSubview:aTabBarBackground];
[self sendSubviewToBack:aTabBarBackground];
[aTabBarBackground release];
@end
And call this method from wherever you are initializing your UINavigationController:
- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil {
if (self = [super initWithNibName:nibNameOrNil bundle:nibBundleOrNil]) {
// Initialization code
// Create the navigation and view controllers
SinglePlayerRootViewController *_rootViewController = [[SinglePlayerRootViewController alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewStyleGrouped];
UINavigationController *_navigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:_rootViewController];
self.navigationController = _navigationController;
[_navigationController release];
[_rootViewController release];
// set the image for the top navigation bar
[[navigationController navigationBar] setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"NavigationBarBackgroundTop.png"]];
// Configure and show the window
[self.view addSubview:navigationController.view];
return self;
I hope this helps!
-ML