Add a left bar button item to UINavigationController when no back button is present

Question

I'd like to add a default left bar button item to my navigation bar. It should only display when there is no back button supplied by the UINavigationController.

What is the best approach?

Solution 1

- (void)navigationController:(UINavigationController *)navigationController willShowViewController:(UIViewController *)viewController animated:(BOOL)animated {
    if(navigationController.viewControllers.count != 1) { // not the root controller - show back button instead
        return;
    }
    UIBarButtonItem *menuItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemOrganize
                                                                              target:self
                                                                              action:@selector(menuItemSelected:)];   
    [viewController.navigationItem setLeftBarButtonItem:menuItem]; 
}

Solution 2

Swift code to add leftBarButtonItem…

    let leftMenuItem = UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: UIBarButtonSystemItem.Done, target: self, action: "leftMenuItemSelected:");
    self.navigationItem.setLeftBarButtonItem(leftMenuItem, animated: false);

Update

For Swift 4 & above

    let leftMenuItem = UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: .done, target: self, action: #selector(leftMenuItemSelected(_:)))
    self.navigationItem.setLeftBarButton(leftMenuItem, animated: false);

Solution 3

Swift 3 version:

let done = UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: .done, target: self, action: #selector(YourController.done))
navigationItem.setLeftBarButtonItem(done, animated: false)

Solution 4

For Swift 4.x and later(5.x)

func addNavigationItemBtn(){
    let backBtn = UIBarButtonItem.init(title: "Menu", style: .plain, target: self, action: #selector(menuAction))
    self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = backBtn
}

@objc func menuAction(){
    print("menu button pressed")  //Do your action here
}

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Comments

[rmaddy]

Your question is the best approach. If there is no back button, add your left button.

[David Sujarwadi]

This is Delegate from UINavigationController?