iOS: Positioning navigation bar buttons within custom navigation bar

Question

I'm building an app with a custom navigation bar. After some research I decided to do this using a category on UINavigationBar. The navigation bar needs to be a bit larger than usual to accomodate a drop shadow. Here is the code:

#import "UINavigationBar+CustomWithShadow.h"

@implementation UINavigationBar (CustomWithShadow)

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {

    // Change the tint color in order to change color of buttons
    UIColor *color = [UIColor colorWithHue:0.0 saturation:0.0 brightness:0.0 alpha:0.0];
    self.tintColor = color;

    // Add a custom background image to the navigation bar 
    UIImage *image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"NavBar.png"];
    [image drawInRect:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.frame.size.width, 60)];
}

- (void)layoutSubviews {

    self.frame = CGRectMake(0, 20, self.frame.size.width, 60);
}
@end

The only problem now is that the larger navigation bar means that the navigation bar buttons end up too far down, like so:

Does anyone know how I can correct the position of the buttons?

Thanks for all help!

Update:

I add the buttons to the nav bar in the init method of the view controller like so:

// Create "Add" button for the nav bar
UIBarButtonItem *addButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] 
    initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemAdd 
    target:self 
    action:@selector(createNewEntry:)];
[[self navigationItem] setRightBarButtonItem:addButton];
[addButton release];

Solution

You'll need to add the leftBarButtonItem and rightBarButtonItem as custom items and mess with the frames.... for example:

UIButton *button = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0,5,buttonImage.size.width,buttonImage.size.height)];
[button setBackgroundImage:buttonImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[button addTarget:delegate action:@selector(barButtonPressed:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
[button setTitle:titleString forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[button setTitleColor:CUSTOM_BAR_BUTTON_TITLE_COLOR forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[[button titleLabel] setFont:[UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:14]];
[[button titleLabel] setShadowColor:CUSTOM_BAR_BUTTON_SHADOW_COLOR];
[[button titleLabel] setShadowOffset:CGSizeMake(0,-1)];

UIBarButtonItem *barButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:button];
[button release];

[[self navigationItem] setRightBarButtonItem:barButton];
[barButton release];

Comments

[Erik Frisk]

Is there a simpler way? I've got buttons on subsequent views and would like to avoid adding each of them as a custom item if possible. Feel free to suggest alternatives to the way I added the drop shadow to the navigation bar if you have any :)

[mostafa tourad]

@Erik You will have to use a customView-bar-button-item taking the actual button as a subview to fix such offset issues.

[Erik Frisk]

No change I'm afraid. The buttons continue to align themselves to the bottom of the navigation bar (which goes down to the end of the drop shadow).

[Abhishek Yadav]

A simpler way to achieve this on all navigation button would be to create a subclass or category of UINavigationBarButton.

[Erik Frisk]

That sounds like a good idea adam! Do you know which methods I would need to override and how, or do you know where I would go to find that information?