Set a button background image iPhone programmatically

Question

In Xcode, how do you set the background of a UIButton as an image? Or, how can you set a background gradient in the UIButton?

Solution 1

Complete code:

+ (UIButton *)buttonWithTitle:(NSString *)title
                       target:(id)target
                     selector:(SEL)selector
                        frame:(CGRect)frame
                        image:(UIImage *)image
                 imagePressed:(UIImage *)imagePressed
                darkTextColor:(BOOL)darkTextColor
{
    UIButton *button = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:frame];

    button.contentVerticalAlignment = UIControlContentVerticalAlignmentCenter;
    button.contentHorizontalAlignment = UIControlContentHorizontalAlignmentCenter;

    [button setTitle:title forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [button setTitleColor:[UIColor blackColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal];


    UIImage *newImage = [image stretchableImageWithLeftCapWidth:12.0 topCapHeight:0.0];
    [button setBackgroundImage:newImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];

    UIImage *newPressedImage = [imagePressed stretchableImageWithLeftCapWidth:12.0 topCapHeight:0.0];
    [button setBackgroundImage:newPressedImage forState:UIControlStateHighlighted];

    [button addTarget:target action:selector forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

    // in case the parent view draws with a custom color or gradient, use a transparent color
    button.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];

    return button;
}

UIImage *buttonBackground = UIImage imageNamed:@"whiteButton.png";
UIImage *buttonBackgroundPressed = UIImage imageNamed:@"blueButton.png";

CGRect frame = CGRectMake(0.0, 0.0, kStdButtonWidth, kStdButtonHeight);

UIButton *button = [FinishedStatsView buttonWithTitle:title
                                               target:target
                                             selector:action
                                                frame:frame
                                                image:buttonBackground
                                         imagePressed:buttonBackgroundPressed
                                        darkTextColor:YES];

[self addSubview:button]; 

To set an image:

UIImage *buttonImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"Home.png"];
[myButton setBackgroundImage:buttonImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[self.view addSubview:myButton];

To remove an image:

[button setBackgroundImage:nil forState:UIControlStateNormal];

Solution 2

This will work

UIImage *buttonImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"imageName.png"];
[btn setImage:buttonImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[self.view addSubview:btn];

Solution 3

In case it helps anyone setBackgroundImage didn't work for me, but setImage did

Solution 4

You can set an background image without any code!

Just press the button you want an image to in Main.storyboard, then, in the utilities bar to the right, press the attributes inspector and set the background to the image you want! Make sure you have the picture you want in the supporting files to the left.

Solution 5

Swift

Set the button image like this:

let myImage = UIImage(named: "myImageName")
myButton.setImage(myImage , forState: UIControlState.Normal)

where myImageName is the name of your image in your asset catalog.

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Comments

[redestructa]

with setImage you set the foreground Image... if you want to set the background image use setBackgroundImage:<#(UIImage *)#> forState:<#(UIControlState)#>

[Kevin]

Why do you create a copy of an image before setting the button's BG to that image? Do we risk memory leaks or unusual behavior if we don't, or is it just to allow images to stretch to fill their buttons?