Setting accessibility identifier programmatically on UIBarButtonItem

Question

The accessibility identifier is a developer generated ID for GUI objects, which can be used for automation tests.

A UIBarButtonItem does not implement UIAccessibilityIdentification. However is there a possibility that I can assign an accessibility identifier?

Solution 1

You could subclass UIBarButtonItem and implement the UIAccessibilityIdentification protocol in that subclass, lets's say BarButtonWithAccesibility.

In BarButtonWithAccesibility.h:

@interface BarButtonWithAccesibility : UIBarButtonItem<UIAccessibilityIdentification>

@property(nonatomic, copy) NSString *accessibilityIdentifier NS_AVAILABLE_IOS(5_0);

The only (strict) requirement for adhering to this protocol is defining the accessibilityIdentifier property.

Now in your view controller, let's say in viewDidLoad, you could set up a UIToolbar and add your subclassed UIBarButtonItem:

#import "BarButtonWithAccesibility.h"

- (void)viewDidLoad{

    [super viewDidLoad];

    UIToolbar *toolbar = [[UIToolbar alloc]  initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 320, 44)];

    BarButtonWithAccesibility *myBarButton = [[BarButtonWithAccesibility alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemDone target:self action:@selector(buttonPressed:)];
    myBarButton.accessibilityIdentifier = @"I am a test button!";

    toolbar.items = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:myBarButton, nil];
    [self.view addSubview:toolbar];
}

And within the buttonPressed: you could verify that you have access to the accessibilityIdentifier:

- (void)buttonPressed:(id)sender{
    if ([sender isKindOfClass:[BarButtonWithAccesibility class]]) {
        BarButtonWithAccesibility *theButton = (BarButtonWithAccesibility *)sender;
        NSLog(@"My accesibility identifier is: %@", theButton.accessibilityIdentifier);
    }
}

Hope this helps.

Solution 2

As of iOS 5 you can do it like this:

UIBarButtonItem *btn = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] init...;
btn.accessibilityLabel = @"Label";

Solution 3

If you have UIToolbar created inside that if you want to create multiple UIBarButtonItem programatically then it can be accessed like that and set accessibilityLabel as well like that below:-

    -(void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated
    {
        UIBarButtonItem *infoButtonItem=[[UIBarButtonItem alloc]initWithTitle:@"info" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered  target:self action:@selector(infoButtonClicked)];
        [self.customToolBar setItems:[NSArray arrayWithObject:infoButtonItem]];
//Here if you have muliple you can loop through it 
       UIView *view = (UIView*)[self.customToolBar.items objectAtIndex:0];
    [view setAccessibilityLabel:NSLocalizedString(@"Test", @"")];
    }

Solution 4

The subclassing UIBarButtonItem is a good solution. Depending on your needs, though, it may make more sense to simply assign the accessibilityIdentifier to the custom image of your UIBarButtonItem, assuming your UIBarButtonItem uses a custom image.

View more solutions

Comments

[Chris]

Is the accessibility identifier the same as label?

[Stas Zhukovskiy]

not sure what you mean, but i'll give it a try: by default it's nil, you have to set it yourself.

[Aklesh Rathaur]

u can use tag instead accessibility and also get object from tag.

[tyler]

The identifier is not the same as the label. If I'm localizing the element then the label may change, but you'd want the identifier to stay the same - typical for cases where automated testing uses accessibility to identify UI elements.

[fabb]

Looks like iOS 8 fixed the issue, and accessibilityIdentifier can now also be used with UIBarButtonItem.

[Sandeep]

@fabb - Table view cells are not showing in scripts in iOS 8. Do u have any idea

[Radek Wilczak]

It's not working with Appium Inspector. It shows 'BarButtonWithAccesibility' (and 'UIBarButtonItem') as 'UIAButton' and it sets name as icon file name.