CODEWITHSUNDEEP
iosswiftuinavigationcontrolleruikituibarbuttonitem
Conor
Conor

Reputation: 1057

Swift Custom NavBar Back Button Image and Text

I need to customise the look of a back button in a Swift project.

Here's what I have: Default Back Button

Here's what I want: Custom Back Button

I've tried creating my own UIBarButtonItem but I can't figure out how to get the image to be beside the text, rather than as a background or a replacement for the text.

let backButton = UIBarButtonItem(title: "Custom", style: .Plain, target: self, action: nil    )
//backButton.image = UIImage(named: "imageName") //Replaces title
backButton.setBackgroundImage(UIImage(named: "imageName"), forState: .Normal, barMetrics: .Default) // Stretches image
navigationItem.setLeftBarButtonItem(backButton, animated: false)

Upvotes: 76

Views: 128023

Answers (18)

Ben
Ben

Reputation: 3804

Swift 5 - UIKit

The other answers are great if you want a monochrome image. However, if you need to use a custom image with multiple colors use the following approach to create a custom button to add as a navigationItem.

In viewWillAppear:

// Create the custom back arrow button to use for back navigation.
// Done this way so it shows up as multi-color. Other ways more commonly found are monochrome only.
let backButton = UIButton(type: .custom)
backButton.setImage(UIImage(named: "your_image_name"), for: .normal)
backButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(backButtonTapped), for: .touchUpInside)
backButton.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 50, height: 50)
    
// Moves the custom backButton slightly to the left so it's in the same spot where back navigation typically is.
var configuration = UIButton.Configuration.filled()
configuration.baseBackgroundColor = .clear
configuration.contentInsets = NSDirectionalEdgeInsets(top: 0, leading: -20, bottom: 0, trailing: 0)
backButton.configuration = configuration
    
let backView = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 70, height: 70))
backView.addSubview(backButton)
    
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(customView: backView)

Separately:

// Used to handle the custom back navigation button.
@objc func backButtonTapped() {
    self.navigationController?.popViewController(animated: true)
}

Upvotes: 1

Valeriy
Valeriy

Reputation: 743

let rectInsets = UIEdgeInsets(top: 0, left: -1, bottom: 0, right: 0)
let backButton = Asset.Assets.backArrow.image.withAlignmentRectInsets(rectInsets)
    
let appearance = UINavigationBarAppearance()
// if you need to hide the back button text
appearance.backButtonAppearance.normal.titleTextAttributes = [.foregroundColor: UIColor.clear]
// set custom back button image
appearance.setBackIndicatorImage(backButton, transitionMaskImage: backButton)
UINavigationBar.appearance().standardAppearance = appearance

Upvotes: 2

nayooti
nayooti

Reputation: 443

Changing the navigation controller`s standardAppearance or scrollEdgeAppearance will reset your custom backIndicatorImage and backIndicatorTransitionMaskImage

let backImage = UIImage(systemName: "chevron.left.circle.fill")
navigationController?.navigationBar.backIndicatorImage = backImage
navigationController?.navigationBar.backIndicatorTransitionMaskImage = backImage

// this will cause the backIndicatorImage to be reset
let standardAppearance = UINavigationBarAppearance()
navigationController?.standardAppearance = standardAppearance

To change the backIndicatorImage in conjunction with UINavigationBarAppearance you will need to set the backImage using this:

navigationController?.standardAppearance.setBackIndicatorImage(backImage, transitionMaskImage: backImage)

Upvotes: 0

Mushrankhan
Mushrankhan

Reputation: 803

For setting custom back bar button and remove text from back bar button, FROM STORYBOARD only, without any coding.

For setting custom back button and remove text from back button

RESULT:

enter image description here

Upvotes: 14

wlixcc
wlixcc

Reputation: 1492

iOS13 And Later, Try to use UINavigationBarAppearance

let appearance = UINavigationBarAppearance()
// set back image
appearance.setBackIndicatorImage(UIImage(named: "back_icon"), transitionMaskImage: UIImage(named: "back_icon"))

// set appearance to one NavigationController
let navVC = UINavigationController()
navVC.navigationBar.standardAppearance = appearance
navVC.navigationBar.scrollEdgeAppearance = appearance

// or you can config for all navigation bar
UINavigationBar.appearance().standardAppearance = appearance
UINavigationBar.appearance().scrollEdgeAppearance = appearance

back title base on you Viewcontroller

viewController.navigationItem.backButtonTitle = "your back title"

Upvotes: 4

Ing. Ron
Ing. Ron

Reputation: 2095

You can change it globally in the AppDelegate with the following code:

UINavigationBar.appearance().backIndicatorImage = UIImage(named: "custom-back")
UINavigationBar.appearance().backIndicatorTransitionMaskImage = UIImage(named: "custom-back")

Upvotes: -1

Muruganandham K
Muruganandham K

Reputation: 5331

I know it was answered. Here you can set title, image and target.

    let view = UIView()
    let button = UIButton(type: .system)
    button.setImage(UIImage(named: "backArrow_theme"), for: .normal)
    button.setTitle("Back to workflow", for: .normal)
    button.addTarget(self, action: #selector(onBackButton(_:)), for: .touchUpInside)
    button.titleEdgeInsets = UIEdgeInsets(top: 0, left: 10, bottom: 0, right: -10)
    button.sizeToFit()
    view.addSubview(button)
    view.frame = button.bounds
    navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(customView: view)

Upvotes: 6

J A S K I E R
J A S K I E R

Reputation: 2184

Just in case someone need to change all Back buttons color or font with Swift5. UIBarButtonItem.appearance().tintColor = .red

Add this to AppDelegate.swift file.

import UIKit

@main
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {

var window: UIWindow?

func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
    
    // Override point for customization after application launch.        
    UIBarButtonItem.appearance().tintColor = .white
    UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes([
        NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: .red,
        NSAttributedString.Key.font: UIFont(name: "font_name", size: 14)!
    ], for: .normal)

    return true
}

}

Upvotes: 2

Kegham K.
Kegham K.

Reputation: 1614

This worked for me on iOS 13 using swift 5. Just hide the original back button and add a new navigation left bar button item with an action.

navigationItem.hidesBackButton = true
navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(image: #imageLiteral(resourceName: "backBtn"), style: .plain, target: self, action: #selector(back(sender:)))

@objc func back(sender: UIBarButtonItem) {
    self.navigationController?.popViewController(animated:true)
}

Upvotes: 5

ikbal
ikbal

Reputation: 1250

Swift 4.2 Add this functions ViewController

func addNavigationBarButton(imageName:String,direction:direction){
    var image = UIImage(named: imageName)
    image = image?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)
    switch direction {
    case .left:
       self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(image: image, style:.plain, target: nil, action: #selector(goBack))
    case .right:
       self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(image: image, style:.plain, target: nil, action: #selector(goBack))
    }
}

@objc func goBack() {
    navigationController?.popViewController(animated: true)
}

enum direction {
    case right
    case left
}

Using you should use here

viewDidLoad() 

addNavigationBarButton(imageName: "ic_back", direction:.left)

Upvotes: 1

Booharin
Booharin

Reputation: 789

swift 4

In my case, I needed to have only the image of the button, without any text. I hope this will be useful to someone. 

let imgBackArrow = UIImage(named: "back_arrow_32")

navigationController?.navigationBar.backIndicatorImage = imgBackArrow
navigationController?.navigationBar.backIndicatorTransitionMaskImage = imgBackArrow

navigationItem.leftItemsSupplementBackButton = true
navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(title: "", style: .plain, target: self, action: nil)

For iOS 12 you can do

func setNavigationBar() {

    self.navigationItem.setHidesBackButton(true, animated:false)

    //your custom view for back image with custom size
    let view = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 40, height: 40))
    let imageView = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: 10, y: 10, width: 20, height: 20))

    if let imgBackArrow = UIImage(named: "icn_back_arrow") {
        imageView.image = imgBackArrow
    }
    view.addSubview(imageView)

    let backTap = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(backToMain))
    view?.addGestureRecognizer(backTap)

    let leftBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(customView: view ?? UIView())
    self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = leftBarButtonItem
}

@objc func backToMain() {
    self.navigationController?.popViewController(animated: true)
}

Upvotes: 33

Mohamed Saleh
Mohamed Saleh

Reputation: 3287

I have tried all the above and all make the custom image without changing the text The only one worked for me is from this answer 

let backBTN = UIBarButtonItem(image: UIImage(named: "Back"), 
                              style: .plain, 
                              target: navigationController, 
                              action: #selector(UINavigationController.popViewController(animated:)))
navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = backBTN
navigationController?.interactivePopGestureRecognizer?.delegate = self

Upvotes: 10

Vitalii
Vitalii

Reputation: 4437

Having a button in Navigation Bar with Image AND Text is quite hard. Especially after they have introduced a new headache with UIBarButtonItem position in iOS 11: iOS 11 - UIBarButtonItem horizontal position

You can make either button with image or a button with text, but not a button with both of those. I even tried two UIBarButtonItems together, one with image and other with text - it still doesn't look good at all and their UIStackView can't be easily accessed for modification.

Unexpectedly I found a plain simple solution:

1) design the button as view in Interface Builder. In my case it is inside target UIViewController and accessible via IBOutlet for simplicity

2) set Leading Space constraint for the image to be negative, you might also want to set view's background color to .clear.

enter image description here

3) use it:

@IBOutlet var backButtonView: UIView!

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    let backButton = UIBarButtonItem(customView: self.backButtonView)
    self.backButtonView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 44).isActive = true // if you set more than you'll get "Unable to simultaneously..."
    self.backButtonView.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 75).isActive = true
    self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = backButton
}

That's it. No need to use the trick with negative spacer for iOS 10 or the trick with imageInsets for iOS 11 (which works only if you have image and doesn't work for image+text, BTW).

enter image description here

Upvotes: 11

Mohamed Ali
Mohamed Ali

Reputation: 273

Just replace the backButton with a custom rightBarButtonItem

let backImage = UIImage(named: "BackBtn")?.withRenderingMode(.alwaysOriginal)
    navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(image: backImage, style: .plain, target: self, action: #selector(popnav))

    @objc func popnav() {
    self.navigationController?.popViewController(animated: true)
}

Upvotes: 2

Idan
Idan

Reputation: 5450

For the back button image:

  • By this tutorial: (but didn't work for me)

    UINavigationBar.appearance().backIndicatorImage = UIImage(named: "imageName")

  • But this stack answer: (worked for me)

    var backButtonImage = UIImage(named: "back-button-image")
backButtonImage = backButtonImage?.stretchableImage(withLeftCapWidth: 15, topCapHeight: 30)
UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setBackButtonBackgroundImage(backButtonImage, for: .normal, barMetrics: .default)

And for the font, assuming you want the font to match for the whole navigation bar:(currently in use)

if let font = UIFont(name: "Avenir-Book", size: 22) {
  UINavigationBar.appearance().titleTextAttributes = [NSFontAttributeName: font]
}

Upvotes: 11

Randy
Randy

Reputation: 4525

You can do something like that:

let yourBackImage = UIImage(named: "back_button_image")
self.navigationController?.navigationBar.backIndicatorImage = yourBackImage
self.navigationController?.navigationBar.backIndicatorTransitionMaskImage = yourBackImage
self.navigationController?.navigationBar.backItem?.title = "Custom"

Your image will only have one color though

Upvotes: 110

Ahmed Safadi
Ahmed Safadi

Reputation: 4590

swift 3 

    extension UIViewController {

        func setBackButton(){
            let yourBackImage = UIImage(named: "backbutton")
            navigationController?.navigationBar.backIndicatorImage = yourBackImage
            navigationController?.navigationBar.backIndicatorTransitionMaskImage = yourBackImage
        }

    }

Upvotes: 5

Supratik Majumdar
Supratik Majumdar

Reputation: 2466

Note: Please remember that the back button belongs to the the source ViewController and not to the destination ViewController. Thus, the modification needs to be done in the source VC, which is reflected to all the view in the navigation controller

Code Snippet: 

let backImage = UIImage(named: "icon-back")

self.navigationController?.navigationBar.backIndicatorImage = backImage

self.navigationController?.navigationBar.backIndicatorTransitionMaskImage = backImage

/*** If needed Assign Title Here ***/
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = UIBarButtonItem(title: "", style: UIBarButtonItemStyle.plain, target: nil, action: nil)

Upvotes: 44

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