UIButton not showing highlight on tap in iOS7

Question

I've looked at a ton of posts on similar things, but none of them quite match or fix this issue. Since iOS 7, whenever I add a UIButton to a UITableViewCell or even to the footerview it works "fine", meaning it receives the target action, but it doesn't show the little highlight that normally happens as you tap a UIButton. It makes the UI look funky not showing the button react to touch.

I'm pretty sure this counts as a bug in iOS7, but has anyone found a solution or could help me find one :)

Edit: I forgot to mention that it will highlight if I long hold on the button, but not a quick tap like it does if just added to a standard view.

Code:

Creating the button:

UIButton *button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
    button.titleLabel.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:14];
    button.titleLabel.textColor = [UIColor blueColor];
    [button setTitle:@"Testing" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [button addTarget:self action:@selector(buttonPressed:) forControlEvents: UIControlEventTouchDown];
    button.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width/2, 40);

Things I've Tested:

//Removing gesture recognizers on UITableView in case they were getting in the way.

for (UIGestureRecognizer *recognizer in self.tableView.gestureRecognizers) {
   recognizer.enabled = NO;
}

//Removing gestures from the Cell

for (UIGestureRecognizer *recognizer in self.contentView.gestureRecognizers) {
       recognizer.enabled = NO;
    }

//This shows the little light touch, but this isn't the desired look

button.showsTouchWhenHighlighted = YES;

Answer 1

Solution in Swift for iOS 7 and 8:

First I wrote a utility function:

class func classNameAsString(obj: AnyObject) -> String {
    return _stdlib_getDemangledTypeName(obj).componentsSeparatedByString(".").last!
}

then I subclass UITableView and implement this:

required init(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
    super.init(coder: aDecoder)

    for view in self.subviews {
        if (Utility.classNameAsString(view) == "UITableViewWrapperView") {
            if view.isKindOfClass(UIScrollView) {
                var scroll = (view as UIScrollView)
                scroll.delaysContentTouches = false
            }
            break
        }
    }
}

I also subclass UITableViewCell and implement this:

required init(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
    super.init(coder: aDecoder)

    for view in self.subviews {
        if (Utility.classNameAsString(view) == "UITableViewCellScrollView") {
            if view.isKindOfClass(UIScrollView) {
                var scroll = (view as UIScrollView)
                scroll.delaysContentTouches = false
            }

        }
    }
}

In my case the init(coder:) will run. Please put debug point in your init functions to know which init function will run, then using the code above to make it work. Hope to help someone.

Answer 2

For a solution that works in both iOS7 and iOS8, create a custom UITableView subclass and custom UITableViewCell subclass.

Use this sample UITableView's initWithFrame:

- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame
{
    self = [super initWithFrame:frame];

    if (self)
    {
        // iterate over all the UITableView's subviews
        for (id view in self.subviews)
        {
            // looking for a UITableViewWrapperView
            if ([NSStringFromClass([view class]) isEqualToString:@"UITableViewWrapperView"])
            {
                // this test is necessary for safety and because a "UITableViewWrapperView" is NOT a UIScrollView in iOS7
                if([view isKindOfClass:[UIScrollView class]])
                {
                    // turn OFF delaysContentTouches in the hidden subview
                    UIScrollView *scroll = (UIScrollView *) view;
                    scroll.delaysContentTouches = NO;
                }
                break;
            }
        }
    }
    return self;
}

Use this sample UITableViewCell's initWithStyle:reuseIdentifier:

- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier 
{
    self = [super initWithStyle:style reuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier];

    if (self)
    {
        // iterate over all the UITableViewCell's subviews
        for (id view in self.subviews)
        {
            // looking for a UITableViewCellScrollView
            if ([NSStringFromClass([view class]) isEqualToString:@"UITableViewCellScrollView"])
            {
                // this test is here for safety only, also there is no UITableViewCellScrollView in iOS8
                if([view isKindOfClass:[UIScrollView class]])
                {
                    // turn OFF delaysContentTouches in the hidden subview
                    UIScrollView *scroll = (UIScrollView *) view;
                    scroll.delaysContentTouches = NO;
                }
                break;
            }
        }
    }

    return self;
}

Answer 3

I was having similar issues with a text-only UIButton in a UITableViewCell not highlighting upon touch. What fixed it for me was changing the buttonType from Custom back to System.

Setting delaysContentTouches to NO did the trick for the image-only UIButton in the same UITableViewCell.

self.tableView.delaysContentTouches = NO;

Answer 4

This is a Swift version of Raphaël Pinto's answer above. Don't forget to upvote him too :)

override func touchesBegan(touches: NSSet, withEvent event: UIEvent) {
    super.touchesBegan(touches, withEvent: event)
    NSOperationQueue.mainQueue().addOperationWithBlock { () -> Void in self.highlighted = true }
}

override func touchesCancelled(touches: NSSet!, withEvent event: UIEvent!) {
    super.touchesCancelled(touches, withEvent: event)
    let time = dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, Int64(0.1 * Double(NSEC_PER_SEC)))
    dispatch_after(time, dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
        self.setDefault()
    }
}

override func touchesEnded(touches: NSSet, withEvent event: UIEvent) {
    super.touchesEnded(touches, withEvent: event)
    let time = dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, Int64(0.1 * Double(NSEC_PER_SEC)))
    dispatch_after(time, dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
        self.setDefault()
    }
}

func setDefault() {
    NSOperationQueue.mainQueue().addOperationWithBlock { () -> Void in self.highlighted = false }
}

Answer 5

In that tableview you just add this property.

tableview.delaysContentTouches = NO;

And add in cellForRowAtIndexPath after you initiate the cell you just add below code. The structure of the cell is apparently different in iOS 6 and iOS 7.
iOS 7 we have one control UITableViewCellScrollView In between UITableViewCell and content View.

for (id obj in cell.subviews)
{
    if ([NSStringFromClass([obj class]) isEqualToString:@"UITableViewCellScrollView"])
    {
        UIScrollView *scroll = (UIScrollView *) obj;
        scroll.delaysContentTouches = NO;
        break;
    }
}

Answer 6

That solution for me doesn't work, I fixed subclassing TableView and implementing these two methods

- (instancetype)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)coder{
   self = [super initWithCoder:coder];
   if (self) {
     for (id obj in self.subviews) {
      if ([obj respondsToSelector:@selector(setDelaysContentTouches:)]){
            [obj performSelector:@selector(setDelaysContentTouches:) withObject:NO];
      }
     }
   }
   return self;
}

- (BOOL)delaysContentTouches{
   return NO;
}