Subclass UIButton to add a property

Question

I'd like to subclass UIButton to add some properties that i need (not methods... only properties).

Here the code of my subclass:

//.h-----------------------
@interface MyButton : UIButton{
    MyPropertyType *property;
}

@property (nonatomic,retain) MyPropertyType *property;
@end

//.m--------------------------
@implementation MyButton
@synthesize property;

@end

And here how I use the class:

MyButton *btn = ((MytButton *)[MyButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect]);
btn.property = SomeDataForTheProperty;

From where i obtain this error :

 -[UIRoundedRectButton setProperty:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x593e920

Thus, from ButtonWithType i obtain a UIRoundedRectButton and (Mybutton *) can't cast it... What i have to do to obtain a MyButton object ? is -init the unique solution ?

Thank you!

Answer 1

I have a simple scheme that only involves a few library methods, no boilerplate, and just 3 lines of code for each property you want to add. There are two example properties added below: startPoint and tileState. For illustrative purposes here are the lines you'd need to add for a property like tileState:

//@property (assign, nonatomic) SCZTileState tileState; // tileState line 1 
//@property (assign, nonatomic) SCZTileState tileState; // tileState line 2 
//@dynamic tileState;                                   // tileState line 3

There's more details in my blog post describing how this works

UIButton+SCZButton.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UIButton (SCZButton)
@property (readwrite, nonatomic) id assocData;
@end

UIButton+SCZButton.m

//  UIButton+SCZButton.m
//  Copyright (c) 2013 Ooghamist LLC. All rights reserved.

#import "UIButton+SCZButton.h"
#import <objc/runtime.h>

@implementation UIButton (SCZButton)
- (id)assocData {
    id data = objc_getAssociatedObject(self, "SCZButtonData");
    return data;
}
- (void)setAssocData:(id)data {
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self, "SCZButtonData", data,  
                             OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);
}
@end

OOGTotallyTile.h

//  UIButton+OOGTotallyTile.m
//  Copyright (c) 2013 Ooghamist LLC. All rights reserved.
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "UIButton+SCZButton.h"
#define kPointLabelTag 837459

typedef enum {
    SCZTileStatePlaced,
    SCZTileStateDropping,
    SCZTileStateDropped
} SCZTileState;

@interface SCZButtonData : NSObject
@property (assign, nonatomic) CGPoint startPoint;
@property (assign, nonatomic) SCZTileState tileState;   // tileState line 1
@end

@interface UIButton (OOGTotallyTile)
@property (readonly, nonatomic) SCZButtonData *buttonData;
@property (assign, nonatomic) CGPoint startPoint;
@property (assign, nonatomic) SCZTileState tileState;  // tileState line 2
@end

OOGTotallyTile.m

//  UIButton+OOGTotallyTile.m
//  Copyright (c) 2013 Ooghamist LLC. All rights reserved.

#import "OOGTotallyTile.h"

@implementation SCZButtonData
@end

@implementation UIButton (OOGTotallyTile)
@dynamic startPoint;
@dynamic tileState; // tileState line 3

- (SCZButtonData*)buttonData {
    if ( ! self.assocData) {
        self.assocData = [[SCZButtonData alloc] init];
    }
    return self.assocData;
}
- (id)forwardingTargetForSelector:(SEL)aSelector {
    id forwardingTarget = [super forwardingTargetForSelector:aSelector];
    if ( ! forwardingTarget) {
        return [self buttonData];
    }
    return forwardingTarget;
}
@end

Answer 2

Try using a category with Associative References instead. It is much cleaner and will work on all instances of UIButton.

UIButton+Property.h

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface UIButton(Property)

@property (nonatomic, retain) NSObject *property;

@end

UIButton+Property.m

#import "UIButton+Property.h"
#import <objc/runtime.h>

@implementation UIButton(Property)

static char UIB_PROPERTY_KEY;

@dynamic property;

-(void)setProperty:(NSObject *)property
{
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self, &UIB_PROPERTY_KEY, property, OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);
}

-(NSObject*)property
{
    return (NSObject*)objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &UIB_PROPERTY_KEY);
}

@end

//Example usage

#import "UIButton+Property.h"

...

UIButton *button1 = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
button1.property = @"HELLO";
NSLog(@"Property %@", button1.property);
button1.property = nil;
NSLog(@"Property %@", button1.property);

Answer 3

You need to do:

MyButton *btn = [[MyButton alloc] init];

To create your button. The buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect only creates UIButton objects.

=== edit ===

If you wish to use a RoundedRect button; then I would suggest the following. Basically, we just create a UIView with whatever properties we want and add the desired button to that view.

---

.h

@interface MyButton : UIView
{
    int property;
}

@property int property;
@end

---

.m

@implementation MyButton
@synthesize property;

- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)_frame
{
    self = [super initWithFrame:_frame];
    if (self)
    {
        UIButton *btn = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
        btn.frame = self.bounds;
        [self addSubview:btn];
    }
    return self;
}

@end

---

Usage:

MyButton *btn = [[MyButton alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 200, 20)];
btn.property = 42;

[self.view addSubview:btn];

---