How do I create a basic UIButton programmatically?

Question

How can I create a basic UIButton programmatically? For example in my view controller, when executing the viewDidLoad method, three UIButtons will be created dynamically and its layout or properties are set.

Answer 1

For Swift 2.0:

let btnObject : UIButton  = UIButton() 
btnObject.frame = CGRect(x: 8, y: 89, width: 70, height: 22)

btnObject.titleLabel?.font = UIFont(name: "Helvetica Neue", size: 13)
btnObject.titleLabel?.textColor = UIColor.whiteColor()
btnObject.backgroundColor = UIColor(red: 189/255, green: 176/255, blue: 0/255, alpha: 1)
btnObject.titleLabel?.textAlignment = NSTextAlignment.Center
btnObject.addTarget(self, action: "btnbtnObjectClick:", forControlEvents: UIControlEvents.TouchUpInside)
subView.addSubview(btnObject)

Answer 2

-(void)addStuffToView
{
    UIButton *aButton = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(20, 20, 20, 20)]; //(x, y, width, height of button on screen
    [aButton setTitle:@"Button" forState:UIControlStateNormal];//puts the text on the button
    aButton.titleLabel.font = somefont;//sets the font if one is already stated
    aButton.titleLabel.font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"Arial-MT" size:12];//sets the font type and size
    [aButton addTarget:self action:@selector(back) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];//see back method below
    [aButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"someImage.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];//sets the image of the button
    [self.view addSubview:back];
}

-(void)back
{
    UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc]initWithTitle.....]
}

-(void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    [self addStuffToView];//adds all items built in this method to the view
}

Answer 3

UIButton *custombutton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
[custombutton addTarget:self
                 action:@selector(aMethod:)
       forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
[custombutton setTitle:@"Click" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
custombutton.frame = CGRectMake(80.0, 110.0, 160.0, 40.0);
custombutton.titleLabel.textColor = [UIColor colorWithRed: 2.0f/255.0f green: 155.0f/255.0f blue: 213.0f/255.0f  alpha:1];
 [custombutton setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"hh.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
 [view addSubview:custombutton];

Answer 4

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    [self addMyButton];   // Call add button method on view load
}

- (void)addMyButton{    // Method for creating button, with background image and other properties

    UIButton *playButton = [[UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect] retain];
    playButton.frame = CGRectMake(110.0, 360.0, 100.0, 30.0);
    [playButton setTitle:@"Play" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    playButton.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
    [playButton setTitleColor:[UIColor whiteColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal ];
    UIImage *buttonImageNormal = [UIImage imageNamed:@"blueButton.png"];
    UIImage *strechableButtonImageNormal = [buttonImageNormal stretchableImageWithLeftCapWidth:12 topCapHeight:0];
    [playButton setBackgroundImage:strechableButtonImageNormal forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    UIImage *buttonImagePressed = [UIImage imageNamed:@"whiteButton.png"];
    UIImage *strechableButtonImagePressed = [buttonImagePressed stretchableImageWithLeftCapWidth:12 topCapHeight:0];
    [playButton setBackgroundImage:strechableButtonImagePressed forState:UIControlStateHighlighted];
    [playButton addTarget:self action:@selector(playAction:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    [self.view addSubview:playButton];  
}

Answer 5

To add a button programatically to your controller's view, use the following:

-(void)viewDidLoad
{
   UIButton * btn = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
   btn.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 100, 50);
   [btn setTitle:@"Hello, world!" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
   [self.view addSubview:btn];
}

To add three of these, rinse and repeat.

Answer 6

Come on, it's 2014! Why isn't code block evaluation assignment being used yet, as trends show it's the future!

UIButton* button = ({
    //initialize button with frame
    UIButton* button = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:({
        CGRect frame = CGRectMake(10.0, 10.0, 200.0, 75.0);
        frame;
    })];
    //set button background color
    [button setBackgroundColor:({
        UIColor* color = [UIColor colorWithRed:1.0 green:1.0 blue:0.0 alpha:1.0];
        color;
    })];
    //set button title for state
    [button setTitle:({
        NSString* string = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"title words"];
        string;
    }) forState:({
        UIControlState state = UIControlStateNormal;
        state;
    })];
    //set selector
    [button addTarget:self action:({
        SEL select = @selector(method:);
        select;
    }) forControlEvents:({
        UIControlEvents event = UIControlEventTouchUpInside;
        event;
    })];
    //return button
    button;
});
[self.view addSubview:button];

whoa!

Or the exact results can be accomplished as such:

UIButton* button = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(10.0, 10.0, 200.0, 75.0)];
[button setBackgroundColor:[UIColor colorWithRed:1.0 green:1.0 blue:0.0 alpha:1.0]];
[button setTitle:@"title words" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[button addTarget:self action:@selector(method:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
[self.view addSubview:button];

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