Adding Background Image into View Controller

Question

I tried to use this code under in my app delegate in order to add a PNG image as a view controller's background :

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
    [[self window] setBackgroundColor:[UIColor colorWithPatternImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"background.png"]]];

    return YES;
}

but I have no luck with it... the view controller still has a white background. What's wrong with that code?

Answer 1

The accepted answer and Michael's answer will work, however, proper way is to use a UIImageView instead. It gives more control over resizing, scaling etc according to different screen sizes on devices. Here is the example;

First create a UIImage.

UIImage *backgroundImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"iphone_skyline3.jpg"];

Second create a UIImageView. Set the frame size to the parent's (self) frame size. This is important as the frame size will vary on different devices. Stretching will occur depending on the image size. Next assign the image to the view.

UIImageView *backgroundImageView=[[UIImageView alloc]initWithFrame:self.view.frame];
backgroundImageView.image=backgroundImage;

Finally, to keep the image behind all controls do the following. It is important if you are setting the image as a background for your app.

[self.view insertSubview:backgroundImageView atIndex:0];

Answer 2

You need to set the background for your ViewController's view

In your ViewController init or viewDidLoad:

[self.view setBackgroundColor:[UIColor colorWithPatternImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"background.png"]]];