Custom UIBarButtonItems from UIButtons with custom images - is it possible to make the tap targets larger?

Question

I'm making UIBarButtons as follows:

// Create "back" UIBarButtonItem
UIButton *backButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
backButton.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 28, 17);
[backButton addTarget:self action:@selector(backButtonTapped) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
backButton.showsTouchWhenHighlighted = YES;

UIImage *backButtonImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"back-button.png"];
[backButton setBackgroundImage:backButtonImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];

UIBarButtonItem *backBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:backButton];

[toolBarItems addObject:backBarButtonItem];

However, the tap targets are tiny. More precisely, they're the size of the custom images. (Which again, are tiny.) Is there any way to increase the size of their tap target?

(Note: altering the frame property of the UIButtons just stretches the image.)

Answer 1

You can change the UIBarButtonItem's width property

backBarButtonItem.width = x;

Unfortunately you can't change the height is way, because there is no height property.

What you can do however is pass UIBarButtonItem an UIButton with a defined frame using initWithCustomView

for example:

    UIButton *button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];

    UIImage *backButtonImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"back-button.png"];

   [button setBackgroundImage:backButtonImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];

    button.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, width, height);

    UIBarButtonItem *barButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:button];

If your image looks stretched, make sure you maintain the same aspect ratio! Or make sure the image is exactly the same size.

Answer 2

Small changes to your code will do the stuff

Changes needed :

• I am assuming that the size of backButtonImage is {28,17} and setting the button frame as CGRectMake(0, 0, 48, 37) `
• remove the backGroundImage and use setImage:
• set the property imageEdgeInsets to UIEdgeInsetsMake(10, 10, 10, 10)

Your code will become like this:

UIButton *backButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
backButton.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 48, 37);
[backButton addTarget:self action:@selector(backButtonTapped) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
backButton.showsTouchWhenHighlighted = YES;

UIImage *backButtonImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"back-button.png"];
[backButton setImage:backButtonImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];

backButton.imageEdgeInsets = UIEdgeInsetsMake(10, 10, 10, 10);

UIBarButtonItem *backBarButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:backButton];

[toolBarItems addObject:backBarButtonItem];

You can change the value for the frame and the imageEdgeInsets as per your requirements.
This code worked for me.