Guidelines for destructive button on UIActionSheet

Question

What are the guidelines for setting a button as destructive button on a action sheet. My action sheet contains two buttons "Cancel" and "Delete", tapping on "Cancel" dismisses the action sheet whereas tapping on "Delete" will delete the selected item. Which one should I choose as destructive button?

Answer 1

From the Class Reference:

cancelButtonTitle The title of the cancel button. This button is added to the action sheet automatically and assigned an appropriate index, which is available from the cancelButtonIndex property. This button is displayed in black to indicate that it represents the cancel action. Specify nil if you do not want a cancel button or are presenting the action sheet on an iPad.

destructiveButtonTitle The title of the destructive button. This button is added to the action sheet automatically and assigned an appropriate index, which is available from the destructiveButtonIndex property. This button is displayed in red to indicate that it represents a destructive behavior. Specify nil if you do not want a destructive button.

I would use a Destructive button for the delete, since that will be in red. Then a cancel button below it in black.

Use this method to give each button whatever action you need:

- (void)actionSheet:(UIActionSheet *)actionSheet clickedButtonAtIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex

Answer 2

From dictionary.com

destructive: tending to destroy; causing destruction or much damage

So that would be the Delete button you should choose as the destructive button. The destructive button is displayed in red to indicate that pressing the button will lead to something that is potential "dangerous", as deleting a contact or marking all items a read.