How can I set the UINavigationbar with gradient color?

Question

I want to set the UINavigationbar backgroundColor to a gradient color where I would like to set it via an array of colors to create a Gradient, ideally, as accessible methods inside UINavigationBar to change its color to this gradient.

Any suggestions? (Aside from setting an image manually as the background image of the navigation bar)

Answer 1

Details

• Xcode 11.4 (11E146), swift 5
• Tested on iOS 13.1, 12.2, 11.0.1

Solution

class UINavigationBarGradientView: UIView {

    enum Point {
        case topRight, topLeft
        case bottomRight, bottomLeft
        case custom(point: CGPoint)

        var point: CGPoint {
            switch self {
                case .topRight: return CGPoint(x: 1, y: 0)
                case .topLeft: return CGPoint(x: 0, y: 0)
                case .bottomRight: return CGPoint(x: 1, y: 1)
                case .bottomLeft: return CGPoint(x: 0, y: 1)
                case .custom(let point): return point
            }
        }
    }

    private weak var gradientLayer: CAGradientLayer!

    convenience init(colors: [UIColor], startPoint: Point = .topLeft,
                     endPoint: Point = .bottomLeft, locations: [NSNumber] = [0, 1]) {
        self.init(frame: .zero)
        let gradientLayer = CAGradientLayer()
        gradientLayer.frame = frame
        layer.addSublayer(gradientLayer)
        self.gradientLayer = gradientLayer
        set(colors: colors, startPoint: startPoint, endPoint: endPoint, locations: locations)
        backgroundColor = .clear
    }

    func set(colors: [UIColor], startPoint: Point = .topLeft,
             endPoint: Point = .bottomLeft, locations: [NSNumber] = [0, 1]) {
        gradientLayer.colors = colors.map { $0.cgColor }
        gradientLayer.startPoint = startPoint.point
        gradientLayer.endPoint = endPoint.point
        gradientLayer.locations = locations
    }

    func setupConstraints() {
        guard let parentView = superview else { return }
        translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: parentView.topAnchor).isActive = true
        leftAnchor.constraint(equalTo: parentView.leftAnchor).isActive = true
        parentView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: bottomAnchor).isActive = true
        parentView.rightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: rightAnchor).isActive = true
    }

    override func layoutSubviews() {
        super.layoutSubviews()
        guard let gradientLayer = gradientLayer else { return }
        gradientLayer.frame = frame
        superview?.addSubview(self)
    }
}

extension UINavigationBar {
    func setGradientBackground(colors: [UIColor],
                               startPoint: UINavigationBarGradientView.Point = .topLeft,
                               endPoint: UINavigationBarGradientView.Point = .bottomLeft,
                               locations: [NSNumber] = [0, 1]) {
        guard let backgroundView = value(forKey: "backgroundView") as? UIView else { return }
        guard let gradientView = backgroundView.subviews.first(where: { $0 is UINavigationBarGradientView }) as? UINavigationBarGradientView else {
            let gradientView = UINavigationBarGradientView(colors: colors, startPoint: startPoint,
                                                           endPoint: endPoint, locations: locations)
            backgroundView.addSubview(gradientView)
            gradientView.setupConstraints()
            return
        }
        gradientView.set(colors: colors, startPoint: startPoint, endPoint: endPoint, locations: locations)
    }
}

Usage

navigationBar.setGradientBackground(colors: [.lightGray, .red], startPoint: .topLeft, endPoint: .bottomRight)

Answer 2

Create gradient layer and add it as background of navigation bar.

    CAGradientLayer *gradient = [CAGradientLayer layer];
    gradient.frame = self.navigationController.navigationBar.bounds;
    gradient.colors = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:(id)[[UIColor whiteColor] CGColor], (id)[[UIColor blackColor] CGColor], nil];
    [self.navigationController.navigationBar setBackgroundImage:[self imageFromLayer:gradient] forBarMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];

For creating image from layer.

- (UIImage *)imageFromLayer:(CALayer *)layer
{
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContext([layer frame].size);

    [layer renderInContext:UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()];
    UIImage *outputImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();

    UIGraphicsEndImageContext();

    return outputImage;
}

One more thing, there is one library available in github : CRGradientNavigationBar you can also use this library.

Answer 3

In Swift 3, Swift 4 and Swift 5:

let gradient = CAGradientLayer()
let sizeLength = UIScreen.main.bounds.size.height * 2
let defaultNavigationBarFrame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: sizeLength, height: 64)

gradient.frame = defaultNavigationBarFrame

gradient.colors = [UIColor.white.cgColor, UIColor.black.cgColor]

UINavigationBar.appearance().setBackgroundImage(self.image(fromLayer: gradient), for: .default)

For creating image from layer:

func image(fromLayer layer: CALayer) -> UIImage {
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(layer.frame.size)

    layer.render(in: UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()!)

    let outputImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext()

    UIGraphicsEndImageContext()

    return outputImage!
}

In Swift 2:

let gradient = CAGradientLayer()
let sizeLength = UIScreen.mainScreen().bounds.size.height * 2
let defaultNavigationBarFrame = CGRectMake(0, 0, sizeLength, 64)

gradient.frame = defaultNavigationBarFrame

gradient.colors = [UIColor.whiteColor().CGColor, UIColor.blackColor().CGColor]

UINavigationBar.appearance().setBackgroundImage(self.image(fromLayer: gradient), forBarMetrics: .Default)

For creating image from layer:

func image(fromLayer layer: CALayer) -> UIImage {    
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(layer.frame.size)

    layer.renderInContext(UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()!)

    let outputImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext()

     UIGraphicsEndImageContext()

    return outputImage!
}