How to create a UIButton with a black gradient for iPhone?

Question

I want to create a UIButton with the normal black gradient theme in iOS. I've looked at the documentation and can't seem to figure out how to do this. When I create the button, I get a rounded rect button with no color.

Here is my code:

UIButton* leagueTeamButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];

Any suggestions on how I can add the standard themed black gradient to the button?

Answer 1

You can also easily do it using layers:

-(void) addGradient:(UIButton *) _button {

    // Add Border
    CALayer *layer = _button.layer;
    layer.cornerRadius = 8.0f;
    layer.masksToBounds = YES;
    layer.borderWidth = 1.0f;
    layer.borderColor = [UIColor colorWithWhite:0.5f alpha:0.2f].CGColor;

    // Add Shine
    CAGradientLayer *shineLayer = [CAGradientLayer layer];
    shineLayer.frame = layer.bounds;
    shineLayer.colors = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:
                         (id)[UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0f alpha:0.4f].CGColor,
                         (id)[UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0f alpha:0.2f].CGColor,
                         (id)[UIColor colorWithWhite:0.75f alpha:0.2f].CGColor,
                         (id)[UIColor colorWithWhite:0.4f alpha:0.2f].CGColor,
                         (id)[UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0f alpha:0.4f].CGColor,
                         nil];
    shineLayer.locations = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:
                            [NSNumber numberWithFloat:0.0f],
                            [NSNumber numberWithFloat:0.5f],
                            [NSNumber numberWithFloat:0.5f],
                            [NSNumber numberWithFloat:0.8f],
                            [NSNumber numberWithFloat:1.0f],
                            nil];
    [layer addSublayer:shineLayer];
}

Answer 2

This method makes a good looking custom button. I combined the examples for gradient layer and for a shine layer.

 -(void) myButtonChange: (UIButton*) btn
 {
     [btn setTitleColor:[UIColor lightGrayColor] forState:UIControlStateHighlighted];

     CAGradientLayer *btnGradient = [CAGradientLayer layer];
     btnGradient.frame = btn.bounds;
     btnGradient.colors = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:
                      (id)[[UIColor colorWithRed:255.0f/255.0f green:255.0f/255.0f blue:255.0f/255.0f alpha:.6f] CGColor],
                      (id)[[UIColor colorWithRed:200.0f/255.0f green:200.0f/255.0f blue:200.0f/255.0f alpha:.4f] CGColor],
                      (id)[[UIColor colorWithRed:150.0f/255.0f green:150.0f/255.0f blue:150.0f/255.0f alpha:.4f] CGColor],
                      (id)[[UIColor colorWithRed:100.0f/255.0f green:100.0f/255.0f blue:100.0f/255.0f alpha:.4f] CGColor],
                      (id)[[UIColor colorWithRed:50.0f/255.0f green:50.0f/255.0f blue:50.0f/255.0f alpha:.4f] CGColor],
                      (id)[[UIColor colorWithRed:5.0f/255.0f green:5.0f/255.0f blue:5.0f/255.0f alpha:.4f] CGColor],

                      nil];
    [btn.layer insertSublayer:btnGradient atIndex:0];

    CAGradientLayer *glossLayer = [CAGradientLayer layer];
    glossLayer.frame = btn.bounds;
    glossLayer.colors = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:
                     (id)[UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0f alpha:0.4f].CGColor,
                     (id)[UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0f alpha:0.1f].CGColor,
                     (id)[UIColor colorWithWhite:0.75f alpha:0.0f].CGColor,
                     (id)[UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0f alpha:0.1f].CGColor,
                     nil];
    glossLayer.locations = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:
                        [NSNumber numberWithFloat:0.0f],
                        [NSNumber numberWithFloat:0.5f],
                        [NSNumber numberWithFloat:0.5f],
                        [NSNumber numberWithFloat:1.0f],
                        nil];
     [btn.layer insertSublayer:glossLayer atIndex:0];

     CALayer *btnLayer = [btn layer];
     [btnLayer setMasksToBounds:YES];

     UIColor*mycolor = btn.backgroundColor;
     [btn.layer setBorderColor:[mycolor CGColor]];
     [[btn layer] setBorderWidth:2.0f];
     [[btn layer] setCornerRadius:10.0f];    
 }

Attach all the buttons to an IBOutlet collection...

  @property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutletCollection(UIButton) NSArray *bigbuttongroup;

...and then run the method when you need to

  for(UIButton *btn in self.bigbuttongroup)
  {
      [self myButtonChange:btn];
  }

Answer 3

Make one (or two, if you want it change appearance when press down) in Photoshop - or any image processing software - and put into your project's resource folder, use the following code to add the image as a UIButton:

UIButton *yourButton=[UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[yourButton setFrame:CGRectMake(0,0,10,10)];
[yourButton addTarget:self action:@selector(functionYouWantToCall:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

[yourButton setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"imageNormalState.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[yourButton setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"imageWhenPressDown.png"] forState:UIControlStateHighlighted]; // option if you want to display another image (i.e. darker one) when user press the button