Images in Interface Builder when using MonoTouch

Question

I'm new to MonoTouch and iPhone development. I have my images (PNG) in a resources folder in MonoDevelop, however if I want to set the image property for a button in Interface Builder, how do I do that? It's always a blank dropdown. Do I need to use XCode to access the XIB file and then somehow embed the button image file I'll need in it?

Answer 1

This is a known limitation of MonoDevelop and Interface Builder. To add images to an XIB in Interface Builder they must be part of an XCode project, which of course coming from MonoDevelop they're not.

To achieve what you're trying to do you will need to set the image via code, and ensure the build action of your image is set to Content. To do this, simply right click your image inside MonoDevelop, and select Build Action > Content.

On your view with the button on it, create an outlet in Interface Builder for your button, hook it up, then from code to set your image, you just need to use the .FromFile("path/name") method of UIImage.

UIImage buttonImage = UIImage.FromFile ("resources/image.png");
myButton.SetBackgroundImage (buttonImage,UIControlState.Normal);

That's off the top of my head, but I think that should do it.