UISearchController disable cancel UIBarButtonItem

Question

The Problem

I am trying to use UISearchController to search for a destination on a map view. I want the UISearchBar to appear in the navigation bar, but I can't seem to make it do so without it showing a cancel button to the right of it:

This Cancel button has disappeared at times, whilst I'm playing around, but I can't get it to not appear now I have got the search table showing how I want it to:

I'm sure there must be something small I'm doing ever so slightly wrong, but I can't work out what it is...

My Code

self.resultsViewController = [UITableViewController new];
self.searchController = [[UISearchController alloc] initWithSearchResultsController:self.resultsViewController];
self.searchController.searchResultsUpdater = self;
self.searchController.hidesNavigationBarDuringPresentation = false;
self.searchController.delegate = self;
self.searchBar = self.searchController.searchBar;
self.searchBar.placeholder = self.stage.title;
self.searchBar.searchBarStyle = UISearchBarStyleMinimal;

self.definesPresentationContext = true;
self.navigationItem.titleView = self.searchBar;

self.resultsTableView = self.resultsViewController.tableView;
self.resultsTableView.dataSource = self;
self.resultsTableView.delegate = self;

Answer 1

Updated in light of comments

UISearchBar has a property (see the Apple docs) which determines whether the cancel button is displayed:

self.searchBar.showsCancelButton = false;

But, as per OP comments, this does not work, because the searchController keeps switching the cancel button back on. To avoid this, create a subclass of UISearchBar, and override the setShowsCancelButton methods:

@implementation MySearchBar

-(void)setShowsCancelButton:(BOOL)showsCancelButton {
    // Do nothing...
}

-(void)setShowsCancelButton:(BOOL)showsCancelButton animated:(BOOL)animated {
    // Do nothing....
}

@end

To ensure this subclass is used by the searchController, we also need to subclass UISearchController, and override the searchBar method to return an instance of our subclass. We also need to ensure that the new searchBar activates the searchController - I've chosen to use the UISearchBarDelegate method textDidChange for this:

@interface MySearchController ()  <UISearchBarDelegate> {
UISearchBar *_searchBar;
}
@end

@implementation MySearchController

-(UISearchBar *)searchBar {
    if (_searchBar == nil) {
        _searchBar = [[MySearchBar alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero];
        _searchBar.delegate = self;
    }
    return _searchBar;
}

-(void)searchBar:(UISearchBar *)searchBar textDidChange:(NSString *)searchText {
    if ([searchBar.text length] > 0) {
        self.active = true;
    } else {
        self.active = false;
    }
}
@end

Finally, change your code to instantiate this subclass:

self.searchController = [[MySearchController alloc] initWithSearchResultsController:self.resultsViewController];

(You will obviously need to import the relevant header files for these subclasses).

Answer 2

Easy solution in Swift3 - we need to make CustomSearchBar without cancel button and then override the corresponding property in new CustomSearchController:

class CustomSearchBar: UISearchBar {

override func setShowsCancelButton(_ showsCancelButton: Bool, animated: Bool) {
    super.setShowsCancelButton(false, animated: false)
}}

class CustomSearchController: UISearchController {
lazy var _searchBar: CustomSearchBar = {
    [unowned self] in
    let customSearchBar = CustomSearchBar(frame: CGRect.zero)
    return customSearchBar
    }()

override var searchBar: UISearchBar {
    get {
        return _searchBar
    }
}}

In MyViewController I initialize and configure searchController using this new custom subclass:

    var videoSearchController: UISearchController = ({
    // Display search results in a separate view controller
    //        let storyBoard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: Bundle.main)
    //        let alternateController = storyBoard.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "aTV") as! AlternateTableViewController
    //        let controller = UISearchController(searchResultsController: alternateController)
    let controller = CustomSearchController(searchResultsController: nil)
    controller.searchBar.placeholder = NSLocalizedString("Enter keyword (e.g. iceland)", comment: "")
    controller.hidesNavigationBarDuringPresentation = false
    controller.dimsBackgroundDuringPresentation = false
    controller.searchBar.searchBarStyle = .minimal
    controller.searchBar.sizeToFit()
    return controller
})()

And it works properly and smooth

Answer 3

There is a way easier way...

For iOS 8, and UISearchController, use this delegate method from UISearchControllerDelegate:

func didPresentSearchController(searchController: UISearchController) {
  searchController.searchBar.showsCancelButton = false
}

Don't forget to set yourself as the delegate: searchController.delegate = self