Setting accessibility identifier programmatically on UIBarButtonItem

Question

The accessibility identifier is a developer generated ID for GUI objects, which can be used for automation tests.

A UIBarButtonItem does not implement UIAccessibilityIdentification. However is there a possibility that I can assign an accessibility identifier?

Answer 1

You could subclass UIBarButtonItem and implement the UIAccessibilityIdentification protocol in that subclass, lets's say BarButtonWithAccesibility.

In BarButtonWithAccesibility.h:

@interface BarButtonWithAccesibility : UIBarButtonItem<UIAccessibilityIdentification>  @property(nonatomic, copy) NSString *accessibilityIdentifier NS_AVAILABLE_IOS(5_0); 

The only (strict) requirement for adhering to this protocol is defining the accessibilityIdentifier property.

Now in your view controller, let's say in viewDidLoad, you could set up a UIToolbar and add your subclassed UIBarButtonItem:

#import "BarButtonWithAccesibility.h"  - (void)viewDidLoad{      [super viewDidLoad];      UIToolbar *toolbar = [[UIToolbar alloc]  initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 320, 44)];      BarButtonWithAccesibility *myBarButton = [[BarButtonWithAccesibility alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemDone target:self action:@selector(buttonPressed:)];     myBarButton.accessibilityIdentifier = @"I am a test button!";      toolbar.items = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:myBarButton, nil];     [self.view addSubview:toolbar]; } 

And within the buttonPressed: you could verify that you have access to the accessibilityIdentifier:

- (void)buttonPressed:(id)sender{     if ([sender isKindOfClass:[BarButtonWithAccesibility class]]) {         BarButtonWithAccesibility *theButton = (BarButtonWithAccesibility *)sender;         NSLog(@"My accesibility identifier is: %@", theButton.accessibilityIdentifier);     } } 

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

As of iOS 5 you can do it like this:

UIBarButtonItem *btn = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] init...;
btn.accessibilityLabel = @"Label";

Answer 3

If you have UIToolbar created inside that if you want to create multiple UIBarButtonItem programatically then it can be accessed like that and set accessibilityLabel as well like that below:-

    -(void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated
    {
        UIBarButtonItem *infoButtonItem=[[UIBarButtonItem alloc]initWithTitle:@"info" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered  target:self action:@selector(infoButtonClicked)];
        [self.customToolBar setItems:[NSArray arrayWithObject:infoButtonItem]];
//Here if you have muliple you can loop through it 
       UIView *view = (UIView*)[self.customToolBar.items objectAtIndex:0];
    [view setAccessibilityLabel:NSLocalizedString(@"Test", @"")];
    }