UIButton targets not working if a UIView is added as a subview

Question

I have a UIButton. It has two subviews. I then call:

[createButton addTarget:self action:@selector(openComposer) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

If I tap the parts of the UIButton that aren't covered but one of its subviews, it works fine. However if I tap one of the subviews instead, it does not trigger the action.

On both subviews, I has .userInteractionEnabled set to YES.

Both subviews are plain UIViewss with a frame and backgroundColor.

How can I get the tap to "pass through" the UIView and onto the UIButton?

Thanks

EDIT: I need to use UIControlEvents because I need UIControlEventTouchDown.

EDIT 2:

Here is the code for the button.

@interface CreateButton ()

@property (nonatomic) Theme *theme;
@property (nonatomic) UIView *verticle;
@property (nonatomic) UIView *horizontal;
@property (nonatomic) BOOL mini;

@end

@implementation CreateButton

#pragma mark - Accessors

- (UIView *)verticle {
    if (! _verticle) {
        _verticle = [[UIView alloc] init];
        _verticle.backgroundColor = [self.theme colorForKey:@"createButtonPlusBackgroundColor"];
        _verticle.userInteractionEnabled = NO;
    }
    return _verticle;
}

- (UIView *)horizontal {
    if (! _horizontal) {
        _horizontal = [[UIView alloc] init];
        _horizontal.backgroundColor = [self.theme colorForKey:@"createButtonPlusBackgroundColor"];
        _verticle.userInteractionEnabled = NO;
    }
    return _horizontal;
}

#pragma mark - Init

- (instancetype)initWithTheme:(Theme *)theme frame:(CGRect)frame {
    self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
    if (self) {
        _theme = theme;

        self.layer.cornerRadius = roundf(frame.size.width / 2);
        self.layer.shadowColor = [UIColor blackColor].CGColor;
        self.layer.shadowOpacity = .1f;
        self.layer.shadowOffset = CGSizeZero;
        self.layer.shadowRadius = 15.f;
        self.backgroundColor = [self.theme colorForKey:@"createButtonBackgroundColor"];

        [self addSubview:self.verticle];
        [self addSubview:self.horizontal];

        [self addTarget:self action:@selector(animate) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
        [self addTarget:self action:@selector(animate) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
        [self addTarget:self action:@selector(animate) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpOutside];
    }
    return self;
}

#pragma mark - Actions

- (void)animate {
    [UIView animateWithDuration:0.2 delay:0 usingSpringWithDamping:0.4 initialSpringVelocity:8 options:kNilOptions animations:^{
        if (self.mini) {
            self.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeScale(1.0, 1.0);
            self.mini = NO;
        } else {
            self.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeScale(0.90, 0.90);
            self.mini = YES;
        }
    } completion:nil];
}

#pragma mark - UIView

- (void)layoutSubviews {
    CGSize size = self.bounds.size;

    NSInteger width = 3;
    NSInteger verticleInset = 12;
    self.verticle.frame = CGRectMake((size.width - width) / 2, verticleInset, width, size.height - (verticleInset * 2));
    self.horizontal.frame = CGRectMake(verticleInset, (size.height - width) / 2, size.width - (verticleInset * 2), width);
}

@end

Answer 1

Set userInteractionEnabled to NO for your subviews to let touches pass through them and onto your button.

Also make sure to change _verticle.userInteractionEnabled = NO; in your lazy-loader for your horizontal property to _horizontal.userInteractionEnabled = NO; as I believe that's a typo.

Answer 2

please use the code like below (replace the 'ViewControllerFilterCategory' with your own one + the nibName) to add the controller from nib (child one) as the child controller of current controller before adding the view as sub view. Then the iOS will call actions attached to the child controller as you expect:

    let vcCats = ViewControllerFilterCategory(nibName: "ViewControllerFilterCategory", bundle: Bundle.main);
    self.addChildViewController(vcCats);
    self.view.addSubview(vcCats.view);

P.S. don't forget to call 'removeFromParentViewController' before removing your sub view (like below):

@IBAction func onCanceled(_ sender: Any) {
    self.removeFromParentViewController()
    self.view.removeFromSuperview()
}