Change the text of a UILabel (UIBarButtonItem) on a toolbar programmatically

Question

Hi everybody. I'm a beginneri iPhone developer. My code is the following:

UIBarButtonItem *fixedSpace = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace target:self action:nil];  
UILabel *lblTotCaratteri = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 25, 15)];
lblTotCaratteri.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
lblTotCaratteri.font = [UIFont italicSystemFontOfSize:13.0];
lblTotCaratteri.textColor = [UIColor greenColor];
lblTotCaratteri.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
lblTotCaratteri.adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth = YES;
lblTotCaratteri.text = @"0";

UIBarButtonItem *lblCaratteri = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView: lblTotCaratteri];

inserimentoToolbar.items = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:fixedSpace, lblCaratteri, fixedSpace, nil];

So in my view i have a UITextView and this toolbar created programmatically. I want to change the label text each time i add a character to the UITextView. I can get each time the UITextView text changes, i can display an alert each key pressed. I can't figure out how to change the label text. I hope i explained my scenario. Sorry for my English. Greetings, Luca.

Answer 1

One way would be, assuming inserimentoToolbar is declared in your interface:

[(UILabel *)[[toolbar.items objectAtIndex:1] view] setText:@"sometext"];

This really only works assuming your toolbar doesn't change (in terms of objects).

OR

The more ideal solution would be to put lblTotCaratteri in your interface (in your header file). Like:

@interface UntitledViewController : UIViewController {
    UILabel *lblTotCaratteri;
}

Then your included code would just like

UIBarButtonItem *fixedSpace = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemFlexibleSpace target:self action:nil];  
lblTotCaratteri = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 25, 15)];
lblTotCaratteri.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
// etc etc etc

Then at any point, just use

lblTotCaratteri.text = @"sometext";