Calling a method which is also used by UIButton?

Question

Hi,

I have a small iPhone app which I've created a button with some functionality in. My question is, how can I call this button without actually pressing it?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks

Answer 1

Have your button event call a function. You can also manually call the function yourself.

Example:

- (void) btnFunction {
  NSLog (@"test");
}

...

UIButton *btn1 = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonRoundedRect];
// other code to set up button goes here
[btn1 addTarget:self action:@selector(btnFunction) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

You can also call the function yourself:

[self btnFunction];

Answer 2

Your button shouldn't have functionality, it should just send a message to its target (or call a method, or call a function...).

You're free to send that message to that target yourself.

e.g. Your button's target outlet is connected to an IBAction on your controller. That IBAction is just a method of the form:

- (void) doSomething:(id)sender

In your own code do:

[controller doSomething:self];

It's exactly the same as having your button do it.

Answer 3

If you want to activate whatever target a button is wired to, you can call:

[button sendActionsForControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

(TouchUpInside is the event you'd normally wire a button action to). This way if other targets are added or changed for any button (say for debugging) you don't have to alter your code.

This method is on UIControl which UIButton inherits from, which is why you might have overlooked it at first glance...