IPhone- marking an icon or button with a number to indicate new activity like mail app

Question

Hey,

I am wanting to display a number on top of an icon when a user receives a new message, similar to the mail app and sms app when new messages are received (the red number on top of the icon) (btw i want to do it inside my app not on the icon on the home screen)... I know i can just have a little image with every number and draw it on top of an icon or button, but i was wondering if there was any built in API that can do this already?

Thanks

Daniel

Answer 1

It depends on what interface element you're using. If you're using a tab tab (UITabBar) you'll find that UITabBarItems have a badgeValue property that you can set to some text to display in a red circle as you describe. Unfortunately you might have to do it "by hand" if you're using a different element.

Answer 2

This explains the api to add application badges

Answer 3

This little bit of code may be easier:

[[UIApplication sharedApplication] setApplicationIconBadgeNumber:theIntToDisplay];