iphone custom navigationBar singleton or not?

Question

Hi,

I am using my own custom navigationBar, but i need to access it in a number of different views because i need to add buttons, change title and so forth.

Should i pass a reference to my navigationBar each time i show a new view, or just make it a singleton so i can access it from any view?

Answer 1

Make it a global variable.

Answer 2

Are you using a UINavigationController? If so, you can access the navigation bar from any sub-controller like this:

UINavigationBar *bar = self.navigationController.navigationBar;

Answer 3

Neither.

You've listed adding buttons and changing titles as the reasons you need a custom toolbar, but both of those things can be done through the navigation controller with no need to create your own and therefore no need to create a singleton or a global variable.

When you push a new view controller, you can set the title for the navigation bar simply by calling [self setTitle:@"Nav Title"]; in the -viewDidLoad of that view controller. If you need to add a button, use code like the following (also in -viewDidLoad):

[[self navigationItem] setRightBarButtonItem:[[[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
        initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemEdit 
                             target:self 
                             action:@selector(setEditing)] autorelease]];

In other words, your design is flawed if you are creating a custom navigation bar only for the reasons you've listed. I suppose there are some good reasons to create a custom navigation bar, but these are not among them.

Consider reviewing the Configuring the Navigation Item Object section of the View Controller Programming Guide for iPhone OS.

Best regards,