Rename tabs at run-time

Question

Hi all,

I have a tab bar app that has to display in different languages depending on a user's preference but I can't find much info on how to change the tab names at run-time. I need the tabs to show the correct names at startup, not when the tabs are accessed.

Best info I could find was running

self.tabBarController.selectedIndex = 1;
tabBarController.selectedViewController.tabBarItem.title = @"Tab Name";

from the app delegate but this first makes the tab active & then sets the name.

Is there not a better way to set tab names at run-time? Ideally I'd like to set them all in one go.

Answer 1

If you have a reference to the UITabBar, you can use something like:

for (UITabBarItem *tabBarItem in tabBar)
{
  tabBarItem.title = NSLocalizedString(...);
}

Answer 2

I suggest you to localize your XIB file:

• Right click on your XIB file
• "Get Info"
• "General" tab on the top
• "Make File Localizable" button in the bottom
• Back to "General" tab on the top
• "Add Localization" button in the bottom + enter the locale you want (e.g. "en", "fr", "he", "ru" etc.)

Repeat the last step until you have all the requested languages.
I prefer to use "en" instead of the default "English" that is created automatically - if you prefer "en" too then delete the "English" in the end...

Now you can enter different titles to the tabs for each locale...

Answer 3

The 2 responses didn't work for me, I eventually did it like this:

// Create temp strings to hold tab names
NSString *tab0Name;
NSString *tab1Name;
NSString *tab2Name;
NSString *tab3Name;
NSString *tab4Name;

// Set strings according to language
if ([UIAppDelegate.iStegAppLanguage isEqualToString:@"FR"])
{
    tab0Name = @"Accueil";
    tab1Name = @"Produits";
    tab2Name = @"Caisse";
    tab3Name = @"Branches";
    tab4Name = @"Plus";
}
else if ([UIAppDelegate.iStegAppLanguage isEqualToString:@"IT"])
{
    tab0Name = @"Home";
    tab1Name = @"Prodotti";
    tab2Name = @"Checkout";
    tab3Name = @"Filiali";
    tab4Name = @"More";
}
else if ([UIAppDelegate.iStegAppLanguage isEqualToString:@"EN"])
{
    tab0Name = @"Home";
    tab1Name = @"Products";
    tab2Name = @"Checkout";
    tab3Name = @"Branches";
    tab4Name = @"More";
}
else    // Default to german unless specifically set to another language
{
    tab0Name = @"Home";
    tab1Name = @"Produkte";
    tab2Name = @"Checkout";
    tab3Name = @"Filialen";
    tab4Name = @"Mehr";
}

// Set tab name
self.tabBarController.selectedIndex = 1;
tabBarController.selectedViewController.tabBarItem.title = tab1Name;
self.tabBarController.selectedIndex = 2;
tabBarController.selectedViewController.tabBarItem.title = tab2Name;
self.tabBarController.selectedIndex = 3;
tabBarController.selectedViewController.tabBarItem.title = tab3Name;
self.tabBarController.selectedIndex = 4;
tabBarController.selectedViewController.tabBarItem.title = tab4Name;
self.tabBarController.selectedIndex = 0;
tabBarController.selectedViewController.tabBarItem.title = tab0Name;    // Home last so it's shown first

Answer 4

The way I did it is by defining outlets in the app delegate:

IBOutlet UITabBarItem *tabBarItem1;
IBOutlet UITabBarItem *tabBarItem2;
IBOutlet UITabBarItem *tabBarItem3;
IBOutlet UITabBarItem *tabBarItem4;

and then, after connecting the outlets at IB, puting this to - (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions :

[tabBarItem1 setTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"tab1", @"")];
[tabBarItem2 setTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"tab2", @"")];
[tabBarItem3 setTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"tab3", @"")];
[tabBarItem4 setTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"tab4", @"")];

It works but I'm not happy with that either - for some reason I can't get a localizable MainWindow.xib properly working..