Is there a way to use a custom selected image for UITabBarItem?

Question

I like to have a custom selected image when a user selects an item on the tab bar, by default it selects as blue like but would like to have a green color instead. something like below any thoughts?

Answer 1

This is not officially supported in the SDK. You may be able to probe and adjust the tab's views at runtime, but you risk a rejection from Apple.

Edit: For completeness, I should mention that your other option is to roll your own UITabBar.

Answer 2

Just add some custom views (using insertSubview:atIndex:) when the UITabBarController-delegate-methods are called.

Example:

– (void)tabBarController:(UITabBarController *)tabBarController didSelectViewController:(UIViewController *)viewController {
    [tabBarController.tabBar insertSubview:someView atIndex:someIndex];
}

You can try changing someIndex yourself till you have the result you want.

Answer 3

Just found my solution. Basically, I subclassed UITabItem and set this in the navigation controller:

-(void) viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
    [super viewDidAppear:animated];

    CustomTabBarItem *tabItem = [[CustomTabBarItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"Events" image:[UIImage imageNamed:@"tabIcon.png"] tag:0];
    tabItem.customHighlightedImage=[UIImage imageNamed:@"tabIconSelected.png"];
    self.tabBarItem = tabItem;
    [tabItem release];
    tabItem=nil;            
}

Here's what the CustomTabBarItem class looks like:

@interface CustomTabBarItem : UITabBarItem
{
    UIImage  *customHighlightedImage;
}

@property (nonatomic, retain) UIImage *customHighlightedImage;

@end

implementation:

#import "CustomTabBarItem.h

@implementation CustomTabBarItem

@synthesize customHighlightedImage;

- (void)dealloc {
    [customHighlightedImage release];
    customHighlightedImage=nil;
    [super dealloc];
}

-(UIImage *)selectedImage {
    return self.customHighlightedImage;
}

@end