How do the click events on UIBarButton

Question

As UIBarButton is not inherited from UIResponder/UIControl, how do the click events on UIBarButton work?

Answer 1

UIBarItem is an abstract superclass for items added to a bar that appears at the bottom of the screen. Items on a bar behave in a way similar to buttons (instances of UIButton). They have a title, image, action, and target. You can also enable and disable an item on a bar.

For more details checkout the link mentioned below: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/UIKit/Reference/UIBarItem_Class/index.html#//apple_ref/occ/cl/UIBarItem

Swift: Add the below line in viewDidLoad

self.navigationItem.setRightBarButtonItem(UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: .Search, target: self, action: "barButtonItemClicked:"), animated: true)

Function:

 func barButtonItemClicked()
    {
       print("Bar button clicked") 
    }

Answer 2

Just create the UIBarButtonItem's target and action properties directly.

UIBarButtonItem *barListBtn = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"yourTitle" 
                             style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain 
                            target:self action:@selector(btnClicked:)];   
self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = barListBtn;



-(void)btnClicked:(UIBarButtonItem*)btn 
{
NSLog(@"button tapped %@", btn.title);
}

Choice-2

- (void) viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];

// first we create a button and set it's properties
UIBarButtonItem *myButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]init];
myButton.action = @selector(doTheThing);
myButton.title = @"Hello";
myButton.target = self;

// then we add the button to the navigation bar
self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = myButton;


}


// method called via selector
- (void) doTheThing {

NSLog(@"Doing the thing");

}

some additional Sample