Change position of UIBarButtonItem in UINavigationBar

Question

How can I change the position of a UIBarButtonItem in a UINavigationBar? I would like my button to be about 5px higher than its normal position.

Answer 1

The best solution I could find is to initialize a UIBarButtonItem with a subview that includes extra space to the left/right. That way you wont have to worry about subclassing, and changing the layout of other elements inside the navigation bar, such as the title.

For example, to move a button 14 points to the left:

UIView *containerView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, image.size.width + 14, image.size.height)];
UIButton* button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
button.frame = CGRectMake(-14, 0, image.size.width, image.size.height);
[button setImage:image forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[button addTarget:target action:action forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
[containerView addSubview:button];

UIButton* button2 = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
button2.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, image.size.width + 14, image.size.height);
[button2 addTarget:target action:action forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
[containerView addSubview:button2];

UIBarButtonItem* item = [[[self alloc] initWithCustomView:containerView] autorelease];