Figure out UIBarButtonItem frame in window?

Question

UIBarButtonItem does not extend UIView, so there is nothing like a frame property.

But is there any way I can get what is it\'s CGRec

Answer 1

As long as UIBarButtonItem (and UITabBarItem) does not inherit from UIView—for historical reasons UIBarItem inherits from NSObject—this craziness continues (as of this writing, iOS 8.2 and counting ... )

The best answer in this thread is obviously @KennyTM's. Don't be silly and use the private API to find the view.

Here's a oneline Swift solution to get an origin.x sorted array (like Kenny's answer suggests):

    let buttonFrames = myToolbar.subviews.filter({
        $0 is UIControl
    }).sorted({
        $0.frame.origin.x < $1.frame.origin.x
    }).map({
        $0.convertRect($0.bounds, toView:nil)
    })

The array is now origin.x sorted with the UIBarButtonItem frames.

(If you feel the need to read more about other people's struggles with UIBarButtonItem, I recommend Ash Furrow's blog post from 2012: Exploring UIBarButtonItem)