UISearchBar: clear background color or set background image [duplicate]

Answer 1

You have two questions here:
1.UISearchBar clear background color:
See my answer here

2.Set background image Solution:(If you are in iOS 5.0 +)

[[UISearchBar appearance]setSearchFieldBackgroundImage:[navBarGradImage resizableImageWithCapInsets:inset2] forState:UIControlStateNormal];

NOTE: You can also try using a transparent image as a background.

Hope this helps.