Styling the cancel button in a UISearchBar

Question

I have a UISearchBar that has a cancel button (it\'s displayed using -(void)setShowsCancelButton:animated). I\'ve changed the tintColor of the sear

Answer 1

In iOS 5.0+, you can use the appearnce proxy.

Before the search bar is showed.:

UIBarButtonItem *searchBarButton = [UIBarButtonItem appearanceWhenContainedIn:[UISearchBar class], nil];
[searchBarButton setBackgroundImage:myCancelButtonImageNormal forState:UIControlStateNormal barMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];
[searchBarButton setBackgroundImage:myCancelButtonImageHighlighted forState:UIControlStateHighlighted barMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];
[searchBarButton setTitleTextAttributes:barButtonTitleTextAttributesNormal forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[searchBarButton setTitleTextAttributes:barButtonTitleTextAttributesHighlighted forState:UIControlStateHighlighted];

If you use [UIButton appearanceWhenContainedIn:[UISearchBar class], nil], it will affect other buttons (e.g. clear button). So, you'd better not use UIButton's appearnce. Try UIBarButtonItem.