How to customize appearance of UISearchBar

Question

I want to customize the search bar, I mean the white box. Can I do it? Is there some documentation about that? Is there a way to hide the white box, but not the letters. Can

Answer 1

By IOS 5.0 you have the chance to use

  [[UISearchBar appearance] setSearchFieldBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"searchbar.png"]forState:UIControlStateNormal];