How to pass a string as a tag of UIButton

Question

The tag value is an Integer:

UIButton *button=[UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[button setTitle:addressField forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[bu         


        

Answer 1

The tag property will only accept integers, and if hacking the integer value to get to a string is not an option for you, you can sub-class the UIButton, and then use the User Defined Runtime Attributes section in IB to set the value of the property in your StoryBoard.

Subclass the UIButton with a new non-integer property:

@interface MyCustomUIButton : UIButton

@property (strong) NSString* stringTag;

@end

Set your button's class to the sub-class:

Identity inspector > Custom Class > Class => MyCustomUIButton

Set the property value from IB OR through code:

From IB:

Identity inspector > User Defined Runtime Attributes:

Key Path => stringTag

Type => String

Value => yourstringvalue

OR From Code:

((MyCustomUIButton*)yourButton).stringTag = @"yourstringvalue";

Then you can retrieve the value of the property from your button action method:

-(void)yourMethod:(id)sender
    {           
     NSLog(@"The string value is: ",((MyCustomUIButton*)sender).stringTag);

    // or use this idiom, to avoid a possible crash if it's the wrong class:

    if ( [sender respondsToSelector:@selector(stringTag)] )
          testeee = [sender valueForKey:@"stringTag"];
    else
          NSLog(@"this IS NOT a MyCustomUIButton, it's a plain UIButton");

    // testeee will be NULL if you FORGOT to set the
    // User Defined Runtime Attribute for 'stringTag' in storyboard

    // note that a useful alternative to
    // if ( [sender respondsToSelector:@selector(stringTag)] )
    // is... 
    // if ( [sender respondsToSelector:NSSelectorFromString(@"stringTag")] )
    }