How can I create an array of buttons in xcode?

Question

I have a view containing 80 UIButtons, and 80 UIImages. Rather than refer to these by individual outlet references, I would like to refer to them as indexes in an array, and so be able to change the Image, and work out which UIButton is sending a message without specific references.

I am sure this must be possible, as there is no way having 80 different versions of the same code is correct way to do this!

Is this possible?

Go for UICollectionView. will be more appropriate for this — Anil Varghese
– Anil Varghese, Commented Mar 12, 2014 at 12:28
how does the view looks like.. all elements vertically/horizontally or like a grid where you will show images and buttons — Charan Giri
– Charan Giri, Commented Mar 12, 2014 at 12:46

mbm29414 · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-12 13:49:05Z

3

You may be better served by looking into UICollectionView, but to answer the question as asked:

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    self.buttonArray = [NSMutableArray array];
    for (int i = 0; i < 80; i = i + 1) {
        // However you wish to get your button
        UIButton *button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
        button.frame = CGRectMake(0, i * 20, 20, 10);
        [self.view addSubview:button];
        // Other button-specific stuff (like setting the image, etc.)
        [button addTarget:self action:@selector(buttonPressed:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
        [self.buttonArray addObject:button];
    }
}
- (void)buttonPressed:(UIButton *)sender {
    int index = [self.buttonArray indexOfObject:sender];
    // Now handle the button press based
}

answered Mar 12, 2014 at 13:49

mbm29414

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Comments

Alexander · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-12 12:35:25Z

1

It is possible, it’s called outlet collection.

@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutletCollection NSArray *buttonsArray;

answered Mar 12, 2014 at 12:35

Alexander

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1 Comment

Stonz2 Over a year ago

It looks like from what I'm seeing that you need to manually set the type of the objects contained in the array. In your case, you could use UIButton if they're all going to be buttons, but you could also use id for a diverse collection. Something like this: @property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutletCollection(UIButton) NSArray *buttonsArray; From the little testing I've done with it, it looks like it will put them in the array in the order that you hook them up in IB (so the first button you connect will be at index 0, the second at index 1, etc).

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