How to add background image on iphone Navigation bar?

Solution 1:

Here's the code from the link @luvieere mentioned. Paste this code into to the rootview controller just above @implementation rootviewController

@implementation UINavigationBar (CustomImage)
- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
    UIImage *image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"NavigationBar.png"];
    [image drawInRect:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.frame.size.width, self.frame.size.height)];
}
@end

As of iOS 5, there is an official way to do this. (see iOS Developer Library)

// someplace where you create the UINavigationController
if ([navigationController.navigationBar respondsToSelector:@selector(setBackgroundImage:forBarMetrics:)] ) {
    UIImage *image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"NavigationBar.png"];
    [navigationBar setBackgroundImage:image forBarMetrics:UIBarMetricsDefault];
}

But still, retain the old code for backward compatibility unless you really want to ditch iOS 4 and below.

Solution 2:

Your code alone won't do it, you'll have to write a category in order for it to work. There are two approaches regarding the way you should do it: the first one involves making the image a subview of your UINavigationBar and re-bringing it to front in each of your UIViewController's viewDidAppear method. This however has been reported having some issues with covering the right UIBarButtonItem. The other method involves overriding

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect

and drawing the image there. Both of these are extensively covered in this blog discussion..