Is it possible to change a UIButtons background color?

This one has me stumped.

Is it possible at all to change the background color of a UIButton in Cocoa for iPhone. I've tried setting the background color but it only changes the corners. setBackgroundColor: seems to be the only method available for such things.

[random setBackgroundColor:[UIColor blueColor]];
[random.titleLabel setBackgroundColor:[UIColor blueColor]];

This can be done programmatically by making a replica:

loginButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[loginButton setTitleColor:[UIColor blackColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
loginButton.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
loginButton.layer.borderColor = [UIColor blackColor].CGColor;
loginButton.layer.borderWidth = 0.5f;
loginButton.layer.cornerRadius = 10.0f;

edit: of course, you'd have to #import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>

edit: to all new readers, you should also consider a few options added as "another possibility". for you consideration.

As this is an old answer, I strongly recommend reading comments for troubleshooting

I have a different approach,

[btFind setTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"Find", @"") forState:UIControlStateNormal];    
[btFind setBackgroundImage:[CommonUIUtility imageFromColor:[UIColor cyanColor]] 
        forState:UIControlStateNormal];
btFind.layer.cornerRadius = 8.0;
btFind.layer.masksToBounds = YES;
btFind.layer.borderColor = [UIColor lightGrayColor].CGColor;
btFind.layer.borderWidth = 1;

From CommonUIUtility,

+ (UIImage *) imageFromColor:(UIColor *)color {
    CGRect rect = CGRectMake(0, 0, 1, 1);
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(rect.size);
    CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
    CGContextSetFillColorWithColor(context, [color CGColor]);
    //  [[UIColor colorWithRed:222./255 green:227./255 blue: 229./255 alpha:1] CGColor]) ;
    CGContextFillRect(context, rect);
    UIImage *img = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
    UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
    return img;
}

Don't forget to #import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>

I assume you're talking about a UIButton with UIButtonTypeRoundedRect? You can't change the background color of that. When you try changing it's background color you're rather changing the color of the rect the button is drawn on (which is usually clear). So there are two ways to go. Either you subclass UIButton and overwrite its -drawRect: method or you create images for the different button states (which is perfectly fine to do).

If you set the background images in Interface Builder you should notice that IB doesn't support setting images for all the states the button can have, so I recommend setting the images in code like this:

UIButton *myButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[myButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"normal.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[myButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"disabled.png"] forState:UIControlStateDisabled];
[myButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"selected.png"] forState:UIControlStateSelected];
[myButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"higligted.png"] forState:UIControlStateHighlighted];
[myButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"highlighted+selected.png"] forState:(UIControlStateHighlighted | UIControlStateSelected)];

The last line shows how to set an image for the selected & highlighted state (that's the one IB can't set). You don't need the selected images (line 4 & 6) if you're button dosn't need a selected state.

Another possibility:

1. Create a UIButton in Interface builder.
2. Give it a type 'Custom'
3. Now, in IB it is possible to change the background color

However, the button is square, and that is not what we want. Create an IBOutlet with a reference to this button and add the following to the viewDidLoad method:

[buttonOutlet.layer setCornerRadius:7.0f];
[buttonOutlet.layer setClipToBounds:YES];

Don't forget to import QuartzCore.h

Subclass UIButton and override setHighlighted and setSelected methods

-(void) setHighlighted:(BOOL)highlighted {

  if(highlighted) {
    self.backgroundColor = [self.mainColor darkerShade];
  } else {
    self.backgroundColor = self.mainColor;
  }
  [super setHighlighted:highlighted];
}

-(void) setSelected:(BOOL)selected {

  if(selected) {
    self.backgroundColor = [self.mainColor darkerShade];
  } else {
    self.backgroundColor = self.mainColor;
  }
  [super setSelected:selected];
}

My darkerShade method is in a UIColor category like this

-(UIColor*) darkerShade {

  float red, green, blue, alpha;
  [self getRed:&red green:&green blue:&blue alpha:&alpha];

  double multiplier = 0.8f;
  return [UIColor colorWithRed:red * multiplier green:green * multiplier blue:blue*multiplier alpha:alpha];
}