Make custom button on Tab Bar rounded

Here is what I am trying to do:

Note: The screenshot is taken from an earlier version of iOS

What I have been able to achieve:

Code:

 override func viewWillAppear(animated: Bool) {
    // Creates image of the Button
    let imageCameraButton: UIImage! = UIImage(named: "cameraIcon")

    // Creates a Button
    let cameraButton = UIButton(type: .Custom)
    // Sets width and height to the Button
    cameraButton.frame = CGRectMake(0.0, 0.0, imageCameraButton.size.width, imageCameraButton.size.height);
    // Sets image to the Button
    cameraButton.setBackgroundImage(imageCameraButton, forState: .Normal)
    // Sets the center of the Button to the center of the TabBar
    cameraButton.center = self.tabBar.center
    // Sets an action to the Button
    cameraButton.addTarget(self, action: "doSomething", forControlEvents: .TouchUpInside)

    // Adds the Button to the view
    self.view.addSubview(cameraButton)
}

I did try to create a rounded button in the normal way, but this was the result:

Code Snippet for rounded button:

//Creation of Ronded Button
    cameraButton.layer.cornerRadius = cameraButton.frame.size.width/2
    cameraButton.clipsToBounds = true

Solution 1:

Solution

You need to subclass UITabBarController and then add the button above TabBar's view. A button action should trigger UITabBarController tab change by setting selectedIndex.

Code

The code below only is a simple approach, however for a full supporting iPhone (including X-Series)/iPad version you can check the full repository here: EBRoundedTabBarController

class CustomTabBarController: UITabBarController {

    // MARK: - View lifecycle

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        let controller1 = UIViewController()
        controller1.tabBarItem = UITabBarItem(tabBarSystemItem: .contacts, tag: 1)
        let nav1 = UINavigationController(rootViewController: controller1)

        let controller2 = UIViewController()
        controller2.tabBarItem = UITabBarItem(tabBarSystemItem: .contacts, tag: 2)
        let nav2 = UINavigationController(rootViewController: controller2)

        let controller3 = UIViewController()
        let nav3 = UINavigationController(rootViewController: controller3)
        nav3.title = ""

        let controller4 = UIViewController()
        controller4.tabBarItem = UITabBarItem(tabBarSystemItem: .contacts, tag: 4)
        let nav4 = UINavigationController(rootViewController: controller4)

        let controller5 = UIViewController()
        controller5.tabBarItem = UITabBarItem(tabBarSystemItem: .contacts, tag: 5)
        let nav5 = UINavigationController(rootViewController: controller5)


        viewControllers = [nav1, nav2, nav3, nav4, nav5]
        setupMiddleButton()
    }

    // MARK: - Setups

    func setupMiddleButton() {
        let menuButton = UIButton(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 64, height: 64))

        var menuButtonFrame = menuButton.frame
        menuButtonFrame.origin.y = view.bounds.height - menuButtonFrame.height
        menuButtonFrame.origin.x = view.bounds.width/2 - menuButtonFrame.size.width/2
        menuButton.frame = menuButtonFrame

        menuButton.backgroundColor = UIColor.red
        menuButton.layer.cornerRadius = menuButtonFrame.height/2
        view.addSubview(menuButton)

        menuButton.setImage(UIImage(named: "example"), for: .normal)
        menuButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(menuButtonAction(sender:)), for: .touchUpInside)

        view.layoutIfNeeded()
    }


    // MARK: - Actions

    @objc private func menuButtonAction(sender: UIButton) {
        selectedIndex = 2
    }
}

Output

Solution 2:

Swift 3 Solution

With a slight adjustment to EricB's solution to have this work for Swift 3, the menuButton.addTarget() method needs to have it's selector syntax changed a bit.

Here is the new menuButton.addTarget() function:

menuButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(MyTabBarController.menuButtonAction), for: UIControlEvents.touchUpInside)

When defining my TabBarController class, I also add a UITabBarControllerDelegate and placed all of the that in the

override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) { ... }

For extra clarity, the full code is:

Full Code Solution

import UIKit

class MyTabBarController: UITabBarController, UITabBarControllerDelegate {

// View Did Load
override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

}

// Tab Bar Specific Code
override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    let controller1 = UIViewController(self.view.backgroundColor = UIColor.white)
    controller1.tabBarItem = UITabBarItem(tabBarSystemItem: UITabBarSystemItem.contacts, tag: 1)
    let nav1 = UINavigationController(rootViewController: controller1)

    let controller2 = UIViewController()
    controller2.tabBarItem = UITabBarItem(tabBarSystemItem: UITabBarSystemItem.contacts, tag: 2)
    let nav2 = UINavigationController(rootViewController: controller2)

    let controller3 = UIViewController()
    let nav3 = UINavigationController(rootViewController: controller3)
    nav3.title = ""

    let controller4 = UIViewController()
    controller4.tabBarItem = UITabBarItem(tabBarSystemItem: UITabBarSystemItem.contacts, tag: 4)
    let nav4 = UINavigationController(rootViewController: controller4)

    let controller5 = UIViewController()
    controller5.tabBarItem = UITabBarItem(tabBarSystemItem: UITabBarSystemItem.contacts, tag: 5)
    let nav5 = UINavigationController(rootViewController: controller5)

    self.viewControllers = [nav1, nav2, nav3, nav4, nav5]
    self.setupMiddleButton()
}

// TabBarButton – Setup Middle Button
func setupMiddleButton() {
    let menuButton = UIButton(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 64, height: 64))
    var menuButtonFrame = menuButton.frame
    menuButtonFrame.origin.y = self.view.bounds.height - menuButtonFrame.height
    menuButtonFrame.origin.x = self.view.bounds.width / 2 - menuButtonFrame.size.width / 2
    menuButton.frame = menuButtonFrame

    menuButton.backgroundColor = UIColor.red
    menuButton.layer.cornerRadius = menuButtonFrame.height/2
    self.view.addSubview(menuButton)

    menuButton.setImage(UIImage(named: "example"), for: UIControlState.normal)
    menuButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(MyTabBarController.menuButtonAction), for: UIControlEvents.touchUpInside)

    self.view.layoutIfNeeded()
}

// Menu Button Touch Action
func menuButtonAction(sender: UIButton) {
    self.selectedIndex = 2
    // console print to verify the button works
    print("Middle Button was just pressed!")
   }
 }