UINavigationBar - change UIBarButtonItem positions - objective-c

Question

I am using a UINavigationController and its bar within my app.
Now I want to change the leftBarButtonItem and rightBarButtonItem positions.
I want them to be on a different x and y position having a custom witdth and height.
But the problem is, that changing the frame does not change anything with the barButtonItem. I do not now why, but the frame always gets resetted to its original coordinates.
Here is my code which I call in viewWillAppear:
UINavigationItem *navItem = [[self.navigationBar items] lastObject];
UIView *rightview = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0,0,66,30)];
rightview.backgroundColor = [UIColor blueColor];
//add custom view
UIBarButtonItem *search = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:rightview];
navItem.leftBarButtonItem = search;
The view is not starting at 0/0, the x position for example is at 5px insetead of 0.
Any suggestions on how to solve this issue?

Answer 1

This worked for me for the leftBarButtonItem:
If you want the UIBarButtonItem to show exactly at position (0, 0), you can create a UIButton, sets its frame to (-5, 0, width, height), assuming that the offet of a left barbutton item is (5, 0), and place that in a UIView that you set as leftBarButtonItem.
#import "UINavigationItem+CSAButtons.h"
#implementation UINavigationItem (CSAButtons)
- (void) makeLeftBarButtonWithTarget:(id)target action:(SEL)action {
UIImage * imageNormal = [UIImage imageNamed:#"normal.png"];
UIImage * imageHighlighted = [UIImage imageNamed:#"highlighted.png"];
UIImage * imageDisabled = [UIImage imageNamed:#"disabled.png"];
// create your button
UIButton * button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
button.exclusiveTouch = YES;
[button addTarget:target action:action forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
[button setBackgroundImage:imageNormal forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[button setBackgroundImage:imageHighlighted forState:UIControlStateHighlighted];
[button setBackgroundImage:imageDisabled forState:UIControlStateDisabled];
// set the frame of the button (better to grab actual offset of leftbarbuttonitem instead of magic numbers)
button.frame = CGRectMake(-5.0, 0.0, imageNormal.size.width, imageNormal.size.height);
UIView * view = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, imageNormal.size.width, imageNormal.size.height)];
[view addSubview:button];
// set the barbuttonitem to be the view
UIBarButtonItem * barButtonItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:view];
self.leftBarButtonItem = barButtonItem;
}

Answer 2

I dont think you have the ability to move a UIBarButtonItem but you might be able to achieve the same effect by adding that UIView element as a subview to the navigationBar (or navItem). You'll need to play with it a bit. It should allow for much more flexibility.
hope this helps.