How to set an image on tab bar controllers? - objective-c

Question

I am trying to change the image of a Tab Bar in my application. When I changed the image it was giving me a blank image instead.
Can I set .png format image?
Is it possible to change the color of the tab bar?
Can I use a colored image in the tab bar?

Answer 1

No, You can use .icon images for tabbar which has transparent background and black and white. It is possible to set color of tabbar also.
tabbar Color
CGRect frame = CGRectMake(0.0, 0, 320, 48);
UIView *v = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:frame];
[v setBackgroundColor:[UIColor colorWithRed:0.2 green:0.8 blue:0.4 alpha:0.3]];
//[v setAlpha:1.0];
[[tabbar tabBar] insertSubview:v atIndex:0];
[v release];

Answer 2

in iOS5 all of those things are possible!
UIImage *selectedImage0 = [UIImage imageNamed:#"TabBa1selected.png"];
UIImage *selectedImage1 = [UIImage imageNamed:#"TabBa2selected.png.png"];
UIImage *selectedImage2 = [UIImage imageNamed:#"TabBa3selected.png.png"];
UITabBar *tabBar = self.tabBarController.tabBar;
UITabBarItem *item0 = [tabBar.items objectAtIndex:0];
UITabBarItem *item1 = [tabBar.items objectAtIndex:1];
UITabBarItem *item2 = [tabBar.items objectAtIndex:2];
[item0 setFinishedSelectedImage:selectedImage0 withFinishedUnselectedImage:selectedImage0];
[item1 setFinishedSelectedImage:selectedImage1 withFinishedUnselectedImage:selectedImage1];
[item2 setFinishedSelectedImage:selectedImage2 withFinishedUnselectedImage:selectedImage2];
UIImage* tabBarBackground = [UIImage imageNamed:#"tabBarBackground.png"];
UIImage* tabBarSelected = [UIImage imageNamed:#"SelectedImage.png"];
[[UITabBar appearance] setBackgroundImage:tabBarBackground];
[[UITabBar appearance] setSelectionIndicatorImage:tabBarSelected];

Answer 3

You would typically set an image for your tab bar in the AppDelegate class. It likely has a tab bar controller defined as _tabBarController, so the code would be:
[[_tabBarController tabBar] setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"imageName.png"]];
If the image provided is of the proper size or stretchable it will be that image, otherwise it will be the image tiled however many times it takes to fill the tab bar.
You could also change the tab color if you'd like.