Objective-C: An array of UIButtons - objective-c

Question

If I have a large number of buttons set up in Interface Builder, how can I place them into an array via code?
For example, if I have three buttons and in the interface file I define them:
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIButton *button1;
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIButton *button2;
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIButton *button3;
If I want to rename each of these buttons to say "Hello", I want to be able to lump them into an array and then use a function such as:
for (int i = 0; i < someArray.count; i++)
{
someArray[i].text = #"Hello";
}
Could someone please provide information on how this is achieved (if it's possible)?
Thanks

Answer 1

Another approach is to wire the buttons up to an NSArray in Interface Builder.
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutletCollection(UIButton) NSArray *buttons;

Answer 2

The following code will add 5 buttons, each with a new tag and also connect it to an event. The buttons will be placed side by side with a 5px padding:
If you plan on accessing the button outside of the for{} scope below, you can define your button in your header, otherwise, you can define it inside the scope. UIButton * settButton;
.m
CGFloat staticX = 5; // Static X for all buttons.
CGFloat staticWidth = 60; // Static Width for all Buttons.
CGFloat staticHeight = 56; // Static Height for all buttons.
CGFloat staticPadding = 5; // Padding to add between each button.
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
settButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[settButton setTag:i];
[settButton setFrame:CGRectMake((staticX + (i * (staticHeight + staticPadding))),5,staticWidth,staticHeight)];
[settButton setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%i.png",i]] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[settButton addTarget:self action:#selector(buttonEvent:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
[settButtonView addSubview: settButton];
}
[self.view addSubview: settButtonView];

Answer 3

Assuming the buttons in IB are correctly wired to the IBOutlet properties then its as straightforward as:
NSArray *buttonArray = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:button1,button2,button3,nil];

Answer 4

Since you created the buttons directly in Interface Builder, can't you just set them directly in code?
A more general solution would be something like this...if I assume two things: that they are all subviews of the UIViewController's view and that these UIButtons are the only UIButtons in that view, you can do something like this:
for (UIView *aView in [self.view subviews]) {
if ([aView isKindOfClass:[UIButton class]) {
UIButton *aButton = (UIButton *) aButton;
[aButton setTitle:#"Hello" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
}
}

Answer 5

I think that the easiest is to create a single button that you will init and add to a mutable array:
in *.m:
UIButton *buttonChar;
in your function:
buttonArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
for (int i=0; i<lenghtWord; i++) {
buttonChar = [[UIButton alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(.2*size.height+(float)i*charFontSize, .5*size.width, charFontSize, charFontSize)];
buttonChar.tag = i;
[buttonChar setTitleColor:[UIColor blackColor] forState:(UIControlStateNormal)];
[buttonChar setTitle:[[NSString alloc] formatWithString:#"Button %d",i] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
buttonChar.titleLabel.font = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:15];
buttonChar.titleLabel.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
buttonChar.layer.cornerRadius = 5;
buttonChar.layer.masksToBounds = YES;
buttonChar.layer.borderWidth = 1;
buttonChar.layer.borderColor = [[UIColor blackColor] CGColor];
[buttonChar setBackgroundColor:[UIColor whiteColor]];
[buttonChar addTarget:self action:#selector(buttonAction:withEvent:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDragInside];
[buttonArray addObject:buttonChar];
}
buttons are available through:
[[buttonArray objectAtIndex:j] setTitle:#" " forState:UIControlStateNormal];
Since the tag option is also filled, I can always tell what button from the array was touched if it was displayed (buttonAction:withEvent:)
Cheers