Create UIActionSheet 'otherButtons' by passing in array, not varlist

Question

I have an array of strings that I want to use for button titles on a UIActionSheet. Unfortunately, the otherButtonTitles: argument in the method invocation takes a variable length list of strings, not an array.

So how I can I pass these titles into the UIActionSheet? The workaround I've seen suggested is to pass nil into otherButtonTitles:, then specify the button titles individually by using addButtonWithTitle:. But this has the problem of moving the "Cancel" button to the first position on the UIActionSheet rather than the last; I want it to be the last one.

Is there a way to 1) pass an array in lieu of a variable list of strings, or alternatively 2) move the cancel button to the bottom of the UIActionSheet?

Thanks.

not sure if this will work but the cancelButtonIndex property of UIActionSheet is not read-only. Try setting it and see if that changes the order of the buttons? — lostInTransit, Mar 05 '10 at 03:51

score 249 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 25 '15 at 20:37

249

I got this to work (you just need to, be ok with a regular button, and just add it after :

NSArray *array = @[@"1st Button",@"2nd Button",@"3rd Button",@"4th Button"];

    UIActionSheet *actionSheet = [[UIActionSheet alloc] initWithTitle:@"Title Here"
                                                             delegate:self
                                                    cancelButtonTitle:nil
                                               destructiveButtonTitle:nil
                                                    otherButtonTitles:nil];

    // ObjC Fast Enumeration
    for (NSString *title in array) {
        [actionSheet addButtonWithTitle:title];
    }

    actionSheet.cancelButtonIndex = [actionSheet addButtonWithTitle:@"Cancel"];

    [actionSheet showInView:self.view];

edited Jul 25 '15 at 20:37

mylogon

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answered Mar 05 '10 at 04:51

Jab

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This works; thanks. Didn't realize that the cancelButtonIndex property could be set. One thing I think we can all agree on: Apple's API for this sucks. – Greg Maletic Mar 05 '10 at 19:14
11

I second this! And 99,99% of their documentation also sucks. It is like trying to learn brain surgery from a book written in archaic hebrew without knowing that language. – Duck Aug 16 '10 at 23:35
4

I very much wish I could up vote this many many more times. Cracking answer and I cannot believe I've gone this long not knowing about this! – mattjgalloway Apr 04 '12 at 08:56
What about if we want the cancel button to be red like usual? – user4951 Mar 12 '13 at 10:07
1

@JimThio `cancelButton` is not red. The `destructiveButton` is red. – Armin Jul 30 '13 at 04:02
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Sadly, this solution suffers from a bug in UIActionSheet that `[UIActionSheet addButtonWithTitle]` does not seem to correctly set `firstOtherButtonIndex` (which should be used in the delegate's `actionSheet:clickedButtonAtIndex:` rather than hardcoding 0 or similar stuff). Getting nasty with converting an `NSArray` to `va_list` doesn't sound like a great solution either. :-( This API is so damn ugly. – Daniel Rinser Aug 29 '13 at 12:36
I used this recently showing the action sheet from a bar button item, and it seems to have a bug because the last item is not being shown. I had to add an empty button title to workaround this. I'm not sure if this is only on iOS 7 – José Manuel Sánchez Nov 29 '13 at 08:37
To solve the problems with the indexes, i created a `NSDictionary` containing the titles as keys with `NSNumber` (e.g. `@(0)`) as values. In `actionSheet:clickedButtonAtIndex:` for example i get the title for the specific pressed `buttonIndex` via `buttonTitleAtIndex` on the `actionSheet`. Then i get the value with the title as key from my dictionary and take the `integerValue` of this value to do a `switch-case`. For me this is working great. Don't forget to add the all button titles also cancel etc. to your dictionary – manuelwaldner Jan 21 '16 at 08:25

score 78 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 23 '10 at 22:31

78

One little note: [actionSheet addButtonWithTitle:] returns the index of that button, so to be safe and "clean" you can do this:

actionSheet.cancelButtonIndex = [actionSheet addButtonWithTitle:@"Cancel"];

answered Jun 23 '10 at 22:31

Nick

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Will that turn the cancel button red? – user4951 Mar 18 '13 at 07:06
1

@JimThio No, red button is called "destructiveButton", and there's a respective property `destructiveButtonIndex` for it – Nick Mar 20 '13 at 20:46

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered May 04 '14 at 18:10

Taking Jaba's and Nick's answers and extending them a little further. To incorporate a destruction button into this solution:

// Create action sheet
UIActionSheet *actionSheet = [[UIActionSheet alloc] initWithTitle:title
                                                         delegate:self
                                                cancelButtonTitle:nil
                                           destructiveButtonTitle:nil
                                                otherButtonTitles:nil];
// Action Buttons
for (NSString *actionName in actionNames){
    [actionSheet addButtonWithTitle: actionName];
}

// Destruction Button
if (destructiveName.length > 0){
    [actionSheet setDestructiveButtonIndex:[actionSheet addButtonWithTitle: destructiveName]];
}

// Cancel Button
[actionSheet setCancelButtonIndex: [actionSheet addButtonWithTitle:@"Cancel"]];

// Present Action Sheet
[actionSheet showInView: self.view];

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered May 11 '16 at 07:56

There is the swift version for the response :

//array with button titles
private var values = ["Value 1", "Value 2", "Value 3"]

//create action sheet
let actionSheet = UIActionSheet(title: nil, delegate: self, cancelButtonTitle: nil, destructiveButtonTitle: nil)
//for each value in array
for value in values{
    //add a button
    actionSheet.addButtonWithTitle(value as String)
}
//display action sheet
actionSheet.showInView(self.view)

To get value selected, add delegate to your ViewController :

class MyViewController: UIViewController, UIActionSheetDelegate

And implement the method "clickedButtonAtIndex"

func actionSheet(actionSheet: UIActionSheet, clickedButtonAtIndex buttonIndex: Int) {
    let selectedValue : String = values[buttonIndex]
}

For future users... It worked... but it is deprecated... use https://stackoverflow.com/a/41322537/884674 — jeet.chanchawat, Oct 24 '18 at 09:46

Create UIActionSheet 'otherButtons' by passing in array, not varlist

4 Answers4

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