Although it's fixed in beta 4, it seems the background image of the nav bar does not scale with the actual view (you can verify this by looking at at in the view-hierarchy viewer). A workaround for now is to override layoutSubviews in your custom UINavigationBar and then use this code:
Along with overriding -layoutSubviews and -setFrame: you should check out the newly added UIViewController's additionalSafereaInsets property (Apple Documentation) if you do not want the resized navigation bar hiding your content.
This is what I use. It works for regular content (44.0 px) if you use UISearchBar as title or other views that modify the size of the bar content, you must update the values accordingly. Use this at your own risk since it might brake at some point.
This is the navbar with 90.0px height hardcoded, working on both iOS 11 and older versions. You might have to add some insets to the UIBarButtonItem for pre iOS 11 to look the same.
class NavBar: UINavigationBar {
override init(frame: CGRect) {
super.init(frame: frame)
if #available(iOS 11, *) {
translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
}
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
}
override func sizeThatFits(_ size: CGSize) -> CGSize {
return CGSize(width: UIScreen.main.bounds.width, height: 70.0)
}
override func layoutSubviews() {
super.layoutSubviews()
guard #available(iOS 11, *) else {
return
}
frame = CGRect(x: frame.origin.x, y: 0, width: frame.size.width, height: 90)
if let parent = superview {
parent.layoutIfNeeded()
for view in parent.subviews {
let stringFromClass = NSStringFromClass(view.classForCoder)
if stringFromClass.contains("NavigationTransition") {
view.frame = CGRect(x: view.frame.origin.x, y: frame.size.height - 64, width: view.frame.size.width, height: parent.bounds.size.height - frame.size.height + 4)
}
}
}
for subview in self.subviews {
var stringFromClass = NSStringFromClass(subview.classForCoder)
if stringFromClass.contains("BarBackground") {
subview.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: self.frame.width, height: 90)
subview.backgroundColor = .yellow
}
stringFromClass = NSStringFromClass(subview.classForCoder)
if stringFromClass.contains("BarContent") {
subview.frame = CGRect(x: subview.frame.origin.x, y: 40, width: subview.frame.width, height: subview.frame.height)
}
}
}
}
And you add it to a UINavigationController subclass like this:
class CustomBarNavigationViewController: UINavigationController {
init() {
super.init(navigationBarClass: NavBar.self, toolbarClass: nil)
}
override init(nibName nibNameOrNil: String?, bundle nibBundleOrNil: Bundle?) {
super.init(nibName: nibNameOrNil, bundle: nibBundleOrNil)
}
override init(rootViewController: UIViewController) {
super.init(navigationBarClass: NavBar.self, toolbarClass: nil)
self.viewControllers = [rootViewController]
}
required public init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
}
}
I was doubling the height of my navigation bar so I could add a row of status icons above the default navigation controls, by subclassing UINavigationBar and using sizeThatFits to override the height. Fortunately this has the same effect, and is simpler, with fewer side effects. I tested it with iOS 8 through 11. Put this in your view controller:
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
if (self.navigationController) {
self.navigationItem.prompt = @" "; // this adds empty space on top
}
}
According to Apple developers (look here, here and here), changing navigation bar height in iOS 11 is not supported. Here they suggest to do workarounds like having a view under the navigation bar (but outside of it) and then remove the nav bar border. As a result, you will have this in storyboard:
look like this on the device:
Now you can do a workaround that was suggested in the other answers: create a custom subclass of UINavigationBar, add your custom large subview to it, override sizeThatFits and layoutSubviews, then set additionalSafeAreaInsets.top for the navigation's top controller to the difference customHeight - 44px, but the bar view will still be the default 44px, even though visually everything will look perfect. I didn't try overriding setFrame, maybe it works, however, as Apple developer wrote in one of the links above: "...and neither is [supported] changing the frame of a navigation bar that is owned by a UINavigationController (the navigation controller will happily stomp on your frame changes whenever it deems fit to do so)."
In my case the above workaround made views to look like this (debug view to show borders):
As you can see, the visual appearance is quite good, the additionalSafeAreaInsets correctly pushed the content down, the big navigation bar is visible, however I have a custom button in this bar and only the area that goes under the standard 44 pixel nav bar is clickable (green area in the image). Touches below the standard navigation bar height doesn't reach my custom subview, so I need the navigation bar itself to be resized, which the Apple developers say is not supported.
This works well for the regular navigation bar. If your using the LargeTitle this wont work well because the titleView size isn't going to be a fixed height of 44 points. But for the regular view this should be suffice.
Like @frangulyan apple suggested to add a view beneath the navBar and hide the thin line (shadow image). This is what I came up with below. I added an uiview to the navigationItem's titleView and then added an imageView inside that uiview. I removed the thin line (shadow image). The uiview I added is the same exact color as the navBar. I added a uiLabel inside that view and that's it.
Here's the 3d image. The extended view is behind the usernameLabel underneath the navBar. Its gray and has a thin line underneath of it. Just anchor your collectionView or whatever underneath of the thin separatorLine.
The 9 steps are explained above each line of code:
class ExtendedNavController: UIViewController {
fileprivate let extendedView: UIView = {
let view = UIView()
view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
view.backgroundColor = .white
return view
}()
fileprivate let separatorLine: UIView = {
let view = UIView()
view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
view.backgroundColor = .gray
return view
}()
fileprivate let usernameLabel: UILabel = {
let label = UILabel()
label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
label.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 14)
label.text = "username goes here"
label.textAlignment = .center
label.lineBreakMode = .byTruncatingTail
label.numberOfLines = 1
return label
}()
fileprivate let myTitleView: UIView = {
let view = UIView()
view.backgroundColor = .white
return view
}()
fileprivate let profileImageView: UIImageView = {
let imageView = UIImageView()
imageView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
imageView.clipsToBounds = true
imageView.backgroundColor = .darkGray
return imageView
}()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
view.backgroundColor = .white
// 1. the navBar's titleView has a height of 44, set myTitleView height and width both to 44
myTitleView.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 44, height: 44)
// 2. set myTitleView to the nav bar's titleView
navigationItem.titleView = myTitleView
// 3. get rid of the thin line (shadow Image) underneath the navigationBar
navigationController?.navigationBar.setValue(true, forKey: "hidesShadow")
navigationController?.navigationBar.layoutIfNeeded()
// 4. set the navigationBar's tint color to the color you want
navigationController?.navigationBar.barTintColor = UIColor(red: 249.0/255.0, green: 249.0/255.0, blue: 249.0/255.0, alpha: 1.0)
// 5. set extendedView's background color to the same exact color as the navBar's background color
extendedView.backgroundColor = UIColor(red: 249.0/255.0, green: 249.0/255.0, blue: 249.0/255.0, alpha: 1.0)
// 6. set your imageView to get pinned inside the titleView
setProfileImageViewAnchorsInsideMyTitleView()
// 7. set the extendedView's anchors directly underneath the navigation bar
setExtendedViewAndSeparatorLineAnchors()
// 8. set the usernameLabel's anchors inside the extendedView
setNameLabelAnchorsInsideTheExtendedView()
}
override func viewWillDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillDisappear(true)
// 9. **Optional** If you want the shadow image to show on other view controllers when popping or pushing
navigationController?.navigationBar.setBackgroundImage(nil, for: .default)
navigationController?.navigationBar.setValue(false, forKey: "hidesShadow")
navigationController?.navigationBar.layoutIfNeeded()
}
func setExtendedViewAndSeparatorLineAnchors() {
view.addSubview(extendedView)
view.addSubview(separatorLine)
extendedView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.safeAreaLayoutGuide.topAnchor).isActive = true
extendedView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor).isActive = true
extendedView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.trailingAnchor).isActive = true
extendedView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 29.5).isActive = true
separatorLine.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: extendedView.bottomAnchor).isActive = true
separatorLine.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor).isActive = true
separatorLine.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.trailingAnchor).isActive = true
separatorLine.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 0.5).isActive = true
}
func setProfileImageViewAnchorsInsideMyTitleView() {
myTitleView.addSubview(profileImageView)
profileImageView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: myTitleView.topAnchor).isActive = true
profileImageView.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: myTitleView.centerXAnchor).isActive = true
profileImageView.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 44).isActive = true
profileImageView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 44).isActive = true
// round the profileImageView
profileImageView.layoutIfNeeded()
profileImageView.layer.cornerRadius = profileImageView.frame.width / 2
}
func setNameLabelAnchorsInsideTheExtendedView() {
extendedView.addSubview(usernameLabel)
usernameLabel.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: extendedView.topAnchor).isActive = true
usernameLabel.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor).isActive = true
usernameLabel.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.trailingAnchor).isActive = true
}
}