UIButton block equivalent to addTarget:action:forControlEvents: method?

I looked around, but couldn't find this on the internet, nor anywhere in the Apple docs, so I'm guessing it doesn't exist.

But is there a iOS4 blocks equivalent API to:

[button addTarget:self action:@selector(tappy:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

I suppose this could be implemented using a category, but would rather not write this myself due to extreme laziness :)

Something like this would be awesome:

[button handleControlEvent:UIControlEventTouchUpInside withBlock:^ { NSLog(@"I was tapped!"); }];

I just implemented this. It work's like a charm!

And it wasn't even hard.

typedef void (^ActionBlock)();

@interface UIBlockButton : UIButton {
    ActionBlock _actionBlock;
}

-(void) handleControlEvent:(UIControlEvents)event
                 withBlock:(ActionBlock) action;
@end

@implementation UIBlockButton

-(void) handleControlEvent:(UIControlEvents)event
                 withBlock:(ActionBlock) action
{
    _actionBlock = action;
    [self addTarget:self action:@selector(callActionBlock:) forControlEvents:event];
}

-(void) callActionBlock:(id)sender{
    _actionBlock();
}
@end

There is a library of blocks additions to the common Foundation/UI classes: BlocksKit. Here is the documentation.

It does not subclass UIButton, but adds UIControl category:

[button addEventHandler:^(id sender) {
    //do something
} forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

There is also blocks/functional additions to collections (map, filter, etc), views-related stuff and more.

NOTE: it does not play well with Swift.

Here's a working category implementation. In it's current form, this should only be used in DEBUG. I use this category in conjunction with a function (included below) to test various bits of code when user interaction and timing are important. Again this is only for development/debug purposes and shouldn't be considered for production, hence the #ifdef DEBUG ;)

#ifdef DEBUG

#import <objc/runtime.h>

static char UIButtonBlockKey;

@interface UIButton (UIBlockButton)

- (void)handleControlEvent:(UIControlEvents)event withBlock:(ActionBlock)block;
- (void)callActionBlock:(id)sender;

@end


@implementation UIButton (UIBlockButton)

- (void)handleControlEvent:(UIControlEvents)event withBlock:(ActionBlock)block {
	objc_setAssociatedObject(self, &UIButtonBlockKey, block, OBJC_ASSOCIATION_COPY_NONATOMIC);
	[self addTarget:self action:@selector(callActionBlock:) forControlEvents:event];
}


- (void)callActionBlock:(id)sender {
	ActionBlock block = (ActionBlock)objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &UIButtonBlockKey);
	if (block) {
		block();
	}
}

@end


void DSAddGlobalButton(NSString *title, ActionBlock block) {
	UIButton *button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
	[button setTitle:title forState:UIControlStateNormal];
	[button handleControlEvent:UIControlEventTouchUpInside withBlock:block];
	[button sizeToFit];
	[button setFrame:(CGRect){{100.0f, 100.0f}, [button frame].size}];
	
	UIView *firstView = [[[[UIApplication sharedApplication] keyWindow] subviews] objectAtIndex:0];
	[firstView addSubview:button];
}


#endif

Swift 4

class ClosureSleeve {
    let closure: () -> ()

    init(attachTo: AnyObject, closure: @escaping () -> ()) {
        self.closure = closure
        objc_setAssociatedObject(attachTo, "[\(arc4random())]", self, .OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN)
    }

    @objc func invoke() {
        closure()
    }
}

extension UIControl {
    func addAction(for controlEvents: UIControlEvents = .primaryActionTriggered, action: @escaping () -> ()) {
        let sleeve = ClosureSleeve(attachTo: self, closure: action)
        addTarget(sleeve, action: #selector(ClosureSleeve.invoke), for: controlEvents)
    }
}

Example Usage:

button.addAction {
    print("button pressed")
}

I created a library to do just this!

It supports UIControl (UIButton), UIBarButtonItem, and UIGestureRecognizer. It is also supported using CocoaPods.

https://github.com/lavoy/ALActionBlocks

// Assuming you have a UIButton named 'button'
[button handleControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside withBlock:^(id weakControl) {
    NSLog(@"button pressed");
}];

Install

pod 'ALActionBlocks'

I WROTE THIS LONG AGO AND IT'S NOT THE WAY TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM!!! Subclassing UIButton creates a minefield that just isn't worth it. Use Shayne Sweeney's Category(I just updated his answer with a bunch of tweaks to make his example production ready... hopefully they get approved quickly).

-----ORIG POST-----

The code posted by Martin should work if you are only assigning the UIControlEventTouchUpInside... but there are a couple problems:

• You will leak blocks with the code posted if you call handleControlEvent: more than once.
• If you assign more than one type of event, it will fire the last block for all events

In my code I'm relying on Blocks being treated as object-c objects, which only works on iOS4+(not 3.2). It works well for me when I want to do something special for button states(i.e. animations). You can just use the clickedButton block for handling normal clicks.

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface ButtWithBlockActions : UIButton {
  void (^downBlock_)(void);
  void (^upBlock_)(void);
  void (^clickedBlock_)(void);
}

@property(nonatomic,retain) void (^downBlock)(void);
@property(nonatomic,retain) void (^upBlock)(void);
@property(nonatomic,retain) void (^clickedBlock)(void);

@end



#import "ButtWithBlockActions.h"

@implementation ButtWithBlockActions

- (void)dealloc {
  [downBlock_ release];
  [upBlock_ release];
  [clickedBlock_ release];
  [super dealloc];
}


- (void (^)(void))downBlock { return downBlock_; }
- (void) fireDownBlock { downBlock_(); }
- (void) setDownBlock:(void (^)(void))block {
  if(downBlock_) {
    [self removeTarget:self action:@selector(fireDownBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
    [self removeTarget:self action:@selector(fireDownBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDragEnter];
    [downBlock_ release];
  }
  downBlock_ = [block copy];
  if(downBlock_) {
    [self addTarget:self action:@selector(fireDownBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDown];
    [self addTarget:self action:@selector(fireDownBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDragEnter];
  }
}


- (void (^)(void))upBlock { return upBlock_; }
- (void) fireUpBlock { upBlock_(); }
- (void) setUpBlock:(void (^)(void))block {
  if(upBlock_) {
    [self removeTarget:self action:@selector(fireUpBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    [self removeTarget:self action:@selector(fireUpBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpOutside];
    [self removeTarget:self action:@selector(fireUpBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDragOutside];
    [self removeTarget:self action:@selector(fireUpBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchCancel];
    [upBlock_ release];
  }
  upBlock_ = [block copy];
  if(upBlock_) {
    [self addTarget:self action:@selector(fireUpBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    [self addTarget:self action:@selector(fireUpBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpOutside];
    [self addTarget:self action:@selector(fireUpBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchDragOutside];
    [self addTarget:self action:@selector(fireUpBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchCancel];
  }
}


- (void (^)(void))clickedBlock { return clickedBlock_; }
- (void) fireClickedBlock { clickedBlock_(); }
- (void) setClickedBlock:(void (^)(void))block {
  if(clickedBlock_) {
    [self removeTarget:self action:@selector(fireClickedBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    [clickedBlock_ release];
  }
  clickedBlock_ = [block copy];
  if(clickedBlock_) {
    [self addTarget:self action:@selector(fireClickedBlock) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
  }
}

@end

There is REKit which brings out Blocks latent ability. It gives you ability to add/override method to a instance using Block.

With REKit, you can dynamically make a target - which responds to buttonAction - like below:

id target;
target = [[NSObject alloc] init];
[target respondsToSelector:@selector(buttonAction) withKey:nil usingBlock:^(id receiver) {
    // Do something…
}];
[button addTarget:target action:@selector(buttonAction) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

You don't need to make a subclass nor a category.

In addition to target/action paradigm, you can use REKit for delegation pattern.

Swift extension / category based implementation that I whipped up. Using OBJC associated objects is not an anti-pattern. :P

import UIKit

// MARK: UIControl Block based actions
typealias ActionBlock = (UIControl) -> ()

class UIButtonActionDelegate : NSObject {
    let actionBlock : ActionBlock
    init(actionBlock: ActionBlock) {
        self.actionBlock = actionBlock
    }
    func triggerBlock(control : UIControl) {
        actionBlock(control)
    }
}

private var actionHandlersKey: UInt8 = 0
extension UIControl {
    var actionHandlers: NSMutableArray { // cat is *effectively* a stored property
        get {
            return associatedObject(self, key: &actionHandlersKey, initialiser: { () -> NSMutableArray in
                return NSMutableArray()
            })
        }
        set { associateObject(self, key: &actionHandlersKey, value: newValue) }
    }
    
    func addBlockForEvents(events: UIControlEvents, block: ActionBlock) {
        let actionDelegate = UIButtonActionDelegate(actionBlock: block)
        actionHandlers.addObject(actionDelegate) // So it gets retained
        addTarget(actionDelegate, action: #selector(UIButtonActionDelegate.triggerBlock(_:)), forControlEvents: events)
    }
}

// MARK: Associated Object wrapper

func associatedObject<ValueType: AnyObject>(
    base: AnyObject,
    key: UnsafePointer<UInt8>,
    initialiser: () -> ValueType)
    -> ValueType {
        if let associated = objc_getAssociatedObject(base, key)
            as? ValueType { return associated }
        let associated = initialiser()
        objc_setAssociatedObject(base, key, associated,
                                 .OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN)
        return associated
}

func associateObject<ValueType: AnyObject>(
    base: AnyObject,
    key: UnsafePointer<UInt8>,
    value: ValueType) {
    objc_setAssociatedObject(base, key, value,
                             .OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN)
}

I find it easy and versatile to use a tiny helper class:

@interface Handler : NSObject

@end

@implementation Handler {
    void (^block)(id);
}

+ (Handler *)create:(void (^)(id))block {
    Handler *result = [[Handler alloc] init];
    
    result->block = block;
    
    return result;
}

- (void)call:(id)sender {
    block(sender);
}

@end

and use it like this:

Handler *handler = [Handler create:^(id sender) {
    // ... handle the event, using local state captured by the block ...
}];

// store the handler because the target is not retained in addTarget
[handlers addObject:handler];

[button addTarget:handler action:@selector(call:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];

A simpler solution (one without extensions, etc.):

void (^eventHandlerBlock)(void) = ^{
    printf("\nHandling event for button %lu\n", some_local_variable);
};
objc_setAssociatedObject(button, @selector(invoke), eventHandlerBlock, OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);
[button addTarget:eventHandlerBlock action:@selector(invoke) forControlEvents:UIControlEventAllEvents];

A couple of things to keep in mind when substituting selectors for blocks:

1. If you declare the block variable static, you can omit objc_setAssociatedObject; however, you cannot use any non-compile constants (such as some_local_variable).
2. You can substitute void(^)(void) with dispatch_block_t.