UIPopover without an arrow

April 04, 2012

Ever wanted to place a UIPopover on a View but not have an arrow?

The UIPopoverDirectionArrowDirection enum is defined as

enum {
 UIPopoverArrowDirectionUp = 1UL << 0,
 UIPopoverArrowDirectionDown = 1UL << 1,
 UIPopoverArrowDirectionLeft = 1UL << 2,
 UIPopoverArrowDirectionRight = 1UL << 3,
 UIPopoverArrowDirectionAny = UIPopoverArrowDirectionUp | UIPopoverArrowDirectionDown |
 UIPopoverArrowDirectionLeft | UIPopoverArrowDirectionRight,
 UIPopoverArrowDirectionUnknown = NSUIntegerMax
};

Which doesn't include UIPopoverArrowDirectionNone, or does it?

There is an undocumented feature that if you call presentPopoverFromRect with a 0 for permittedArrowDirections, it will show no arrows. I'm not sure if this is 100% supported by Apple, but a trawl around the internet suggests that apps using this have been accepted.

So call the code like below, and hey presto! No arrows

[self.configPopover presentPopoverFromRect:CGRectMake(setupButton.center.x,

                                                      setupButton.center.y,

                                                                  250, 200) 

                                        inView:self.view 

                      permittedArrowDirections:0

                                      animated:YES];