Centering a custom navigation bar item using layout anchors

Question

I have created a custom navigation item (with both title and a UISearchBar) to replace the standard navigation title on iOS and I am trying to center it in a UINavigationBar using layout anchors.

However, the layout constraint [self.navigationItem.titleView.centerXAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.navigationController.navigationBar.centerXAnchor].active = YES; does not work and the UIView containing the search bar shows up on the left side of the UINavigationBar.

Other constraints:

• The width should be 1/3 of the screen width
• I want to avoid setting width as a constant to make the view responsive in response to orientation and other layout changes

How to center the navigation bar item?

ScreenViewController.m:

- (void) viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];

    // Create the search bar
    self.searchBar = [SearchBar new];

    // Create a new UIView as titleView (otherwise I'm receiving an error)   
    self.navigationItem.titleView = [UIView new];

    // Add into view hierarchy and turn off auto constraints
    [self.navigationController.navigationBar addSubview:self.navigationItem.titleView];
    [self.navigationItem.titleView setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints:NO];
    [self.navigationItem.titleView addSubview:self.searchBar.view];            
    [self.searchBar.view setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints:NO];

    // Set anchors for the wrapping view
    [self.navigationItem.titleView.widthAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.navigationController.navigationBar.widthAnchor multiplier:1.0/3.0].active = YES;
    //[self.navigationItem.titleView.heightAnchor constraintEqualToConstant:50.0].active = YES;
    [self.navigationItem.titleView.topAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.navigationController.navigationBar.topAnchor].active = YES;
    [self.navigationItem.titleView.centerXAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.navigationController.navigationBar.centerXAnchor].active = YES;
    [self.navigationItem.titleView.bottomAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.navigationController.navigationBar.bottomAnchor].active = YES;

    // Set anchors for the search bar
    [self.searchBar.view.widthAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.navigationItem.titleView.widthAnchor multiplier:1.0].active = YES;
    //[self.navigationItem.titleView.heightAnchor constraintEqualToConstant:50.0].active = YES;
    [self.searchBar.view.topAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.navigationItem.titleView.topAnchor].active = YES;
    [self.searchBar.view.bottomAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.navigationItem.titleView.bottomAnchor].active = YES;
    //[self.searchBar.view.leftAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.navigationItem.titleView.leftAnchor].active = YES;
    //[self.searchBar.view.rightAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.navigationItem.titleView.rightAnchor].active = YES;
    [self.searchBar.view.centerXAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.navigationItem.titleView.centerXAnchor].active = YES;
}

Expected result:

What I get (the title view is not centered):

View hierarchy:

Answer 1

What you're doing is both impossible and illegal. You are not making a "custom navigation bar item" at all (as claimed in your title). You are attempting to add a subview directly to a navigation bar. You can't do that. The way to put something into a navigation bar is to assign it into a view controller's navigationItem, either as a bar button item or as the navigation item's real titleView. (You call your variable titleView, but you are not in fact making it the navigation item's titleView.)

Answer 2

Here is my solution, changing only the title view, setting its width anchor to a fraction of the navigation bar's to make it responsive:

// Create search bar and set it as title view
self.searchBar = [SearchBar new];
self.navigationItem.titleView = self.searchBar.view;

// Turn auto constraints off
[self.searchBar.view setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints:NO];

// Set the layout anchors
[self.navigationItem.titleView.widthAnchor constraintEqualToConstant:250.0].active = YES; // Had to set the width to a constant
// Was still causing problems
//[self.navigationItem.titleView.widthAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor:self.navigationController.navigationBar.widthAnchor multiplier:1.0/3.0].active = YES;// Still need to access the navigation bar's anchor
[self.navigationItem.titleView.heightAnchor constraintEqualToConstant:50.0].active = YES;