How to give UISearchBar a transparent background

For future visitors looking for an answer. I have found the following to be effective in iOS 5+ and prefer it as it doesn't involve messing with the layout of the UISearchBar itself.

UISearchBar * search = [[UISearchBar alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, 44)];
[search setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
[search setPlaceholder:@"Search"];

for (UIView * v in [search subviews]) {
    if (![v isKindOfClass:[UITextField class]]) {
        v.alpha = 0;
    }
}

[header addSubview:search];
[search release];

I experimented with using a mask layer in order to make everything around the actual text field in the search bar transparent (thus showing the content from the view underneath). It works, but i'd be nervous to use it in a shipping app since you have to match the shape of your mask exactly to the shape of the text field in UISearchBar. If Apple changes the shape of the text field at all, then your mask won't fit and you'll see parts of the search bar gradient that you don't want and/or you won't see parts of the text field that you do want. That said, here's how i did it:

//first make sure you include core animation so that the compiler will know about your view's layer
#import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>

//now make a mask.  this is basically just a solid colored shape.  When you apply the mask, anywhere where the color is solid will become transparent in your view.  i used the excellent Opacity (http://likethought.com/opacity/) to generate this code, but you can do it any way you'd like

@interface SearchMaskLayer : CALayer {
}
@end

@implementation SearchMaskLayer

- (void)drawInContext:(CGContextRef)context
{


    CGRect imageBounds = CGRectMake(0, 0, 310, 34);
    CGRect bounds = imageBounds;

    CGFloat alignStroke;
    CGFloat resolution;
    CGMutablePathRef path;
    CGPoint point;
    CGPoint controlPoint1;
    CGPoint controlPoint2;
    UIColor *color;
    resolution = 0.5 * (bounds.size.width / imageBounds.size.width + bounds.size.height / imageBounds.size.height);

    CGContextSaveGState(context);
    CGContextTranslateCTM(context, bounds.origin.x, bounds.origin.y);
    CGContextScaleCTM(context, (bounds.size.width / imageBounds.size.width), (bounds.size.height / imageBounds.size.height));

    // Layer 1

    alignStroke = 0.0;
    path = CGPathCreateMutable();
    point = CGPointMake(295.0, 32.0);
    point.x = (round(resolution * point.x + alignStroke) - alignStroke) / resolution;
    point.y = (round(resolution * point.y