UITabBar Controller Present ViewController of Second tab Without Segue - ios

Question

I'm eliminating the storyboard from my app completely. How do I present the VC that is linked to the second tab of the TabBarController.
Setup: mainVC --- myTabBar -- tab1 - navCntrl - VC1
tab2 - navCntrl - VC2
When using a segues I used the following code:
override func prepare(for segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: Any?) {
if (segue.identifier == myTabBar) {
let tabVC = segue.destination as? UITabBarController {
tabVC.selectedIndex = myTabBarIndex ==> 1 to reach VC2
}
// other other stuff
}
To eliminating the segues I rewrote the above but although I set the selectedIndex VC2 is not presented. Any suggestions?
func vc2Btn() {
let tabVC = MyTabBar()
tabVC.selectedIndex = 1 // ==>> Index set but can not reach VC2
present(tabVC, animated: true, completion: nil)
}
The full code of my test system:
class MyTabBar: UITabBarController, UITabBarControllerDelegate {
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
self.delegate = self
}
override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillAppear(animated)
// Create Tab 1
let navCtrlTab1 = UINavigationController(rootViewController: VC1())
let tabOne = navCtrlTab1
let tabOneBarItem = UITabBarItem(title: "", image: StyleKit.imageOfIconTabRecent, selectedImage: StyleKit.imageOfIconTabRecentRev)
tabOne.tabBarItem = tabOneBarItem
// Create Tab 2
let navCtrlTab2 = UINavigationController(rootViewController: VC2())
let tabTwo = navCtrlTab2
let tabTwoBarItem = UITabBarItem(title: "", image: StyleKit.imageOfIconTabNote, selectedImage: StyleKit.imageOfIconTabNoteRev)
tabTwo.tabBarItem = tabTwoBarItem
self.viewControllers = [tabOne, tabTwo]
}
}
class mainVC: UIViewController {
let btn0: UIButton = {
let button = UIButton()
button.setBackgroundImage(StyleKit.imageOfBtnBlue(btnText: "VC1"), for: UIControlState.normal)
button.addTarget(self, action:#selector(vc1Btn), for: .touchUpInside)
return button
}()
let btn1: UIButton = {
let button = UIButton()
button.setBackgroundImage(StyleKit.imageOfBtnBlue(btnText: "VC2"), for: UIControlState.normal)
button.addTarget(self, action:#selector(vc2Btn), for: .touchUpInside)
return button
}()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
self.view.addSubview(btn0)
self.view.addSubview(btn1)
addConstraintsWithFormat("H:|-100-[v0]", views: btn0)
addConstraintsWithFormat("H:|-100-[v0]", views: btn1)
addConstraintsWithFormat("V:|-300-[v0]-20-[v1]", views: btn0, btn1)
}
func addConstraintsWithFormat(_ format: String, views: UIView...) {
var viewsDictionary = [String: UIView]()
for (index, view) in views.enumerated() {
let key = "v\(index)"
viewsDictionary[key] = view
view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
}
self.view.addConstraints(NSLayoutConstraint.constraints(withVisualFormat: format, options: NSLayoutFormatOptions(), metrics: nil, views: viewsDictionary))
}
func vc1Btn() {
let tabVC = MyTabBar()
tabVC.selectedIndex = 0 // ==>> this is working
present(tabVC, animated: true, completion: nil)
}
func vc2Btn() {
let tabVC = MyTabBar()
tabVC.selectedIndex = 1 // ==>> Index set but can not reach VC2
present(tabVC, animated: true, completion: nil)
}
}
class VC1: UIViewController {
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
navigationItem.title = "VC1"
print ("VC1")
}
}
class VC2: UIViewController {
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
navigationItem.title = "VC2"
print ("VC2")
}
}
#UIApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
var window: UIWindow?
func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
window = UIWindow(frame: UIScreen.main.bounds)
window?.makeKeyAndVisible()
window?.rootViewController = mainVC()
return true
}
}