Using prepareForSegue to pass data to ViewController later in app - ios

Question

I was wondering, when passing data using prepareForSegue, can you pass data to a View Controller later in the app? For example on the first ViewController I have the user enter their name. It's not until the very end, so a few views later, do I need to display their name. Is there a way to pass their name without having to go to the end view right away?

Answer 1

Use a Coordinator.
It's really easy to decouple your ViewControllers:
instead of using segues give every ViewController a delegate
create a coordinator object (this object knows your screen flow, not your screens)
the coordinator creates the ViewControllers (it can use UIStoryboard instantiateViewController(withIdentifier:) so ViewController A does not have to know that ViewController B exists
instead of calling performSegue you just call your delegate and pass in the data
Benefits
Simple to use
Easy to reorder screens in a flow
Highly decoupled (easier testing)
Very nice for A/B testing
Scales a lot (you can have multiple coordinators, one for each flow)
Sample
Let's say you have 3 VCs, the first one asks for your name, the second for your age and the third displays the data. It would make no sense that AgeViewController knew that NameViewController existed, later on you may want to change their order or even merge them.
Name View Controller
protocol NameViewControllerDelegate: class {
func didInput(name: String)
}
class NameViewController: UIViewController {
weak var delegate: NameViewControllerDelegate?
#IBOutlet var nameTextField: UITextField!
//Unimportant stuff ommited
#IBAction func submitName(sender: Any) {
guard let name = nameTextField.text else {
// Do something, it's up to you what
return
}
delegate?.didInput(name: name)
}
}
Age View Controller
protocol AgeViewControllerDelegate: class {
func didInput(age: Int)
}
class AgeViewController: UIViewController {
weak var delegate: AgeViewControllerDelegate?
#IBOutlet var ageTextField: UITextField!
//Unimportant stuff ommited
#IBAction func submitAge(sender: Any) {
guard let ageString = ageTextField.text,
let age = Int(ageString) else {
// Do something, it's up to you what
return
}
delegate?.didInput(age: age)
}
}
Displayer View Controller
class DisplayerViewController: UIViewController {
var age: Int?
var name: String?
}
Coordinator
class Coordinator {
var age: Int?
var name: String?
var navigationController: UINavigationController
init(navigationController: UINavigationController) {
self.navigationController = navigationController
}
fileprivate lazy var storyboard: UIStoryboard = {
return UIStoryboard(name: "MyStoryboard", bundle: nil)
}()
//This works if you name your screns after their classes
fileprivate func viewController<T: UIViewController>(withType type: T.Type) -> T {
return storyboard.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: String(describing: type(of: type))) as! T
}
func start() -> UIViewController {
let viewController = self.viewController(withType: NameViewController.self)
viewController.delegate = self
navigationController.viewControllers = [viewController]
return viewController
}
}
Coordinator + Name View Controller Delegate
extension Coordinator: NameViewControllerDelegate {
func didInput(name: String){
self.name = name
let viewController = self.viewController(withType: AgeViewController.self)
viewController.delegate = self
navigationController.pushViewController(viewController, animated: true)
}
}
Coordinator + Age View Controller Delegate
extension Coordinator: AgeViewControllerDelegate {
func didInput(age: Int) {
self.age = age
let viewController = self.viewController(withType: DisplayerViewController.self)
viewController.age = age
viewController.name = name
navigationController.pushViewController(viewController, animated: true)
}
}

Answer 2

Not really. You can pass view by view the item but it's not a proper way of doing things.
I suggest you to have a Static Manager or this kind of stuff to store the information globally in your app to retrieve it later

Answer 3

All the solution are pretty good. Possible you can try the below model also
1. DataModel class
1.1 Should be singleton class
1.2 Declare value
Step 1 : ViewCOntroller-one
1 Create the Sharedinstance of singleton class
1.1 Assign the value
Step 3 :ViewController-two
1 Create the Sharedinstance of singleton class
1.1 Get the value