Re-write some basic swift code, with big if-statements - ios

Question

I am working on a project, with a UITabBarcontroller, in Xcode using swift code.
In this project the users can (among other stuff) choose their favorite images. These favorite images will be set on 30 buttons I have on my favorites UIViewController.
To accomplish what I want, I developed some very basic code: I assigned 30 IBOutlets for the 30 buttons and I made 30 (big) if-statements. It in fact works, but I know this code can be done in a simpler and more concise manner. And I am not yet able to do that.
I really want to learn, so can anybody help me with a way to rewrite this code? Help is much appreciated :). Just a push in the right direction would already be great
Should I for example assign tag values to the 30 buttons, and ‘find’ the appropriate buttons with .viewWithTag (instead of the 30 IBOutlets). And should I for example use some sort of loop for dealing with the different counts of the array? (see below)
Here is my code:
// I have created a subclass of UITabBarController
class TabBarData: UITabBarController {
/* In this class I have initialized an empty array to share between the various tabs.
The array will be populated with the favorites chosen by the user. */
var array = [Int]()
}
/* There are multiple ViewControllers in my project that have the same
code for adding a favorite. So for now I describe one example ViewController */
class exampleVC: UIViewController {
/* A variable that identifies the image by the number. There a a few
hundred images in the project, every images has its own identifying number */
var imageNumber = 0
// This function will execute if user adds a favorite:
func userAddedFavorite(imageNumber: Int) {
// The ViewController within the TabBarController getting acces to the properties
if let tbc = self.tabBarController as? TabBarData {
// The Array can not be bigger then a count of 30:
if tbc.array.count < 30 {
// When a user adds a new favorite image, the array gets filled with a new value:
tbc.array.append(imageNumber)
// Now I set the button images, in viewWillAppear, for my favorites VC:
class Favorites: UIViewController {
// IBOutlets for the 30 buttons
#IBOutlet weak var button1: UIButton!
#IBOutlet weak var button2: UIButton!
#IBOutlet weak var button3: UIButton!
// etcetera…
override func viewWillAppear(animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillAppear(animated)
if let tbc = self.tabBarController as? TabBarData {
if tbc.array.isEmpty {
print("The user has no Favorites at the moment. The array is empty")
} else if tbc.array.count == 1 {
// At the moment the images in my project have been named: test1/test2/test3 etc...
button1.setImage(UIImage(named: "test\(tbc.array[0])"), forState: .Normal)
} else if tbc.array.count == 2 {
button1.setImage(UIImage(named: "test\(tbc.array[0])"), forState: .Normal)
button2.setImage(UIImage(named: "test\(tbc.array[1])"), forState: .Normal)
} else if tbc.array.count == 3 {
button1.setImage(UIImage(named: "test\(tbc.array[0])"), forState: .Normal)
button2.setImage(UIImage(named: "test\(tbc.array[1])"), forState: .Normal)
button3.setImage(UIImage(named: "test\(tbc.array[2])"), forState: .Normal)
} else {
print("etcetera.....,the if-statements getting bigger each count up......")
}

Answer 1

Instead of making 30 IBOutlets (one for each button,) make a single IBOutletCollection that holds all thirty:
#IBOutlet var buttons: [UIButton]!
Then you can:
for (index, item) in tbc.array.enumerate() {
buttons[index].setImage(UIImage(named: "test\(item)"), forState: .Normal)
}