Easiest way to add upper Navigation bar and "back" buttons to UIViewController? - ios

In my current storyboard file, there are lots of (about 150) view controllers that are UIViewController instances connected with segues, and now my client requested me to add a Navigation bar and "Back" button to every existing view controllers.
I found out that "just simply adding UINavigationBar to UIViewControllers doesn't make results like the most views found in famous apps. In fact, the famous views seem to be built by UINavigationController, not UIViewController. So, probably replacing UIViewController to UINavigationController will solve.
But since there are 150 of them, it's a little too painful for me to replace all UIViewControllers to UINavigationController manually. I should have built my storyboard file with UINavigationController from the first time, but it's too late.
Is it sure it's the only way? Aren't there any other ways, or some kind of hack I can use to save my time?

I haven't seen your code so I'm just probing the situation but I think your best bet would be to wrap your first ViewController in a NavigationController.
To do this easily, select your first view controller in your Storyboard and select: Menu -> Editor -> Embed In -> Navigation Controller.
All the descendants of that original ViewController should inherit the embedding.

Related

Putting UITabbarController inside UINavigationController. What problem may occur?

I have a stack like below hierarchy (I'm using programatic way, so I done it)
UINavigationController -> UITabbarController -> UInavigationController -> UIViewController
-> UInavigationController -> UIViewController
As Apple Docs say for pushViewController:
The view controller to push onto the stack. This object cannot be a tab bar controller
I need to know If this has a known bug or will CERTAINLY causes a bug.
I really searched a lot for similar posts but none of them give me an acceptable answer.
Using UITabBarController with UINavigationController - Swift 3
Can you push a UITabBarController inside an UINavigationController
From Apple:
Before creating a tab bar interface, you need to decide how you intend
to use a tab bar interface. Because it imposes an overarching
organization on your data,you should use one only in these specific
ways:
Install it directly as a window’s root view controller.
Install it as
one of the two view controllers in a split view interface. (iPad only)
Present it modally from another view controller.
Display it from a
popover. (iPad only)
Installing a tab bar interface in your app’s main
window is by far the most common way to use it.
In such a scenario,
the tab bar interface provides the fundamental organizing principle
for your app’s data, with each tab leading the user to a distinct part
of the app. You can use tab bar controllers by themselves or in
conjunction with other view controllers to create even more
sophisticated interfaces. For more information, see Combined View
Controller Interfaces.
It is also possible to present a tab bar controller modally if a very
specific need makes doing so worthwhile. For example, you could
present a tab bar controller modally in order to edit some complex
data set that had several distinct sets of options. Because a modal
view fills all or most of the screen (depending on the device), the
presence of the tab bar would simply reflect the choices available for
viewing or editing the modally presented data. Avoid using a tab bar
in this way if a simpler design approach is available.

UINavigationController vs viewController embed in NavigationController

I was trying my hands on iOS and while building apps, one question get into mind that what is the difference between UINavigationController vs viewController embed in NavigationController.
While using UINavigationController we push and pop views.
while using viewController we present and dismiss.
SO what are the applications where one is more superior to use than the other.
UINavigationController is used where you want you move back and forth in your application. Generally Navigation controller is used when you are navigating in more detailed information in each level of depth you are in your application.
UIViewController is generally preferred when you display polished information. in UINavigationController generally it is the one of the last controller you push in your controller
I think you are really describing two sides to the same coin. There is only one way to use a UINavigationViewContorller. It is a known as a container view controller and its job is to push and pop other UIViewControllers. A UINavigationViewController works with viewControllers, not views.
UINavigationController:
If you have hierarchy of view controller then that is you have stack of view then you need to use navigation controller. You can perfrom push and pop operations on the view controller and Navigation Controller is the rootViewController of all ViewController.so to go back to the previous one, in a ordered way. Imagine that controllers in a navigation controller will just build a sequence from left to right.
UIViewController: if you are using view controller it act as presentViewController. The presentViewController offers a mechanism to display a so-called modal view controller; i.e., a view controller that will take full control of your UI by being superimposed on top of a presenting controller. I think that presentViewController is most suitable for use with just one view controller being presented at a time. So you simply will not be able to implement a "go back"/navigation like functionality.
UINavigationController inherits from UIViewController. The strange thing about this object model is the UIViewController has a property called NavigationController. So for OO purists this is a bit baffling that a parent class knows about its children. But moaning aside this is how it’s been done in UIKit. As you’ll find with a runtime error, you can’t place a UINavigationController inside a UINavigationController
Whenever you push a controller, it can access the parent UINavigationController it may or may not belong to via the NavigationController property. The property is null if the controller is not inside a UINavigationController.

TabBarController with NavigationController

I have a TabBarController with 3 tabs set up in my storyboard. I want to have each tab have its own navigation controller. However, I don't want to embed each one in a nav controller, cluttering the storyboard and then having to style the navigation each time. Is there any way to do this programatically? In other words each time a tab is tapped, the resulting view controller will be set as the root of one existing navigation controller?
I don't think that there is a way to 'set' the rootViewController every time, but you can do 3 navigationControllers in your storyBoard and build a subclass of UINavigationController. That way you don't have to set it every time. Subclassing UINavigationController has become possible since iOS 6 (See documentation):
The UINavigationController class implements a specialized view controller that manages the navigation of hierarchical content. This navigation interface makes it possible to present your data efficiently and makes it easier for the user to navigate that content. You generally use this class as-is but in iOS 6 and later you may subclass to customize the class behavior.

Swift loading ViewController on TableViewCell Design

As I understand it, one of the best ways of handling opening Views upon clicking a particular tableViewCell is by pushing to the ViewController.
However, this apparently only works if you only embed the ViewController in a NavigationController.
Would you then have to embed each individual ViewController in an Navigation Controller?
This sounds sort of repetitive and tedious - is this good practice?
This tutorial uses navigation controllers on all of the view controllers, but doesn't really say why
I just use one navigation controller, and it works fine for me. I've used one and had segues between multiple viewControllers including several tables as well as using buttons in some places, and still been able to navigate super easily. In main.storyboard, just select the first view that's going to be a part of it, then go to Editor>Embed In>Navigation Controller. Then, you just add in your segues (I believe they should all be Show(e.g. Push) segues to work correctly)
When running your app, there should be a bar at the top which can be used to go back (you can also edit the bar by adding other buttons or changing the color and title).
Here's some documentation from apple

How to link a separate storyboard to each particular tab in uitabbarcontroller?

I have an app which has 5 major user flows..each flow is a few screens linking to each other...so each flow warranties its own storyboard. Each storyboard starts with a custom view controller that is embedded in a navigation controller. So far so good.
Now all of this is "stitched" together via a UITabBarController. This is the most default UI design ever known to iOS.
But turns out I don't really know how to link from tabbarcontroller, which is in its own storyboard (that is set as the main one on code project) to any of the other storyboards.
This problem looks so! simple, so I think I am missing something utterly obvious, but I just can't figure out how to do it.
So how do I link from tab bar controller in storyboard 1 to the initial view controller in storyboard 2 when a tab is tapped?
You should do this in code. You can have the tab bar controller (tbc for short) and the controller in the first tab in the app's main storyboard, and in the app delegate, instantiate the other controllers using instantiateInitialViewController. Create a mutable array by copying the tbc's viewController array, add the other controllers you instantiated to it, and then set that array as the tbc's viewControllers array.
You have to add your viewcontroller programmatically in tabbar.

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