A portion of my app has an embedded master-detail section. Each detail view is using a custom UIViewController. When I change the value of something inside one of these UIViewControllers I need to be able to grey out one of the table rows in the master UITableViewController.
The closest I have seen to a solution is to use NSNotificationCenter to bubble up any changes, though this feels a little untidy..
Another solution is to use delegates? But I haven't come across any example solutions or tutorials in how to use this in Swift?
I've also experimented just trying to access the table view by navigating back up the hierarchy:
let navController = self.splitViewController!.viewControllers[0];
navController.tableView.reloadData()
I know the example above is wrong, but I don't know how to access the master view that way, or even if it is the right approach.
Oh, I am trying to call reloadData() because in the master view there is some logic which checks the condition as to wether to grey out a table row is applicable (i'm using Core Data)
I've seen that you figured this one out already. However a cleaner and more future proof way would be to use a delegate protocol:
protocol DetailViewControllerDelegate: class {
func reloadTableView()
}
Then add a delegate property to your DetailViewController class and implement the call to the delegate:
class DetailViewController: UIViewController {
weak var delegate: DetailViewControllerDelegate?
....
func reloadMasterTableView() {
delegate?.reloadTableView()
}
}
And then in your MainViewController implement the delegate method:
extension MainViewController: DetailViewControllerDelegate {
func reloadTableView() {
tableView.reloadData()
}
}
Don't forget to set the delegate on your DetailViewController instances when you create them:
let detailViewController = DetailViewController()
detailViewController.delegate = self
I would suggest you use NSNotificationCenter .
If you want to to do it via Navigation controller here is to code should work for you in swift.
let navController: UINavigationController = self.splitViewController!.viewControllers[0] as! UINavigationController
let controller: MasterViewController = navController.topViewController as! MasterViewController
controller.tableView.reloadData()
Since I was able to access my viewController, I was able to access the parent viewcontroller like so:
func reloadMasterTableView(){
let navVC: UINavigationController = self.splitViewController!.viewControllers[0] as! UINavigationController
let sectionsVC : UIMasterViewController = navVC.topViewController as! UIMasterViewController
sectionsVC.tableView.reloadData()
}
Related
i'm working on multiple frameworks and my question is just a "philosophic" one.
I created an utility function to show view controllers
static func presentViewController(identifier: String, storyboardName: String = "Main", presentationStyle: UIModalPresentationStyle = .fullScreen){
let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: storyboardName, bundle: InternalConstants.bundle)
var viewResult: UIViewController
if #available(iOS 13.0, *) {
viewResult = storyboard.instantiateViewController(identifier: identifier)
} else {
viewResult = storyboard.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: identifier)
}
viewResult.modalPresentationStyle = presentationStyle
var top = UIApplication.shared.keyWindow?.rootViewController
while top?.presentedViewController != nil {
top = top!.presentedViewController
}
top!.present(viewResult, animated: true, completion: nil)
}
First of all, is this a correct way to present a view controller or is there a better way?
Then, is it better to present a view controller in a navigation controller or not?
First of all, is a correct way to present a view controller or there is a better way?
instead of a utility make it inside
extension UIViewController {
func ......
}
Then, is better to present a view controller in a navigation controller or not?
a nav is oriented for push/pop but it's also not wrong to use it to present another vc
First of all, is this a correct way to present a view controller or is there a better way?
as long as it's working then it's correct it's just your way of doing this specific thing, but is it the right thing to do as for an iOS and UIKit standpoint the answer is no it's usually is a bad thing to present a viewController by looking at the rootViewController's presentedViewController because it's not guaranteed that the last presentedViewController you find is a good thing to present on it and you won't know until it breaks, that presentedViewController could be a UISearchController and if you use UIContentContainer or ContainerView from storyboards, you might have a small viewController that is just a UISlider at the end, this could be bad for viewController appearance and disappearance
another problem that you will face is when you need to pass data to and from the viewController that you presenting by using this approach you don't even have a reference to the viewController you are presenting, because you are only passing an identifier
from an MVC standpoint you should never try to present viewController from a UIView by calling your function from your view directly Thats Bad Practice
if you take a look at the UIKit SDK if you ever try to present any system UIViewController you will find that you have the responsibility of instantiating and presenting the vc for example UIImagePickerController, UIActivityViewController, UIDocumentPickerViewController, UIDocumentMenuViewController, UIPrinterPickerController, UIVideoEditorController
Apple themselves didn't go for providing a function to present theirs system vcs
instead if you are developing a framework and don't want to give users access to your viewControllers you should make you own window and give it a rootViewController
Apple also has many examples for this too, in the AuthenticationServices framework for security reasons you should not have a reference to the safari web browser they have something called ASWebAuthenticationSession that controls the flow of presenting and dismissing the Safari Web ViewController by calling start() and cancel() functions
also the users of your framework will not always want to present your viewController with the default presentation animation they might want to use custom viewContollers animations which they will need access to the transitioningDelegate property on the viewController
imagine every public useful property on UIViewController will not be accessible if you go with this approach
Then, is it better to present a view controller in a navigation controller or not?
as for this part it's totally fine to present anything on a navigationController
Storyboards headaches
as for the storyboards initialization headaches there are plenty of articles out there talking about optimizing the storyboards initialization call site for that I would recommend doing something like this
extension UIStoryboard {
enum AppStoryBoards: String {
case
login,
main,
chat,
cart
}
convenience init(_ storyboard: AppStoryBoards, bundle: Bundle? = nil) {
self.init(name: storyboard.rawValue.prefix(1).capitalized + storyboard.rawValue.dropFirst(), bundle: bundle)
}
}
This way you can initialize a storyboards using enum which improves the call site to be like this
let login = UIStoryboard.init(.login)
then you can have another extension for view controller initialization like this
extension UIStoryboard {
func instantiateInitialVC<T: UIViewController>() -> T {
return self.instantiateInitialViewController() as! T
}
func instantiateVC<T: UIViewController>(_: T.Type) -> T {
return self.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: String(describing: T.self)) as! T
}
}
and you can then call it like this
let loginVC = UIStoryboard.init(.login).instantiateInitialVC()
or this
let loginVC = UIStoryboard.init(.login).instantiateVC(LoginViewController.self)
by doing that you improve your overall code for presenting any viewController
let dvc = UIStoryboard.init(.login).instantiateVC(LoginViewController.self)
dvc.plaplapla = "whatever"
present(dvc, animated: true)
I am neither an iOS developer, nor a swift developer, but please bear with me:
I am currently trying to implement a simple iOS app but I have difficulties understanding how exactly I am supposed to set up custom UIViews and ViewControllers for those UIViews.
I am using a UIScrollView that is containing items a little bit more complex than just images, thats what I use custom views for.
What I did was:
I created a .xib file, the view itself. I added some elements (here it is only a textfield, for simplicity's sake).
I created a cocoa touch class "CustomView" that inherits from UIView and set my view up to be of that class (inside the class I just set up elements and such).
Now I want a ViewController that controls the class whenever it is rendered (for example reacting to the changing textField).
I cant manage everything from my main ViewController, because it would get too big (e.g. 3 scrollViews * 5 subviews that need to be managed).
I want a solution that uses ViewControllers for each subview (in case they themselves will have subviews, too).
How do I do that?
Do I need to add some sort of childViewController?
I really am at loss, most of the blog posts and SO examples simply do not work and/or are outdated and I am unsure about whether or not I got the whole View - ViewController pattern wrong.
Let's say you have two view controllers, MainViewController and TableViewController. TableVC's main view is to be a subview of MainVC's main view. In addition, you wish to pass back to MainVC which cell was selected in TableVC.
A solution is (a) make TableVC be a child to MainVC and (b) make MainVC be a delegate for TableVC.
TableViewController:
protocol TableVCDelegate {
func cellSelected(sender: TableViewController)
}
class TableViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource {
// please note that you can do delegation differently,
// this way results in crashes if delegate is nil!
var delegate:TableVCDelegate! = nil
var someValue = ""
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, didSelectRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) {
// set someValue to contents in the selected cell or it's data source
someValue = "Hello World!"
delegate.cellSelected(sender: self)
}
}
MainViewController:
class MainViewController: UIViewController, TableVCDelegate {
let tableVC = TableViewController()
override func viewDidLoad() {
// make tableVC be a child of this VC
addChild(tableVC)
tableVC.didMove(toParent: self)
tableVC.delegate = self
// position tableVC.view
tableVC.view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
}
func cellSelected(sender: TableViewController) {
print(sender.someValue) // this should send "Hello World!" to the console
}
}
This is obviously untested code, but it is based on product code. This is meant to be a shell to help you get started.
Im new to programming and trying to build my own app, I wonder how Im I supposed to link the info I get from the addTask viewcontroller to the tableview cell? At the moment Im just trying to get the text from the textfield and Im going to add the other features later.
What Im trying to do
Refer This :-
Create a global array add remove element from that array on click of your button
You can pass data from one view controller to another using Delegates. Check my ans here. You can set your table view class as delegate of your task view controller. Implement the protocol methods of task view controller get the data and reload table.
Hope it helps.
Happyy Coding!!
You can pass data using Delegation .
In Second ViewController
import UIKit
protocol secondViewDelegate: class {
func passData(arrData : [Any])
}
class SecondViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate {
weak var delegate: secondViewDelegate? = nil
#IBAction func clickOnButton(_ sender: Any) {
self.delegate.passData([]) // replace your array here
}
}
In FirstViewController
class FirstViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDataSource, secondViewDelegate
let objectSecondVC: SecondViewController? = storyboard?.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "secondVCID") as! SecondViewController?
objectSecondVC?.delegate = self
navigationController?.pushViewController(objectSecondVC?, animated: true)
Second ViewController Delegate Method in FirstViewController
func passData(arrData : [Any]){
// append to your main array
}
It seems like your add task view controller is connected with your table view controller though a segue. So when you moving back from add task view controller, you can use unwind to pass data back. Here is a detailed tutorial with simple instructions and pictures.
I got an PageViewController which loads two "child "ViewControllers in order to let the user "swipe" through them. I don't want this swipe gesture , but instead I want to have a function inside my ViewController which allows me to use setViewControllers in the PageViewController.
I tried using protocols but even that didn't work out.
I would realy appreciate any help or suggestions on how I could accomplish that. Thanks!
To access setViewControllers from your child view controllers, you will need your child view controllers to be aware of their parent PageViewController. To do so, start by making a Protocol (I know you've said you've tried Protocols, but please please see my method through). This Protocol will ensure that every child view controller has a reference to the parent PageViewController.
protocol PageObservation: class {
func getParentPageViewController(parentRef: PageViewController)
}
Ensure that your child view controllers adhere to the PageObservation Protocol.
class Child1ViewController: UIViewController, PageObservation {
var parentPageViewController: PageViewController!
func getParentPageViewController(parentRef: PageViewController) {
parentPageViewController = parentRef
}
}
class Child2ViewController: UIViewController, PageObservation {
var parentPageViewController: PageViewController!
func getParentPageViewController(parentRef: PageViewController) {
parentPageViewController = parentRef
}
}
In your PageViewController, as you create each child view controller, cast them to the PageObservation type and pass a reference of the parent PageViewController. I use an array called orderViewControllers to create my pages. My UIPageViewControllerDataSource delegate methods uses it to know which pages to load but that is irrelevant to this example, I just thought I'd let you know in case you have a different way of creating your pages.
class PageViewController: UIPageViewController {
var orderedViewControllers: [UIViewController] = []
//creating child 1
//i am using storyboard to create the child view controllers, I have given them the identifiers Child1ViewController and Child2ViewController respectively
let child1ViewController = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil) .
instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "Child1ViewController")
let child1WithParent = child1ViewController as! PageObservation
child1WithParent.getParentPageViewController(parentRef: self)
orderedViewControllers.append(child1ViewController)
//creating child 2
let child2ViewController = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil) .
instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "Child2ViewController")
let child2WithParent = child2ViewController as! PageObservation
child2WithParent.getParentPageViewController(parentRef: self)
orderedViewControllers.append(child2ViewController)
}
Now inside your child view controllers, you have access to setViewControllers. For example, if I want to call setViewControllers in the child1ViewController, I have created a func called accessSetViewControllers() where I access the setViewControllers:
class Child1ViewController: UIViewController, PageObservation {
var parentPageViewController: PageViewController!
func getParentPageViewController(parentRef: PageViewController) {
parentPageViewController = parentRef
}
func accessSetViewControllers() {
parentPageViewController.setViewControllers( //do what you need )
}
}
On a side note, despite what other answers above have said, you can set dataSource to whatever you like. I sometimes set dataSource to nil to prevent the user from swiping away from a screen before doing something and then add the dataSource back to allow them to continue swiping.
Don't set dataSource. When it's nil, then gestures won't work.
https://developer.apple.com/reference/uikit/uipageviewcontroller
When defining a page view controller interface, you can provide the content view controllers one at a time (or two at a time, depending upon the spine position and double-sided state) or as-needed using a data source. When providing content view controllers one at a time, you use the setViewControllers(_:direction:animated:completion:) method to set the current content view controllers. To support gesture-based navigation, you must provide your view controllers using a data source object.
Simplistic approach... remove the inbuilt gesture recogniser in viewDidLoad of pageViewController:
for view in self.pageViewController!.view.subviews {
if let subView = view as? UIScrollView {
subView.scrollEnabled = false
}
}
Then add your own gesture below it. i just happened to be working with double tap at the moment but you could make it swipe left, swipe right easy enough:
let doubleTap: UITapGestureRecognizer = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(didDoubleTap))
doubleTap.numberOfTapsRequired = 2
doubleTap.delaysTouchesBegan = true
self.addGestureRecognizer(doubleTap)
and the gesture function with your code:
func didDoubleTap(gesture: UITapGestureRecognizer) {
//... stuff
}
My view controller hierarchy is the following:
The entry point is a UINavigationController, whose root view controller is a usual UITableViewController. The Table View presents a list of letters.
When the user taps on a cell, a push segue is triggered, and the view transitions to ContainerViewController. It contains an embedded ContentViewController, whose role is to present the selected letter on screen.
The Content View Controller stores the letter to be shown as a property letter: String, which should be set before its view is pushed on screen.
class ContentViewController: UIViewController {
var letter = "-"
#IBOutlet private weak var label: UILabel!
override func viewWillAppear(animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillAppear(animated)
label.text = letter
}
}
On the contrary, the Container View Controller should not know anything about the letter (content-unaware), since I'm trying to build it as reusable as possible.
class ContainerViewController: UIViewController {
var contentViewController: ContentViewController? {
return childViewControllers.first as? ContentViewController
}
}
I tried to write prepareForSegue() in my Table View Controller accordingly :
override func prepareForSegue(segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: AnyObject?) {
if let containerViewController = segue.destinationViewController as? ContainerViewController {
let indexPath = tableView.indexPathForCell(sender as! UITableViewCell)!
let letter = letterForIndexPath(indexPath)
containerViewController.navigationItem.title = "Introducing \(letter)"
// Not executed:
containerViewController.contentViewController?.letter = letter
}
}
but contentViewController is not yet created by the time this method is called, and the letter property is never set.
It is worth mentioning that this does work when the segue's destination view controller is set directly on the Content View Controller -- after updating prepareForSegue() accordingly.
Do you have any idea how to achieve this?
Actually I feel like the correct solution is to rely on programmatic instantiation of the content view, and this is what I chose after careful and thorough thoughts.
Here are the steps that I followed:
The Table View Controller has a push segue set to ContainerViewController in the storyboard. It still gets performed when the user taps on a cell.
I removed the embed segue from the Container View to the ContentViewController in the storyboard, and I added an IB Outlet to that Container View in my class.
I set a storyboard ID to the Content View Controller, say… ContentViewController, so that we can instantiate it programmatically in due time.
I implemented a custom Container View Controller, as described in Apple's View Controller Programming Guide. Now my ContainerViewController.swift looks like (most of the code install and removes the layout constraints):
class ContainerViewController: UIViewController {
var contentViewController: UIViewController? {
willSet {
setContentViewController(newValue)
}
}
#IBOutlet private weak var containerView: UIView!
private var constraints = [NSLayoutConstraint]()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
setContentViewController(contentViewController)
}
private func setContentViewController(newContentViewController: UIViewController?) {
guard isViewLoaded() else { return }
if let previousContentViewController = contentViewController {
previousContentViewController.willMoveToParentViewController(nil)
containerView.removeConstraints(constraints)
previousContentViewController.view.removeFromSuperview()
previousContentViewController.removeFromParentViewController()
}
if let newContentViewController = newContentViewController {
let newView = newContentViewController.view
addChildViewController(newContentViewController)
containerView.addSubview(newView)
newView.frame = containerView.bounds
constraints.append(newView.leadingAnchor.constraintEqualToAnchor(containerView.leadingAnchor))
constraints.append(newView.topAnchor.constraintEqualToAnchor(containerView.topAnchor))
constraints.append(newView.trailingAnchor.constraintEqualToAnchor(containerView.trailingAnchor))
constraints.append(newView.bottomAnchor.constraintEqualToAnchor(containerView.bottomAnchor))
constraints.forEach { $0.active = true }
newContentViewController.didMoveToParentViewController(self)
}
} }
In my LetterTableViewController class, I instantiate and setup my Content View Controller, which is added to the Container's child view controllers. Here is the code:
override func prepareForSegue(segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: AnyObject?) {
if let containerViewController = segue.destinationViewController as? ContainerViewController {
let indexPath = tableView.indexPathForCell(sender as! UITableViewCell)!
let letter = letterForIndexPath(indexPath)
containerViewController.navigationItem.title = "Introducing \(letter)"
if let viewController = storyboard?.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier("ContentViewController"),
let contentViewController = viewController as? ContentViewController {
contentViewController.letter = letter
containerViewController.contentViewController = contentViewController
}
}
}
This works perfectly, with an entirely content-agnostic container view controller. By the way, it used to be the way one instantiated a UITabBarController or a UINavigationController along with its children, in the appDidFinishLaunching:withOptions: delegate method.
The only downside of this I can see: the UI flow ne longer appears explicitly on the storyboard.
The only way I can think of is to add delegation so that your tableViewController implements a protocol with one method to return the letter; then you have containerViewController setting its childViewController (the contentViewController) delegate to its parent. And the contentViewController can finally ask its delegate for the letter.
At your current solution the presenting object itself is responsible for working both with the "container" and the "content", it doesn't have to be changed, but such solution not only has the issues like the one you described, but also makes the purpose of the "container" not very clear.
Look at the UIAlertController: you are not configuring its child view controller directly, you are not even supposed to know it exists when using the alert controller. Instead of configuring the "content", you are configuring the "container" which is aware of the content interfaces, lifecycle and behavior and doesn't expose it. Following this approach you achieve a properly divided responsibility of the container and content, minimal exposure of the "content" allows you to update the "container" without a need to update the way it is used.
In short, instead of trying to configure everything from a single place, make it so you configure only the "container" and let it configure the "content" when and where it is needed. E.g. in the scenario you described the "container" would set data for the "content" whenever it initializes the child controllers. I'm using "container" and "content" instead of ContainerViewController and ContentViewController because the solution is not strictly based on the controllers because you might as well replace it wth NSObject + UIView or UIWindow.