How to find the identifier of the navigationController from a ViewController? - ios

I have a 2 navigation controllers in a Tab Bar Controller which point to same View. This gives me 2 different instances of that view in 2 different tabs. Now I want the view to behave differently based on its parent Navigation Controller.
if id == "parent1"{
//do something
} else {
//do something else
}
So how can I get the identifier of the navigationController in ViewController code?

You can use the restorationIdentifier which you can set in the storyboard; It's right underneath the storyboard identifier field in the identity inspector.
Get the current navigation controller from the view controller's property
let id = self.navigationController.restorationIdentifier
Note that by setting this property, you are telling the system the view controller should be saved for restoration, which might have unexpected consequences. See documentation.
Alternatively, you might want to consider using subclasses or some kind of property on your view controller class (e.g. maybe using IBInspectable etc).

Related

How to use Storyboard view controllers without reloading each time they show

I have several UIViewControllers in a Storyboard.
I'm not using a Navigation controller, just simple Segues to show them and to unwind.
However each time show/unwind a View, it completely reloads.
I would like it to "load" only the first time it's shown, and then
hide/show as I move to other View Controllers.
How can this be done using Storyboards and Swift 2?
Assuming that you'd always have a base (menu or something) UIViewController, I'd use UINavigationController and just keep optional references to created UIViewControllers in this menu controller, like :
var firstViewController : VC1?
var secondViewController : VC2?
You should create a function to get those view controllers like:
func getVC1Instance() {
return firstViewController ?? firstViewController = self.storyboard.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier("VC1Identifier")
}
Then, when you click a button that should take you to VC1 for example, you should do
self.navigationController?.pushViewController(getVC1Instance())
I don't know what your use case is, but I really don't recommend retaining UIViewControllers that aren't shown on the screen. If you need to persist their state, just use NSUserDefaults / Singleton pattern to store the data like text typed into some textfields and just use them on viewDidLoad.

What's the proper way to keep UITabBar in all ViewControllers (Don't want to use UITabBarController)

Just to clarify things, I don't want to use UITabBarController. I need to do some custom changes to the UITabBar that can't be done using UITabBarController. (like making it scroll etc')
This is how I've created my UITabBar
From the Interface Builder I've dragged a UITabBar and located it inside a ViewControllers.
Connected the delegate and outlet.
Added UITabbarItem tags and segue identifier.
and used this code:
- (void)tabBar:(UITabBar *)tabBar didSelectItem:(UITabBarItem *)item
{
if (item.tag==0) {
[self performSegueWithIdentifier:#"Favorite" sender:nil];
}
else if (item.tag==1)
{
[self performSegueWithIdentifier:#"Item" sender:nil];
}
}
My problem is that when I push a new ViewController the UITabBar disappears.
My question is, what's the right proper way to keep the UITabBar on the pushed ViewController and other ViewControllers ?
I've tried passing it to the next view controller using PrepareForSegue and it works but when I go back to my previous controller I need to reset the UITabBar frame etc'. I guess I can keep it as a global object inside my Singleton and keep adding it to new ViewControllers but that sounds like an over kill
Is there a better way to do it without using a UITabBarController ?
Even if you don't want to use a tab bar controller, you should still follow the same design pattern. Your ScrollableTabBarController should be a container view controller, and when different tab items are selected, it should add the new item as a child view controller. Read the view controller containment documentation for more details.
At the moment it sounds like you're pushing view controllers on top of your container, which suggests that your storyboard is based on a navigation controller. This is the wrong way to do it.
I'm not sure how straightforward it is to do custom container controllers in the storyboard, (I'd do it in code). You may have to make the connections manually rather than via segues.

Conditional segue based on current view controller

All,
I'm trying to perform segues based on the identity of the currently displayed view controller. Essentially, I've given my VC's storyboard ID's and now want to access these in code. So, essentially I want some logic whereby if existing view controller is first, I want to perform firstSegue and if it's second, I want to perform secondSegue and so on. Also, my VC's are part of a navigation controller and I know that the navigation controller has a property where i can view the present view controller or something like that. But I wasnt sure what it was. Can somebody help me out? Again, I foresee my code being something like:
(IBAction)firstButtonPressed:(id)sender
{ if (presentviewcontroller ==a) // If the current view controller Is A
{
[self performSegueWithIdentifier:#"segueA" sender:self];}
if(storyboard.viewcontroller==b)//If the current view controller is B
{
[self.performSegueWithIdentifier:#"segueB" sender:self];}
}
Can someone help me out with some code?
I'm not sure I understand your setup, but if it's what I think it is, then you don't need to know from which controller the button was pressed. Even though the 2 controllers inherit from a common ancestor, they are still separate instances, and only the segue that is connected to that instance will be called. So, each of your controllers could have a segue with the same identifier, lets say button1Segue. Then the code in AncestorController could just be:
-(IBAction)firstButtonPressed:(UIButton *)sender{
[self performSegueWithIdentifier:#"button1Segue" sender:self];
}
The correct segue will be performed because whichever instance's button was pressed, only that instance's segue will go.
If you were to set different tags for each view in interface builder, you could use the following
if (self.view.tag == 1) {
NSLog(#"something");
}
I successfully use this method in my app for different views, and it works well.

Why is my ViewController being removed from NavigationController.ViewControllers collection

I am navigating between screens in my iOS application.
BaseView.NavigationController.ViewControllers
As I switch screens, I keep a reference to the previous screen in a static variable.
At some point, one of my items gets removed from BaseView.NavigationController.ViewControllers even though it's still a valid viewcontroller and IsLoaded is still set to True/YES.
When I use (pardon my C#/MonoTouch)
BaseView.NavigationController.PopToViewController(CurrentViewController,false);
to show it again, I get NSInternalInconsistencyException Reason: Tried to pop to a view controller that doesn't exist. This is understandable because it's no longer in the ViewController collection.
The way I am switching screens is I am keeping a reference to he various screens and calling a common method to show the screen. In that method I use this logic to determine if I should push or pop.
if (CurrentViewController.IsViewLoaded)
{
BaseView.NavigationController.PopToViewController(CurrentViewController,false);
}
else
{
BaseView.NavigationController.PushViewController(CurrentViewController,true);
}
My question is where did it go and why would it have been removed from ViewControllers collection and when it's StillLoaded=true/YES?
If I understand correctly, you're using NavigationController.PopToViewController(controller); to navigate back to a certain view controller but keep a reference of the View Controllers that are popped from the navigation stack.
What I think is happening is because you're keeping a reference to these View Controllers, they're still in memory and thus the IsViewLoaded property is still true despite the View Controller not actually existing on the navigation stack.
Rather than using the IsViewLoaded property, you should check whether the View Controller exists in the NavigationController.ViewControllers array, if it does then Pop to it, if it doesn't then push it.
E.g.
if (BaseView.NavigationController.ViewControllers.Contains(CurrentViewController))
{
BaseView.NavigationController.PopToViewController(CurrentViewController,false);
}
else
{
BaseView.NavigationController.PushViewController(CurrentViewController,true);
}
Edit
So you mention you'd like a view to persist on the navigation stack. Well, using PopToViewController will remove ALL View Controllers between the TopViewController and the specified Controller.
In order to achieve what you're wanting, you could directly manipulate the NavigationControllers.ViewControllers array. Only problem with this is you'll lose the nice animations that the Push/Pop methods provide.
// Changes order of View Controllers currently in the stack. You can also add/remove
// controllers using this method.
NavigationController.ViewControllers = new UIViewController[]{
NavigationController.ViewControllers[1],
NavigationController.ViewControllers[0],
NavigationController.ViewControllers[3],
NavigationController.ViewControllers[2]};

lay out a view in Storyboard then load it in a PopOver from code?

I have relatively complex ui appearing in a popover (complex enough that doing all the layout and relationships from code would be a pain), but the button that calls it is created and placed into the parent view (which exists in the storyboard) from code.
I've tried making a popover segue from the parent view's viewcontroller object to the popover content vc, then triggering this with performSegueWithIdentifier. This almost works, but I can't figure out how to set the popOver's Anchor from code so it appears at the wrong place (squished at the bottom of the screen).
Is there a way to set the popOver segue's Anchor dynamically?
or
Can i create a UIPopOverController object and get the view i've put together in the storyboard into it?
or
Is there some other obvious way to do this that I'm not seeing?
please be gentle, I'm new here.
iPad iOS5.1 XCode4.3.2
Alex,
I'm not completely sure I understand what you're trying to do, but let me take a stab at it from what I think I understand.
For the same reason you cite (view complexity, etc.), I often build out my views in the storyboard and then load them from some action. What you can do is instantiate the view controller by identifier with something like this:
FancyViewController *controller = [[self storyboard]
instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"FancyViewController"];
This assumes you have created a UIViewController subclass called FancyViewController and have set the type for your view controller in the storyboard.
Now, you can display the view controller in a popover controller or you can push it onto a navigation stack. You just need to make sure you've set the identifier for your view controller in the storyboard.
Also, you'll probably want to instantiate your view controller once if you use a popover controller and just update the view controllers properties each time the action gets triggered. So, if it's tapping a button that triggers the popover, your code might look like this:
- (IBAction)didTapButtonToShowFancyViewController:(id)sender
{
if (![self fancyViewController])
{
// fancyViewContrller is a property of type FancyViewController *
fancyViewController = [[[self storyboard]
instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"FancyViewController"];
// fancyViewPopoverController is also a property
fancyViewPopoverController = [[UIPopoverController alloc]
initWithContentViewController:fancyViewController];
}
// Perform setup on the fancy controller you want to do every
// time the action gets triggered here. Do initialization in the if
// block above.
// Now display the popover from the sender's frame. I'm assuming the
// sender is a UIButton.
[fancyViewPopoverController presentPopoverFromRect:[sender valueForKey:#"frame"]
inView:[self view]
permittedArrowDirections:UIPopoverArrowDirectionAny animated:YES];
}
The only way to set the popover's "anchor" dynamically is to use an explicit action that calls presentPopoverFromRect:permittedArrowDirections:animated: instead of a segue.
I hope that helps. Let me know if I've misunderstood what you're trying to do.
Best regards.

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