How can I call a function from an existing View Controller class? - ios

I'm still an early stage Swift developer. I'm trying to create a feature where I click a button on a screen, then I get prompted by the iPhone to allow location, and when I click allow, I am automatically navigated to another screen.
So far I've done the following things:
created a seperate class ("User") where all the location functions are handled
Setup a button on the first view controller and the appropiate IBAction that calls the location prompt function from "User"
Added storyboard IDs for the first and second view controller
Created a function ("changeScreen") in the first view controller class that performs the navigation to another view
Setup a listener in the "User" class for when user has clicked allow location, which then calls the "changeScreen" function
I think there's another way to do this (call some sort of completion handler) and I toyed around with that for 1-2 hours and nothing worked. So far this solution has almost completely worked but I get the following error:
Warning: Attempt to present ____ on _____ whose view is not in the window hierarchy!
Here's the code in my "User" class
class User: NSObject, CLLocationManagerDelegate {
func getLocation(){
// For use in foreground
locationManager.requestWhenInUseAuthorization()
locationManager.delegate = self
locationManager.desiredAccuracy = kCLLocationAccuracyBest
locationManager.requestWhenInUseAuthorization()
//locationManager.startUpdatingLocation()
println("hello location")
}
func locationManager(manager: CLLocationManager, didChangeAuthorizationStatus status:CLAuthorizationStatus){
if status == .AuthorizedWhenInUse {
locationManager.startUpdatingLocation()
firstView!.showSecondScreen() // this is where I call the other class's function
}
}
}
Here's the code in my First View controller class
var firstView: FirstView? = nil
class FirstView: UIViewController {
var newUser = User()
override func viewDidAppear(animated: Bool) {
firstView = self.storyboard!.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier("firstView") as? FirstView
// here i take the first view controller class and store it into a public variable
}
#IBAction func allowLocationBtn(sender: AnyObject) {
newUser.getLocation() // this is the first button clicked
}
func showSecondScreen(){
let secondScreen = self.storyboard!.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier("SecondScreen") as! SecondScreen
self.presentViewController(secondScreen, animated: true, completion: nil )
}
Ps. I know I can combine all the code into one class, and it could all work like that. But I want to do it the "proper" way, have different functionalities in different classes.

try to set first = self , dont instantiate a new view-controller
if using storyboard, better to use segues to display another screen
Though the correct thing here would be to have a UserDelegate Protocol
protocol UserDelegate {
func displayOtherScreen( )
}
then in User add var delegate: UserDelegate?
and in the locationManager function instead of calling
firstView!.showSecondScreen call
delegate?.displayOtherScreen( )
Then make FirstView adopt the UserDelegate Protocol
class FirstView: UIViewController, UserDelegate {
var newUser = User()
override func viewDidAppear(animated: Bool) {
newUser.delegate = self
...
}
...
...
func displayOtherScreen( ) {
showSecondSceen( )
}
Now there is no need for the first variable..

Ideally the situation you are trying handle multiple MVC's. Your second Screen by itself should be a different View and should have its own Model View Controller. That way you are not breaking the rules of MVC architecture. Your ShowSecondScreen() function should be controlled by a SecondViewController.
Once you have this multiple MVC's defined you can wire them up.
There are some ways to do this - UISplitViewController, UITabViewController, UINavigationViewController. In your case, UINavigationViewController seems best option. You can add Navigation Controller to wireup MVC's using Editor -> Embed on your class FirstView. That would make FirstView controller as your rootViewController.
Then add a segue from your button on the FirstView to your controller for the SecondScreen i.e SecondViewController
class FirstView: UIViewController {
override func prepareForSegue(..) {
if let secondControllerObject = segue.destinationViewController as? SecondViewController {
if let identifier = segue.identifier {
switch identifier {
case "<your_buttons_identifier_string" : secondControllerObject .callToSecondScreen()
/* Now will move the Second View to the top of the MVC stack and you
will be also able to go back to first view as you have a
Navigation Controller hooked up.*/
/* callToSecondScreen - should be a controller object displaying the
controlling and displaying contents in the second screen's view.
Data for second screen's view will come from its Model */
}

Related

Is there a way to pass data back to a view controller when swiping down to dismiss another view controller?

I have a view controller, lets call it vc1, which passes some data to another (vc2) using prepare for segue, and then calling performSegue.
Is there a way to pass some data back from vc2 to vc1 when vc2 is dismissed by swiping down?
Thanks,
Edit --
Apologies for the lack of information, very new to swift so unsure of the correct question to ask in this situation.
To elaborate, the root of the issue at the moment is that vc2 is not dismissed programatically. ie there is currently no function called, it is simply dismissed by the user swiping down.
Is there some function that I can include to capture this dismissal, and use it to send data back to vc1?
I would prefer not to add any buttons to vc2 if possible.
Apologies again, and I appreciate all the help given already!
Try This
class VCOne: UIViewController {
//Create a shared instance of VCOne
static var sharedInstance:VCOne?
//Let the data to be passed back to VCOne is of type string
var dataToBePassedBack:String?
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
//set the sharedInstance to self
VCOne.sharedInstance = self
}
}
Class VCTwo:UIViewController{
//function in which you are dismissing your current VC you can use the shared
instance to pass the data back
func dismissVC(){
//before dismissing the VCTwo you can set the value for VCOne
VCOne.sharedInstance?.dataToBePassedBack = "data"
}
}
Using Protocol And Delegate You Do or Other Option is NSotificationcenter.
One way yo do it is to create another file that it the controller of everything and then have a delegate that always notifies the view controllers when new changes are available. I will walk it through.
protocol HeadControllerDelegate {
// Create a function that sends out the data to the delegates when it is called
// You can use your custom struct here to pass more data easly
func didReciveNewData(myData: String?)
}
struct HeadController {
// Create a shared instance so that the viewcontroller that conforms to the view as well as when we sends out the data the delegate is correct
static var shared = HeadController()
// Creates the delegate, every view can asign it to
public var delegate: HeadControllerDelegate?
// Add all your values here you want to pass back
var myValue: String? {
// The didSet gets called every time this value is set, and then is it time to call the delegate method
didSet {
// Calls the delegates didReciveMethod to notify the delegates that new data exsists
delegate?.didReciveNewData(myData: myValue)
}
}
}
Now in your viewcontroller class where you would like the data to be avaiable (as you said when you swipe down)
class ViewController: UIViewController {
// Here you create a property of the shared instance
let headController = HeadController.shared
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Set yourself as the delegate for the headController delegate to recive data
headController.delegate = self
}
}
extension ViewController: HeadControllerDelegate {
// here will the data be recived
func didReciveNewData(myData: String?) {
// handle the data here, you have now got newData
print(myData)
}
}
In the class where you want to pass data you just do it like this. The beauty of this is that you can have multiple classes or structs that writes to the head controllers data (just make sure you do it thought the shared instance). It is also a good pracice according to we to use the delegate pattern.
class Sender {
var headController = HeadController.shared
func sendData(data: String) {
// Here you change the data of the headcontroller wich will send the data to all the delegates
headController.myValue = data
}
}
Hope this answer helps. If you have any questions please let me know.
UPDATE -- EASIER SOLUTION
Here is an easier solution but is less scalable as the previous one according to me.
In prepareForSegue simply pass over your current viewContorller as a field in the destination view controller. Then when viewDidDissapear in the new view controller you can simply pass back the data. Not to worry, I will show you!
In prepare for Segue
override func prepare(for segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: Any?) {
if let dc = segue.destination as? SecondViewController {
dc.viewController = self
}
}
And declare the secondViewContorller as following. The ViewDidDisappear method will be called when the view has dismissed, and therefore can you pass over the data to the view controller you have set before using the prepare for segue method.
class SecondViewController: UIViewController {
var viewController: UIViewController?
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
}
override func viewDidDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
(viewController as? ViewController)?.value = 2
}
}
Then you could update the UI using a didSet, which simply will be called when the property is set, which will be done in the view did disappear method.
var value: Int = 0 {
didSet {
print(value)
text?.text = "\(value)"
}
}
Hope this helps!

Make a segmented control change the value for another VC [duplicate]

Say I have multiple view controllers in my Swift app and I want to be able to pass data between them. If I'm several levels down in a view controller stack, how do I pass data to another view controller? Or between tabs in a tab bar view controller?
(Note, this question is a "ringer".) It gets asked so much that I decided to write a tutorial on the subject. See my answer below.
Your question is very broad. To suggest there is one simple catch-all solution to every scenario is a little naïve. So, let's go through some of these scenarios.
The most common scenario asked about on Stack Overflow in my experience is the simple passing information from one view controller to the next.
If we're using storyboard, our first view controller can override prepareForSegue, which is exactly what it's there for. A UIStoryboardSegue object is passed in when this method is called, and it contains a reference to our destination view controller. Here, we can set the values we want to pass.
override func prepare(for segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: Any?) {
if segue.identifier == "MySegueID" {
if let destination = segue.destination as? SecondController {
destination.myInformation = self.myInformation
}
}
}
Alternatively, if we're not using storyboards, then we're loading our view controller from a nib. Our code is slightly simpler then.
func showNextController() {
let destination = SecondController(nibName: "SecondController", bundle: nil)
destination.myInformation = self.myInformation
show(destination, sender: self)
}
In both cases, myInformation is a property on each view controller holding whatever data needs to be passed from one view controller to the next. They obviously don't have to have the same name on each controller.
We might also want to share information between tabs in a UITabBarController.
In this case, it's actually potentially even simpler.
First, let's create a subclass of UITabBarController, and give it properties for whatever information we want to share between the various tabs:
class MyCustomTabController: UITabBarController {
var myInformation: [String: AnyObject]?
}
Now, if we're building our app from the storyboard, we simply change our tab bar controller's class from the default UITabBarController to MyCustomTabController. If we're not using a storyboard, we simply instantiate an instance of this custom class rather than the default UITabBarController class and add our view controller to this.
Now, all of our view controllers within the tab bar controller can access this property as such:
if let tbc = self.tabBarController as? MyCustomTabController {
// do something with tbc.myInformation
}
And by subclassing UINavigationController in the same way, we can take the same approach to share data across an entire navigation stack:
if let nc = self.navigationController as? MyCustomNavController {
// do something with nc.myInformation
}
There are several other scenarios. By no means does this answer cover all of them.
This question comes up all the time.
One suggestion is to create a data container singleton: An object that gets created once and only once in the life of your application, and persists for the life of your app.
This approach is well suited for a situation when you have global app data that needs to be available/modifiable across different classes in your app.
Other approaches like setting up one-way or 2-way links between view controllers are better suited to situations where you are passing information/messages directly between view controllers.
(See nhgrif's answer, below, for other alternatives.)
With a data container singleton, you add a property to your class that stores a reference to your singleton, and then use that property any time you need access.
You can set up your singleton so that it saves it's contents to disk so that your app state persists between launches.
I created a demo project on GitHub demonstrating how you can do this. Here is the link:
SwiftDataContainerSingleton project on GitHub
Here is the README from that project:
SwiftDataContainerSingleton
A demonstration of using a data container singleton to save application state and share it between objects.
The DataContainerSingleton class is the actual singleton.
It uses a static constant sharedDataContainer to save a reference to the singleton.
To access the singleton, use the syntax
DataContainerSingleton.sharedDataContainer
The sample project defines 3 properties in the data container:
var someString: String?
var someOtherString: String?
var someInt: Int?
To load the someInt property from the data container, you'd use code like this:
let theInt = DataContainerSingleton.sharedDataContainer.someInt
To save a value to someInt, you'd use the syntax:
DataContainerSingleton.sharedDataContainer.someInt = 3
The DataContainerSingleton's init method adds an observer for the UIApplicationDidEnterBackgroundNotification. That code looks like this:
goToBackgroundObserver = NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserverForName(
UIApplicationDidEnterBackgroundNotification,
object: nil,
queue: nil)
{
(note: NSNotification!) -> Void in
let defaults = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults()
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
//This code saves the singleton's properties to NSUserDefaults.
//edit this code to save your custom properties
defaults.setObject( self.someString, forKey: DefaultsKeys.someString)
defaults.setObject( self.someOtherString, forKey: DefaultsKeys.someOtherString)
defaults.setObject( self.someInt, forKey: DefaultsKeys.someInt)
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
//Tell NSUserDefaults to save to disk now.
defaults.synchronize()
}
In the observer code it saves the data container's properties to NSUserDefaults. You can also use NSCoding, Core Data, or various other methods for saving state data.
The DataContainerSingleton's init method also tries to load saved values for it's properties.
That portion of the init method looks like this:
let defaults = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults()
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
//This code reads the singleton's properties from NSUserDefaults.
//edit this code to load your custom properties
someString = defaults.objectForKey(DefaultsKeys.someString) as! String?
someOtherString = defaults.objectForKey(DefaultsKeys.someOtherString) as! String?
someInt = defaults.objectForKey(DefaultsKeys.someInt) as! Int?
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The keys for loading and saving values into NSUserDefaults are stored as string constants that are part of a struct DefaultsKeys, defined like this:
struct DefaultsKeys
{
static let someString = "someString"
static let someOtherString = "someOtherString"
static let someInt = "someInt"
}
You reference one of these constants like this:
DefaultsKeys.someInt
Using the data container singleton:
This sample application makes trival use of the data container singleton.
There are two view controllers. The first is a custom subclass of UIViewController ViewController, and the second one is a custom subclass of UIViewController SecondVC.
Both view controllers have a text field on them, and both load a value from the data container singlelton's someInt property into the text field in their viewWillAppear method, and both save the current value from the text field back into the `someInt' of the data container.
The code to load the value into the text field is in the viewWillAppear: method:
override func viewWillAppear(animated: Bool)
{
//Load the value "someInt" from our shared ata container singleton
let value = DataContainerSingleton.sharedDataContainer.someInt ?? 0
//Install the value into the text field.
textField.text = "\(value)"
}
The code to save the user-edited value back to the data container is in the view controllers' textFieldShouldEndEditing methods:
func textFieldShouldEndEditing(textField: UITextField) -> Bool
{
//Save the changed value back to our data container singleton
DataContainerSingleton.sharedDataContainer.someInt = textField.text!.toInt()
return true
}
You should load values into your user interface in viewWillAppear rather than viewDidLoad so that your UI updates each time the view controller is displayed.
Another alternative is to use the notification center (NSNotificationCenter) and post notifications. That is a very loose coupling. The sender of a notification doesn't need to know or care who's listening. It just posts a notification and forgets about it.
Notifications are good for one-to-many message passing, since there can be an arbitrary number of observers listening for a given message.
Swift 4
There are so many approaches for data passing in swift. Here I am adding some of the best approaches of it.
1) Using StoryBoard Segue
Storyboard segues are very much useful for passing data in between Source and Destination View Controllers and vice versa also.
// If you want to pass data from ViewControllerB to ViewControllerA while user tap on back button of ViewControllerB.
#IBAction func unWindSeague (_ sender : UIStoryboardSegue) {
if sender.source is ViewControllerB {
if let _ = sender.source as? ViewControllerB {
self.textLabel.text = "Came from B = B->A , B exited"
}
}
}
// If you want to send data from ViewControllerA to ViewControllerB
override func prepare(for segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: Any?) {
if segue.destination is ViewControllerB {
if let vc = segue.destination as? ViewControllerB {
vc.dataStr = "Comming from A View Controller"
}
}
}
2) Using Delegate Methods
ViewControllerD
//Make the Delegate protocol in Child View Controller (Make the protocol in Class from You want to Send Data)
protocol SendDataFromDelegate {
func sendData(data : String)
}
import UIKit
class ViewControllerD: UIViewController {
#IBOutlet weak var textLabelD: UILabel!
var delegate : SendDataFromDelegate? //Create Delegate Variable for Registering it to pass the data
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Do any additional setup after loading the view.
textLabelD.text = "Child View Controller"
}
#IBAction func btnDismissTapped (_ sender : UIButton) {
textLabelD.text = "Data Sent Successfully to View Controller C using Delegate Approach"
self.delegate?.sendData(data:textLabelD.text! )
_ = self.dismiss(animated: true, completion:nil)
}
}
ViewControllerC
import UIKit
class ViewControllerC: UIViewController , SendDataFromDelegate {
#IBOutlet weak var textLabelC: UILabel!
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Do any additional setup after loading the view.
}
#IBAction func btnPushToViewControllerDTapped( _ sender : UIButton) {
if let vcD = self.storyboard?.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "ViewControllerD") as? ViewControllerD {
vcD.delegate = self // Registring Delegate (When View Conteoller D gets Dismiss It can call sendData method
// vcD.textLabelD.text = "This is Data Passing by Referenceing View Controller D Text Label." //Data Passing Between View Controllers using Data Passing
self.present(vcD, animated: true, completion: nil)
}
}
//This Method will called when when viewcontrollerD will dismiss. (You can also say it is a implementation of Protocol Method)
func sendData(data: String) {
self.textLabelC.text = data
}
}
Instead of creating a data controller singelton I would suggest to create a data controller instance and pass it around. To support dependency injection I would first create a DataController protocol:
protocol DataController {
var someInt : Int {get set}
var someString : String {get set}
}
Then I would create a SpecificDataController (or whatever name would currently be appropriate) class:
class SpecificDataController : DataController {
var someInt : Int = 5
var someString : String = "Hello data"
}
The ViewController class should then have a field to hold the dataController. Notice that the type of dataController is the protocol DataController. This way it's easy to switch out data controller implementations:
class ViewController : UIViewController {
var dataController : DataController?
...
}
In AppDelegate we can set the viewController's dataController:
func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
if let viewController = self.window?.rootViewController as? ViewController {
viewController.dataController = SpecificDataController()
}
return true
}
When we move to a different viewController we can pass the dataController on in:
override func prepareForSegue(segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: AnyObject?) {
...
}
Now when we wish to switch out the data controller for a different task we can do this in the AppDelegate and do not have to change any other code that uses the data controller.
This is of course overkill if we simply want to pass around a single value. In this case it's best to go with nhgrif's answer.
With this approach we can separate view form the logic part.
As #nhgrif pointed out in his excellent answer, there are lots of different ways that VCs (view controllers) and other objects can communicate with each other.
The data singleton I outlined in my first answer is really more about sharing and saving global state than about communicating directly.
nhrif's answer lets you send information directly from the source to the destination VC. As I mentioned in reply, it's also possible to send messages back from the destination to the source.
In fact, you can set up an active one-way or 2-way channel between different view controllers. If the view controllers are linked via a storyboard segue, the time to set up the links is in the prepareFor Segue method.
I have a sample project on Github that uses a parent view controller to host 2 different table views as children. The child view controllers are linked using embed segues, and the parent view controller wires up 2-way links with each view controller in the prepareForSegue method.
You can find that project on github (link). I wrote it in Objective-C, however, and haven't converted it to Swift, so if you're not comfortable in Objective-C it might be a little hard to follow
SWIFT 3:
If you have a storyboard with identified segues use:
func prepare(for segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: Any?)
Although if you do everything programmatically including navigation between different UIViewControllers then use the method:
func navigationController(_ navigationController: UINavigationController, willShow viewController: UIViewController, animated: Bool)
Note: to use the second way you need to make your UINavigationController, you are pushing UIViewControllers on, a delegate and it needs to conform to the protocol UINavigationControllerDelegate:
class MyNavigationController: UINavigationController, UINavigationControllerDelegate {
override func viewDidLoad() {
self.delegate = self
}
func navigationController(_ navigationController: UINavigationController, willShow viewController: UIViewController, animated: Bool) {
// do what ever you need before going to the next UIViewController or back
//this method will be always called when you are pushing or popping the ViewController
}
}
It depends when you want to get data.
If you want to get data whenever you want, can use a singleton pattern. The pattern class is active during the app runtime. Here is an example of the singleton pattern.
class AppSession: NSObject {
static let shared = SessionManager()
var username = "Duncan"
}
class ViewController: UIViewController {
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
print(AppSession.shared.username)
}
}
If you want to get data after any action, can use NotificationCenter.
extension Notification.Name {
static let loggedOut = Notification.Name("loggedOut")
}
#IBAction func logoutAction(_ sender: Any) {
NotificationCenter.default.post(name: .loggedOut, object: nil)
}
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(forName: .loggedOut, object: nil, queue: OperationQueue.main) { (notify) in
print("User logged out")
}
The way that I would do it would be instead of passing data between view controllers, I would just declare a variable globally. You can even do this with a function!
For example:
var a = "a"
func abc() {
print("abc")
}
class ViewController: UIViewController {
}

How to send values to a parent view controller in Swift

I am working on a settings view controller screen for my iOS app written in swift. I am using a navigation controller to run the main settings table view which shows the cell titled, "Input Method." The current method is listed on the right of the cell. They can click the cell to go to the next view controller where they can select the input method that they'd like.
From here, there are two sections. The first is the input method to choose (touchscreen or joystick). The second section is joystick specific on whether or not the person is a lefty or righty. I don't want to have the vc unwind when they choose one box because they may choose one in another section too.
My question: How can I update the text field in the parent controller from the child controller.
Problems I'm having for optional solutions:
let parentVC: UIViewController = (self.navigationController?.parentViewController)!
parentVC.inputMethod.text? = cellSelected // This doesn't work because it cannot find the label inputMethod.
viewDidLoad() will cause a lag and the user sees the old method before it changes.
I cannot find out how to run a segue when someone clicks the back button at the upper left hand side in the navigation controller, since the navigation controller controls the segue.
It is not a good idea to cast the parent view controller, even when you are sure which class represents. I'll do it with a protocol:
In the child controller add a protocol like:
protocol ChildNameDelegate {
func dataChanged(str: String)
}
class ChildClass {
weak var delegate: ChildNameDelegate?
func whereTheChangesAreMade(data: String) {
delegate?.dataChanged(data)
}
}
And in the parent:
class ParentClass: ChildNameDelegate {
override func prepareForSegue(segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: AnyObject?) {
guard let segueId = segue.identifier else { return }
switch segueId {
case "childSegue":
let destVC = segue.destinationViewController as! ChildClass
destVC.delegate = self
break
default:
break
}
}
// Child Delegate
func dataChanged(str: String) {
// Do whatever you need with the data
}
}
You need to cast the parentViewController to whatever custom class it has. For example, if the parent has the class ExampleParentController, you would write:
let parentVC = (self.navigationController?.parentViewController)! as! ExampleParentController
parentVC.inputMethod.text? = cellSelected
I found a solution here: Modifing one variable from another view controller swift
http://www.raywenderlich.com/115300/swift-2-tutorial-part-3-tuples-protocols-delegates-and-table-views
Instead of trying to access the view controller directly (which would be easier if it weren't returning a nil for the view controller) you can use a delegate method to adjust the variables.
The delegate worked like a charm!

Segue to UIViewController without initializing a new object

I am building in iOS 9 with Swift 2.0. I have my starting UIViewController that is my menu screen. It contains the following code:
override func prepareForSegue(segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: AnyObject?) {
if let id = segue.identifier where id == "GamePlayScene" {
self.gameVC = segue.destinationViewController as? GameViewController
self.gameVC!.delegate = self
if let s = sender as? GKTurnBasedMatch {
self.gameVC!.match = s
}
}
}
When segueing to my GameViewController, the following init runs before that prepareForSegue even gets called:
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
GKLocalPlayer.localPlayer().registerListener(self) // I only want this once
}
In storyboard, my GameViewController has a "Menu" button that is connected to the exit widget for the view controller and it unwinds to the Menu as intended. But whenever I perform the segue again, the init gets called again so I now have multiple GameViewControllers. I think this slows my app down since I am using SKScenes. How do I perform a segue without it creating a new object every time?
func player(player: GKPlayer, receivedTurnEventForMatch match: GKTurnBasedMatch, didBecomeActive: Bool) {
if didBecomeActive {
// This event is what activated the app, so the user wants it right meow
GameKitHelper.sharedInstance.match = match
performSegueWithIdentifier("GamePlayScene", sender: match)
}
}
You can store your GameViewController in a singleton so that it only needs to be created once. Since the view controller is initialized only once it saves processing time. This is probably a good performance optimization for an app using two view controllers, such as your game, that need to frequently be switched back and forth between the two.
The way to do this is to create a new Swift class and have it accessible as a shared instance where the second view controller is stored in a private property. The second view controller is instantiated if it has not yet been initialized. Further retrievals of the view controller return the stored view controller thereby eliminating the need to initialize the view controller. The operations for creating the view controller, storing it, and returning it are handled by the getter of a publically accessible computed property.
Here is the code for the class:
Singleton.swift:
import Foundation
import UIKit
class Singleton {
static let sharedInstance = Singleton()
var gameViewController: GameViewController {
get {
if self.storedViewController == nil {
let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
self.storedViewController =
storyboard.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier("GameViewController") as? GameViewController
}
return self.storedViewController!
}
}
private var storedViewController: GameViewController?
}
To use this, it will be necessary to use the showViewController method of showing the game view controller instead of using a segue.
In the first view controller I have:
#IBAction func buttonWasPressed(sender: AnyObject) {
let vc = Singleton.sharedInstance.gameViewController
navigationController?.showViewController(vc, sender: self)
}
The second controller (GameViewController) will now only be created once and re-used every time the button is pressed on the first view controller.
GKLocalPlayer.localPlayer().registerListener(self) // I only want this once
The way to cause a line of code to run only once over the lifetime of the app is with dispatch_once.

Pushing to a new Viewcontroller from an inactive Viewcontroller (programatically)

Short explanation.
I have a ContainerViewController that I'm pushing to the navigationStack.
The ContainerViewController has 2 child ViewControllers. A SlidePanelViewController (a slide-out menu) and a CenterViewController (the content)
I have a button in my menu to "sign Out". When this button is clicked I want to push ContainerViewController (and it's 2 childViewControllers) to my LandingPageViewController.
Here's the function I am trying to call:
func signOut() {
println("signOut")
// Set up the landing page as the main viewcontroller again.
let mainTableViewController = LandingPageVC()
mainTableViewController.navigationItem.setHidesBackButton(true, animated: false)
mainTableViewController.skipView = false
self.navigationController!.pushViewController(mainTableViewController, animated: true)
// Disable menu access
menuEnabled = false
// change status bar style back to default (black)
UIApplication.sharedApplication().statusBarStyle = UIStatusBarStyle.Default
}
At first I tried putting this in my SlidePanelViewController. That didn't work. So I put it where I'm assuming it belongs in the ContainerViewController.
However when I click my signOutButton in my menu. I'm presented with the error:
fatal error: unexpectedly found nil while unwrapping an Optional value
When looking into the error. This is the line causing it:
self.navigationController!.pushViewController(mainTableViewController, animated: true)
After the error I checked that the function works, by adding a UINavigationBarButtonItem that called the function (in my ContainerViewController). It did exactly what I wanted.
However when I call this function from my Menu (again my menu is a childViewController of the ContainerViewController). It does not work.
I'm attempting to call it like so:
ContainerViewController().signOut()
I also tried adding a Delegate to my SidePanelViewController like this:
Before the class:
#objc protocol SidePanelViewControllerDelegate {
optional func needsSignOut(sender: SidePanelViewController)
optional func toggleLeftPanel()
optional func collapseSidePanels()
}
in viewDidLoad():
// Make sure your delegate is weak because if a ContainerViewController owns
// a reference to a SidePanelViewController and the container view controller
// is its delegate, you'll end up with a strong reference cycle!
weak var delegate: SidePanelViewControllerDelegate?
in my tap gesture function:
func signOutTapGesture() {
println("signOutTapGesture")
selectView(signOutView)
delegate?.needsSignOut?(self)
println(delegate)
}
before my ContainerViewController class:
var leftViewController: SidePanelViewController?
my ContainerViewController class:
class ContainerViewController: UIViewController, CenterViewControllerDelegate, SidePanelViewControllerDelegate, UIGestureRecognizerDelegate {
in my ContainerViewController's viewDidLoad()
leftViewController?.delegate = self
And I changed the signOut function in the ContainerViewController class to this:
func needsSignOut(sender: SidePanelViewController) {
println("needsSignOut called")
self.signOut()
}
However using the delegate like above, doesn't seem to do anything either.
Any help as to How I can successfully push my LandingPageVC from the menu would be greatly appreciated! (I'm not using storyboards)
You're attempting to call signOut with ContainerViewController().signOut(). This will create a new ContainerViewController and because you haven't pushed it onto the navigation controller's stack, navigationController is nil. Try just calling self.signOut(). (I'm assuming signOut in a method of ContainerViewController)
Update - delegates
Your delegate property should go in SidePanelViewController. I'll give you and example of how to implement it:
SidePanelViewController:
(Note - the protocol doesn't have to go here but I think it keeps things organised)
#objc protocol SidePanelViewControllerDelegate {
optional func needsSignOut(sender: SidePanelViewController)
}
class SidePanelViewController: UIViewController {
// Make sure your delegate is weak because if a ContainerViewController owns
// a reference to a SidePanelViewController and the container view controller
// is its delegate, you'll end up with a strong reference cycle!
weak var delegate: SidePanelViewControllerDelegate?
// Called when the UIButton is pressed.
func myButtonWasPressed() {
delegate?.needsSignOut?(self)
}
}
ContainerViewController:
class ContainerViewController: UIViewController {
var sidePanel: SidePanelViewController!
// Setup the side panel...
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
sidePanel.delegate = self
}
func signOut() {
// Sign out stuff here.
}
}
// The ContainerViewController needs to conform to the SidePanelViewControllerDelegate
// protocol if we want the delegate to work. (This could have gone in the initial
// class declaration.)
extension ContainerViewController : SidePanelViewControllerDelegate {
func needsSignOut(sender: SidePanelViewController) {
self.signOut()
}
}
Hope that helps.
The problem seems to be that navigationController is nil and you're trying to force unwrap it (as indicated by your error).
One problem I discussed in my other answer.
Another problem may be you haven't added a navigation controller. To do this you need to:
If you're using Storyboards
You need to make sure you've embedded your UINavigationController. After that, when you use navigationController it won't be nil and you'll be able to push your view controller.
When you're on your storyboard:
Also, if you're using storyboards, have you considered using segues to move around instead of calling presentViewController? I've found it makes everything much easier.
If you're not using Storyboards
Have a look at this post: Programatically creating UINavigationController in iOS

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