I'm trying to create a tabbed application with navigation elements inside the tab bar, as seen in the picture below (the red bar) using Swift/XCode 6.2. Basically those three icons in the middle will direct the user to different view controllers. The other two icons would be context-based. For example, on a table view page you would see the menu icon and add new icon as seen in the image. However, clicking on a row would change the menu icon to a back icon, and the add icon to something else.
That's the general idea, but I'm having a very hard time implementing something even close to this. The first issue is that whenever I embed a view in a Tab Bar Controller, I can't move the tab bar to the top. However, when I create a custom UITabView in a View Controller, Control + Click and dragging a Tab Bar Item to another view doesn't create a segue. I haven't even begun to tackle having the navigation elements inside the bar.
I guess what I'm asking is just for a little guidance on what route to take to tackle this. I'm assuming I can't use a Tab Bar Controller or Navigation Controller because it doesn't seem like I can customize them all that much. So custom Tab Bar and Navigation Bars, and then implemnt the segues and button changes programmatically?
Thanks.
I will try to guide you from an architectural perspective (so you won't find much code below).
Using a UITabBarController
In order to achieve what you are suggesting, you are right you cannot use a UITabBarController straight away, among several reasons, the most immediate one is that they are meant to be always at the bottom and you want it in top (check Apple's docs). The good news is that probably you don't need it!
Note: If you still want to go with a UITabBarController for whatever reason, please see #Matt's answer.
Using a UINavigationController
You can use a UINavigationController to solve this task, since the UINavigationBar of a UINavigationController can be customized. There are multiple ways on how you can organize your view's hierarchy to achieve what you propose, but let me elaborate one option:
To customize a UINavigationBar's to add buttons, you just need to set its navigationItem's title view:
// Assuming viewWithTopButtons is a view containing the 3 top buttons
self.navigationItem.titleView = viewWithTopButtons
To add the burger menu functionality on a UINavigationController you can find several posts on how to do it and infinite frameworks you can use. Check this other SO Question for a more detailed answer (e.g. MMDrawerController, ECSlidingViewController to mention a couple).
About organizing your view hierarchy, it really depends on if when the user taps one of the main top buttons, it will always go to the first view controller in the new section or if you want to bring him back to the last view in the section where he was.
3.1 Switching sections displays the first view of the new section
Your app's UIWindow will have a single UINavigationController on top of the hierarchy. Then each of the 3 top buttons, when tapped, will change the root view controller of the UINavigationController.
Then, when the user changes section, the current navigation hierarchy is discarded by setting the new section view controller as the UINavigationController root view controller.
self.navigationController = [sectionFirstViewController]
3.2 Switching sections displays the last displayed view in the new section
This will require a slightly modified version of the above, where your each of your sections will have its own UINavigationController, so you can always keep a navigation hierarchy per section.
Then, when the user taps one of the top buttons to switch section, instead of changing as previously described, you will change the UIWindowroot view controller to the new section's UINavigationController.
window.rootViewController = sectionNavigationController
Using a custom implementation
Of course, the last and also very valid option would be that you implement yourself your own component to achieve your requirements. This is probably the option requiring the biggest effort in exchange of the highest customizability.
Choosing this option is definitely not recommend to less experienced developers.
I'd like to take a stab at this--I think it is possible to use a tab bar controller here.
Your topmost-level view controller will be a UITabBarController with a hidden UITabBar.
Each tab is contained in a UINavigationController.
All view controllers in the navigation controller will be a subclass of a view controller (say, SwitchableViewController).
In SwitchableViewController's viewDidLoad, you set the navigation item's title view (i.e. whatever's at the center; self.navigationItem.titleView) to be the view that holds the three center buttons. Could be a UISegmentedControl, or a custom view.
Whenever you tap on any of the buttons, you change the topmost UITabBarController's selected index to the view controller you want to show.
Issues you may encounter:
Table views inside tabs will have a scrollIndicatorOffset at the bottom even if the tab bar is hidden.
Solution: Play around with the automaticallyAdjustsScrollViewInsets of the tab bar controller, or the inner view controller. https://stackoverflow.com/a/29264073/855680
Your title view will be animated every time you push a new view controller in the navigation stack.
Solution: Take a look at creating a custom transition animation for the UINavigationController.
Related
I have a simple Navigation View Hierarchy that has 2 views it goes between. I wanted a customized navigation bar, so I have the default one hidden, and I've implemented a Container View which is shared between the 2 views in the nav hierarchy.
Everything works as I want it to, except when I segue to the lower or higher view the top bar appears slides away and reappears on the new view. I would like it to appear stationary when I push or pop to other views in the hierarchy.
Is there an easy way to do this? Or should I delete my custom shared Container View and try to make this work with the Navigation Bar (which I have currently "hidden")?
I had to do this for a client once. The way we did it was, like you said, make an encompassing view controller that housed a container view. Within this container view, we embedded a UINavigationController and would manually pop and push UIViewControllers to its navigation stack. Of course you want to hide the UINavigationController's nav bar.
It sounds like you sort of implemented this, but instead you just embedded a plain old view controller inside your custom navigation controller, and then segue to another view controller that is also embedded in the custom view controller? Ideally you want one instance of this custom nav controller with an embedded UINavigationController. I believe you will have to do all the view controller transitions programmatically.
Opinion: Personally, I would recommend against doing this. I believe that an app should feel like an extension of the OS it's on. A user should feel it's a part of their phone. Using the native navigation bar also decreases the level of effort a user is required to put forth to understand your app.
I know you're thinking "but it's just a nav bar" but we're talking about the same people that will potentially uninstall an app if it takes longer than 2.5s to load.
I wanted a customized navigation bar, so I have the default one hidden
That's your mistake. The way to get a customized navigation bar in a UINavigationController interface is to initialize it with init(navigationBarClass:toolbarClass:). Now the built-in navigation controller is using your navigation bar! And from there on, all will be well.
https://developer.apple.com/reference/uikit/uinavigationcontroller/1621866-init
I want to use a segmented control inside a tab of a UITabBarController on iOS. It seems to work without it, but as soon as I embed it in a TabBarController, the segmented control won't show up in the navigation bar.
Am I missing something or is it just not supported because of some UI-guidelines? I haven't found anything in the Apple Design Guidelines...
This is the working version:
But in this setup, the segmented control does not show up:
First question is: What are you trying to achieve - what interface do you want to provide?
It is very uncommon to have a tab bar controller embedded in a navigation controller.
A tab bar controller is meant to be used as main app navigation. You can find it in so many Apple Apps (Music, Phone etc.)
These Apps have a tab bar controller with multiple navigation controllers. For example your first tab is a navigation controller with a normal view controller as root.
In this controller you then can set you segmented control.
Apple describes this behavior in it's Combined View Controller Interfaces Documentation (https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/WindowsViews/Conceptual/ViewControllerCatalog/Chapters/CombiningViewControllers.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40011313-CH6-SW1).
Update
#kaushal answer solves your problem ... yes. But if you will try to style the navigation bar for every view controller contained in your tab view controller (maybe you want to add a button as rightBarButtonItem only for one view controller) this won't work.
If you want a segmented control on every controller of the tab view controller just isolate the code for this control and reuse it in every controller.
This would achieve the same effect but you would have a cleaner software design.
try this :
Navigation bar is common throwout the stack, It will load once. And it was empty for first view. If you want it customisable for particular VC then you have to do it programatically by accessing self.NavigationBar in view did load method.
I have been trying to hours to implement a simple UITabBarController where each view (or tab) has an active header (or top bar) with the title of the view. Is there a way in Xcode 6.1.x to create a UITabBarController with pages whose title is reflected in the top bar?
As it currently stands, I cannot get the top bar to show. I'd prefer not to drag navigation bars to each view and do this manually. Also UINavigationControllers are not necessary here, as each tabbed view will only need to display a single page.
Thank you.
Changing the values of those simulated metrics fields on a storyboard or nib will not actually have any effect on the UI. It's a design/layout aid.
You will need to embed the view controllers within navigation controllers or drag navigation bars into the views.
I am a newbie to IOS programming and currently i have a tab bar application with two tabs. I have two questions.
The first tab shows a map, imagine it with some pushpins. There is a button on the navigation bar and when this is clicked i want the map view to to move out and a list view to come in. You can see the UI from the image. The button is called list.
Now when i click list I want this view to go away and the list view to come in. So here are my questions ?
1) How do i do this ? I tried the navigation model but i don't want that because I do not want a back button. I tried to make two different views and just dragged the button to that view but the app crashes. I just want the list button on the nab bar and when clicked the view changes to the list view and the button text changes to map. So now if I click the button again it should go back to the map view and the button changes to list.
2) How do i achieve the animations for this ? Ive seen some app where the page flips around and I've seen some options like reducing the opacity etc but I want to achieve the flip animation.
Thank You for any help I get. I really appreciate it.
Interface Builder can do most of this. Hold down the control key and drag from your map View Controller's UIBarButtonItem titled "List" to your list View Controller, then choose the Action Segue "modal". An arrow appears representing the segue; click on it and use the Attributes Inspector to change the Transition to "Flip Horizontal". Here's a video
Or, you could do this programmatically with presentViewController:animated:completion.
Now to get back to the map from the list, I believe that must be done programatically. Create a method that calls dismissViewControllerAnimated:completion: and make your list View Controller's UIBarButtonItem titled "Map" trigger it.
After reading your comments, I am wondering... if the structure of your app is logically a tabbed app structure (as indeed you refer to it as a 'tab bar application'), shouldn't you consider using the UITabViewController instead of a NavigationController? That is what it is designed to do, after all.
If you do use a TabViewController you should reconsider your desire for flip animation, as that doesn't really make UI-sense for tabs. If you can dispense with the flip animation, TabViewController could be a good way to go and you should at least experiment with that before dismissing the idea. It is also designed to grow... you can incorporate any number of tabs in a tab bar. Check out the apple docs (with pictures!)
You will notice that tabs are at the foot of the screen, whereas your 'tab' navController buttons are in a navbar at the top of the screen. This also helps as your app grows, as it is straightforward - from a UI design point of view and programmatically - to incorporate navControllers as navigation tools within individual tabs. For example, if your map/list flip routine does indeed make sense for this part of you app, you can keep this as a single tab (in it's own navigationController) and add other tabs for other parts of the app...
update
From your comment, you are saying that you are interested in the navController-inside-tabBarController setup. In this case here are some ways to get flip transitions AND no back button..
(1) modal presentation
The easiest way to get what you want is to set up one of your viewControllers (say the map view) to present the other one (the list view) modally.
If in the storyboard:
embed your mapViewController in a navController with a navbar button for navigation to the listView as in your picture
add your listViewController to the storyboard and embed it in it's own navContoller (not the mapViewController's navController). Drag a barButtonItem to this navController and wire it up to an IBAction in listViewController
CTRL-drag from mapViewController's 'list' button to the listViewController to create a segue. Select the segue and in the attributes inspector set the segue type to 'modal', with transition 'flips horizontal' and 'animated' checked. Give it a name in case you want to refer to it in code.
in the listViewController's IBAction add this:
[[self presentingViewController] dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
That should achieve your result. You can use the completion block to send information back from the list view to the map view, and/or set the map view as the listView's delegate.
If you are not using the storyboard check this apple guide
Presenting View Controllers from Other View Controllers
especially "Presenting a View Controller and Choosing a Transition Style".
There is one catch with this approach - when the presented view flips onto the screen, the entire previous view, including the tab bar, is flipped out of the way. The idea is that this is a modal view which the user is required to dismiss before doing anything else in the app.
(2) push/pop in a single navController If this does not suit your intent, you can navigate using a single NavigationController with push and popping of views, and you can hide the back button ... but you really would need to keep the back button functionality as you do want to go back to the mapView, not on to a new map view.
To hide the back button try:
self.navigationItem.hidesBackButton = YES
in the uppermost viewControllers' viewDidLoad
Then you can add a barButtonItem in the xib/storyboard, with this kind of IBAction:
[self popViewControllerAnimated:NO]
or
[self popToRootViewControllerAnimated:NO]
You would have to construct the flip animation in code as it is not supported as a built-in with UINavigationController (best left as an exercise for the reader!)
(3) swapping views in a single viewController As ghettopia has suggested, you could use a single viewController inside a navController (or with a manually place navBar) and swap two views around using the UIView class methods
transitionFromView:toView:duration:options:animations:completion
transitionWithView:duration:options:animations:completion.
This could be a good simplifying solution as your list and map are essentially two views of the same data model.
My iOS 5 app uses storyboarding with a UITabBarController. There are three "tabs" each displaying a view controller which has been linked using a relationship back to the UITabBarController. At the moment each view controller appears when you tap the relevant tab, as expected. However, for a more gracious transition I would like to slide the view controllers on and off screen.
By way of example, if I am currently on Tab 0 and then select Tab 1 the view controller on screen (for Tab 0) should slide off to the left-hand side of the screen, and the new view controller (for Tab 1) should slide on from the right-hand side of the screen.
I have been able to achieve this behaviour using a custom UIView as the tab bar but would like to know whether this is possible with a custom segue in storyboarding, as that would certainly save a lot of coding (and also would keep things a fair bit neater in the project)?
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
I am trying to do the same thing.
Unfortunately I think the relationship segue does not allow any customization as it just connect tab bar and the tab bar items together, and not a transition.
My guess is we have to do the transition ourselves when the view appeared.