I'm trying to make an app that uses three containers to show different content, but I'm having trouble communicating between the containers. I succeeded to use a segue to send some information at the tap of a button in one container to another container, but part of this information also has to be relayed to the third container. For this I wanted to use a delegate, but I cannot reference the right ViewController to the delegate variable.
So what I want goes as follows:
CollectionViewCell tapped, triggering segue to TableVC
TableVC receives information and updates the table
TableVC triggers delegate function in third VC
Third VC takes in some info and updates view
In the above I have managed to get 1 and 2 to work, but got stuck at 3.
I have made my protocol as follows:
protocol PurchaseDelegate {
func addToTotalAmount(product : Product)
}
In the TableVC I have declared var delegate : PurchaseDelegate? = nil and in the IBAction triggered from the segue: delegate?.addToTotalAmount(product)
In the third VC I have implemented the delegate as follows:
class thirdVC:UIViewController,PurchaseDelegate {
func addToTotalAmount(product : Product) {
println("Adding....")
}
}
All three containers are within a main VC that does some initial stuff in the application.
My problem is, that I don't know how to get a reference from thirdVC to my delegate variable in my tableVC.
Thanks in advance.
I ended up finding the solution to the problem after a bit further searching with inspiration from #Anna Dickinson.
Firstly, the containers must be ordered correctly in the storyboard. The container whose view controller implements the delegate protocol must be first in the list and then the other view controller further down.
Then, in the main view controller - the view controller for the view with the containers - the prepareForSegue function is implemented, since it will be triggered as the containers are initialized.
This all of the code remains as above, but the main view controller will be something like the following:
class MainViewController: UIViewController {
var actionVC : FirstViewController! // This is the one, that implements the delegate protocol
var tableVC : SecondViewController! // This is the one, that has a delegate variable
override func prepareForSegue(segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: AnyObject?) {
if(segue.identifier == "firstVC"){
self.actionVC = segue.destinationViewController as FirstViewController
} else if(segue.identifier == "secondVC"){
self.tableVC = segue.destinationViewController as SecondViewController
self.tableVC.delegate = self.actionVC
}
}
}
I'm not sure if the is the right, nor the best way to do this, but it works perfectly for what I need.
Related
I have login few screens and controllers in my app. First screen is screen with button and moves user to next login view with username, password field and login button. On the controller i have function onClickButton and when i have good data i request to the server with this data.
When server give me callback i have many params about user to set in label in next view.
My structure is like this
Login View -> SecondLogin View and LoginViewController -> TabBarController -> NavigationController -> Table View with TableViewController
My code is
override func prepare(for segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: Any?) {
if segue.identifier == "afterLoginView" {
if let secondVC = segue.destination as? TabBarViewController {
secondVC.finalName = self.username
}
}
}
When i want transfer my data directly to tableViewController i have error
Thread 1: signal SIGABRT
I do not understand what I'm doing wrong
You'll need these values in almost all view controllers. Create a singleton class to store the logged in user values like this
class UserDetails: NSObject, Codable {
static let shared = UserDetails()
private override init() {
super.init()
}
var finalName: String?
var otherDetails: String?
}
Now when you receive the response from the login api, assign the values in this singleton class.
UserDetails.shared.finalName = "something"//Name received from server callback
Now you can access these values from any view controller.
class TableViewController: UITableViewController {
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
print(UserDetails.shared.finalName)
}
}
You have some work to do to get to the right view controller. Since your segue is only pointing at the UITabBarViewController, you should put in another guard or if/let statement to get you to the UINavigationController, and then another to finally get you to the UITableViewController, where you can actually refer to your finalName variable.
That would look something like:
if let secondVC = segue.destination as? TabBarViewController {
if let navCon = secondVC.viewController[0] as? UINavigationController {
if let tableVC = navCon.topViewController as? nameOfYourTableVC {
tableVC.finalName = self.username
}
The code is untested, just typed off the top of my head, so please proceed with due caution. Issues such as which tab is the correct NavController would also need to be addressed.
You need to use the actual name of your tableView class in that last if/let. A generic UITableViewController will not include your custom variables.
When server give me callback i have many params about user to set in label in next view.
This is a great example of why you should keep the M in MVC. When you get a response back from the server, store the returned data in your data model. (If you don't have a data model, you should make one.) When a view controller gets some data from the user, such as a user name, it should store that in the model. There's little reason to pass raw data back and forth between view controllers directly... just make sure that all your view controllers have a reference to the model, and have them get and set values there as needed.
This kind of approach will make your code a lot more flexible. It allows view controllers to worry about what they need to do their job, and it gets them out of the business of caring what other view controllers need.
My structure is like this
Login View -> SecondLogin View and LoginViewController -> TabBarController -> NavigationController -> Table View with TableViewController
It might make more sense to load the tab bar controller and then present the login view controller(s) modally. The view controllers that are managed by the tab bar controller can all be set up to refuse to do anything useful until the data they need is present in the data model, and that lets the tab bar controller be the root view controller. That will make it easy to set the model for each of it's child view controllers when the app starts up, and the app can then present the modal login view controllers, also set up with references to the model.
Does anybody know if there is a certain pattern for handling segues programmatically in a MVC way?
I would think the best way would be to work with an event system within a controller.
I want that all the view controllers connect to this navigationController instead of handling all the logic within the viewController logic itself. I want to out source this logic
In most of your view controllers, you will have access to a prepareForSegue function, with one parameter called sender.
If you kick off a segue programatically with performSegue(withIdentifier: "mySegueID", sender: yourVC) then this function will be called, and you'll be able to pass information from the sender to the new view controller.
In this function, to get a handle on the next VC, use segue.destinationViewController.
I don't know about a particular pattern but a simple way to programmatically handle transitions between 2 UIViewController could be to have a separated manager whose job is just to push/present/whatever new controllers over current, and to pop/dismiss/whatever current controllers to old ones.
The way I usually do this is by having a class we can name WorkflowManager, which will handle all transitions. Associated with this manager, you declare a WorkflowManagerComponent protocol and implement it :
protocol WorkflowManagerComponent {
var completionHandler: (hasCompleted:Bool,data:Any)->() {get set}
}
Make each UIViewController implement this, for example by calling completionHandler(true,someData) when the user taps a "next" button, or completionHandler(false,nil) when the user taps a "back" button.
Then in your workflow manager, you perform transitions to the next or previous UIViewController according to parameters sent in the completionHandler:
//init viewController1 ...
viewController1.completionHandler = onViewController1Completes
// ...
func onViewController1Completes(_ completed: Bool, data: Any) {
if hasCompleted {
//init viewController2 ...
viewController2.data = data
viewController2.completionHandler = onViewController2Completes
//Push the new vc
viewController1.navigationController.push(viewController2, animated: true)
} else {
//The vc1 was presented as a modal, dismiss it
viewController1.dismiss()
}
}
This way each UIViewController is separated from others, free off any transition logic.
Using Swift 3. This question has been around and there are quite a few examples. Unfortunately none of them have worked for me. I have a uiviewcontroller that has a container view. This container view has a segue to another view controller. Everything loads up correctly and displays correctly the first time. The problem that I am facing is that I have a button on the main uiviewcontroller which by tapping it, it will refresh the container view. This is where the problem is. The outlets in the child controller are nil.
This is how I am trying to all the function in the child controller.
let wcvc = self.storyboard!.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "WeatherCurrentViewController") as! WeatherCurrentViewController
wcvc.callJson()
In the child controller the label is like this
#IBOutlet var currentweather: UILabel!
But in the function that is called I get an error of unexpectedly found nil while unwrapping an Optional value when I try to do
print(currentweather)
Anyone have an idea of what I can do to call a function in a view controller that is loaded by segue in a container view and still have the outlets be valid? Please let me know if more info is needed.
Found the solution. I needed to use segues identifiers and not the storyboard. Doing this
private var currentEmbeddedViewController: WeatherCurrentViewController!
override func prepare(for segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: Any?) {
if let cvc = segue.destination as? WeatherCurrentViewController, segue.identifier == "CurrentWeather" {
self.currentEmbeddedViewController = cvc
}
}
And calling the function in the controller like so
self.currentEmbeddedViewController.callJson()
Was the solution. This question offered the solution. Sorry to waste everyones time. Hopefully, this will help someone else.
The reason why you get an exception is that your currentweather label will get loaded from the storyboard only when the view of that view controller loads. This means, that when you try to call callJson() the view is not yet loaded and thus no IBOutlets are loaded yet as well, meaning they are nil.
I would suggest passing some data to theWeatherCurrentViewController and only on viewDidLoad updating the views. viewDidLoad guarantees that view and all the outlets are loaded and are not nil
This question already has answers here:
Passing data between view controllers
(45 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
I know that you can pass information between two view controllers if they are connected by a segue using
override func prepareForSegue(segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: AnyObject?) {
guard let destinationViewController = segue.destinationViewController as? searchTermViewController else { return }
destinationViewController.courseCodes = selectedCourses
}
}
The above code gives an error if there is no segue because of the .destinationViewController. How do i pass information between to arbitrary view controllers without having to set up a global variable?
You can set up a delegate pattern in order to do this.
Here are the steps for setting up the delegate pattern between two objects, where object A is the delegate for object B, and object B will send messages back to A. The steps are:
Define a delegate protocol for object B.
Give object B an optional delegate variable. This variable should be weak.
Make object B send messages to its delegate when something interesting happens, such as when it needs a piece of information. You write delegate?.methodName(self, . . .)
Make object A conform to the delegate protocol. It should put the name of the protocol in its class line and implement the methods from the protocol.
Tell object B that object A is now its delegate.
Here is a tutorial to give you a working example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LHDsSWc680
Go to your storyboard, select the second view controller, go to the Identity inspector tab and give a StoryBoard ID value. This should be a unique value to identify your view controller.
Now in your first view controller', you can run this code. This will basically create an object of the second view controller, set the property value (for transferring data) and push it (same as the segue does)
let ctrl = self.storyboard?.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier("detailsView")
as? SecondViewController
ctrl?.userId = 250 // data to pass.
self.navigationController?.pushViewController(ctrl!, animated: true)
provided userId is a variable in your SecondViewController class. Replace
detailsView with the storyboard id value you gave earlier.
class SecondViewController: UIViewController {
var userId : Int = 0
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// do something with self.userId
}
}
I have a complex iPad view that I manage by having several view controllers. I previously (before iOS6/Xcode 4.5) did this by allocating my view controllers in code, and hooked up the various views to them though links to the master view.
What I would like to do is use the new UIContainerView container views to embed the view controllers in the storyboard file. I don't seem to be able to make an IBOutlet link to the embedded view controller to the master controller.
Is it possible to do this? Or to retrieve the embedded controller via a tag or something in the code?
This question is SPECIFICALLY about using container views
Another option for some cases is to capture the embedded controller using -prepareForSegue:sender:.
For example, if I have a UINavigationController embedded within a CustomContainerViewController, I can name the embed segue embedContentStack in the storyboard and capture it in CustomContainerViewController via
- (void)prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(id)sender {
if ([segue.identifier isEqualToString:#"embedContentStack"]) {
// can't assign the view controller from an embed segue via the storyboard, so capture here
_contentStack = (UINavigationController *)segue.destinationViewController;
}
}
I'm not sure what you mean by "retrieve the embedded controller". When you want to use a controller you use the UIStoryboard method instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:, using the identifier that you give to the controller in IB. You can also use the performSegueWithIdentifier:sender: method (which also instantiated the view controller). You should check out the "Using View Controllers in Your App" section in the Apple docs. It also makes reference to the fact that child view controllers are instantiated at the same time as the container controller.
After edit: If you embed a container view in another view controller, that embedded view's controller can be referenced from the containing controller with self.childViewControllers (which will be an array, so if there is just one, you can get it with lastObject).
Here is another thread about it: Access Container View Controller from Parent iOS
They propose to keep a reference in prepareForSegue or search for the embedded viewController in self.childViewControllers
Note of Caution
Before proceeding to use an answer to this question, you may wish to reflect whether the embedded things really need to be view controllers.
Eg, if you're embedding a UICollectionViewController subclass, could you instead embed a UICollectionView subclass? Or, even better, could you embed a UIView subclass that hides away the UICollectionView behind a simple ViewModel?
In the code base I'm currently working on, I'm embedding two view controllers in to another view controller. Both could fairly easily be plain views instead, and could then be more easily bound to in the storyboard, without this messy code.
Unfortunately, they are currently view controllers and I'm not in a position to simplify them in to plain views right now, so this will have to do.
Background
I'm using the approach of picking up the embed segue in prepare(for segue:, sender:) as suggested by Playful Geek here.
I wanted to show the swift I'm using for this, as it seems to be fairly tidy…
class EditionLandingViewController: UIViewController {
fileprivate var titlesView: SectionTitlesViewController!
fileprivate var sectionsView: SectionsViewController!
}
//MARK:-
extension EditionLandingViewController {
private enum SegueId: String {
case embedTitles
case embedSections
}
override func prepare(for segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: Any?) {
super.prepare(for: segue, sender: sender)
guard
let segueRawId = segue.identifier,
let segueId = SegueId(rawValue: segueRawId)
else { return }
switch segueId {
case .embedTitles:
self.titlesView = segue.destination as! SectionTitlesViewController
case .embedSections:
self.sectionsView = segue.destination as! SectionsViewController
}
}
}
Discussion
I've chosen to name segues as action methods.
Using an enum cases for segue identifiers means you've got the compiler and tooling on your side, so its much harder to get a segue name wrong.
Keeping the segue ids in a private enum within the extension scope seems appropriate in this case as these segues are not needed anywhere else (they can't be performed, for example).
I'm using implicitly unwrapped types for the embedded view controllers because (in my case anyway) it's a logic error if they are missing.
Similarly, I'm also happy to force cast the destination view controller types. Again, it would be a logic error if these types are not the same.
Swift version of the top-voted Answer. Years later, Interface Builder still does not seem to support dragging IBOutlets to embedded Container Views.
Instead, set the outlets in prepare(for:sender:):
#IBOutlet var someViewController: SomeViewController!
override func prepare(for segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: Any?) {
if segue.identifier == "EmbedSomeViewController", let destination = segue.destination as? SomeViewController {
someViewController = destination
}
}
You must also set up the UIContainerView on your Storyboard. Xcode will generate an embed segue automatically; set the segue's Identifier.