Can I invoke the delegate method after popViewcontroller? - ios

1) I have two controllers, fistViewController, secondViewController.
2) first controller implements the delegate say "xyzDelegate".
#interface FirstViewController : UIViewController <xyzDelegate>
3) The delegate method in First View Controller refreshes the UIViewTable.
4) First Controller : Pushing Second View Controller.
SecondviewController *svc = [[SecondViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"SecondViewController" bundle:nil];
svc.delegate = self;
[self.navigationController pushViewController:svc animated:YES];
4) In second View Controller:
id<xyzDelegate> strongDelegate = self.delegate;
[self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
NSLog (#"After popViewControler");
[strongDelegate dateSelected:dateChoosen]; // Invoking Delegate Method.
Question:
1) Is it the general practice to invoke the delegate method after Popping View Controller?
as i am refreshing the UITable, once the delegate method is invoked in FirstView Controller.

Usually, a view controller is an independent unit of screens. Especially if it's switched by navigation-controller. You are expected to reconfigure views to bind their data in one of overriding of viewWillAppear: or viewDidAppear: method.
Usually viewDidAppear: is preferred. Because in many cases, switching view needs reloading of underlying data, and this usually causes asynchronous I/O. In this case, this asynchronous I/O may interfere simultaneously performing view-switching animation.
Anyway, if your view setup operation is lightweight, it's fine and better to go with viewWillAppear: because it will make your user to wait less.
In this case, IMO, it seems your best bet is just marking to refresh the data on the target view controller, and handle refreshing in the view-controller's viewDidAppear: method.

You should call the delegate methods BEFORE POP action occurs.
[strongDelegate dateSelected:dateChoosen];
popViewControllerAnimated Will call second view controller dealloc method to destroy, where you would release the strongDelegate. So no more strongDelegate to receive the dateSelected: method.
[self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];

Related

Can't get passed data in viewDidLoad method

I'm trying to pass some data to my view controller class like this:
MyViewController *vc = [[MyViewController alloc] init];
vc.myProperty = dataToBePassed;
[self.navigationController pushViewController:vc animated:YES];
I need to make some view configuring in viewDidLoad, but it seems that viewDidload called earlier than property assignment.
Then in MyViewController implementation:
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
NSLog(#"%#", self.myProperty); // Here i get myProperty = nil
}
- (void)viewWillAppear
{
[super viewWillAppear];
NSLog(#"%#", self.myProperty); // Here i get myProperty = dataToBePassed but it's to late
}
How can i get passed data in viewDidLoad method without implementing singleton or delegate patterns?
Try doing this
UIStoryboard *storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:
#"MainStoryboard" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
MyViewController *vc = [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"storyboardIdentifier"];
vc.myProperty = dataToBePassed;
[self.navigationController pushViewController:vc animated:YES];
You have to set a storyboard identifier first in the storyboard for the view controller.
While the code sample you provide looks technically correct, I'm with #john-elemans in that you need to show more code.
There is something that is referencing the view which causes it to load and therefore causes viewDidLoad to fire prematurely.
In any case, if something (such as your property) is absolutely essential to the correct building of your view structure, I'd put in its own designated initializer, e.g.,
- (id)initWithPhotoDiameter:(CGFloat)diameter
{
self = [super init...]; // some VC initializer that you should call
if (self) {
_photoDiameter = diameter;
}
return self;
}
Notice the use of the backing instance variable _photoDiameter instead of self.photoDiameter. This is about the only place in a class where you should use the backing ivar, since self is still in the process of being initialized.
Technically there are two approaches that are quite common for lifecycle handling of view controllers related to an application.
Using XIBs
When using XIBs one of the most common if not the most common process to create and setup your view controllers is done programmatically. Following this process, when you initialise the view controller you have the option of either overriding your init method in order for your view controller to have the information prior to loading the view and easing up the process of adjusting drawn content. You can also create a method within your view controller to be called in which you pass the data to be used by the view controller.
Using Storyboard
If you are using storyboards I recommend that you trust segues setup through it. I have found that they make life easier and it will allow you to use certain methods to handle the transition. One of those is prepareForSegue:sender: Within that method I have found that it is easier to setup a view controller after it's initialized accessing the destination controller. You also might consider having all data there before viewDidLoad hence following the segue approach.

Subview UINavigationController Leak ARC

I'm experiencing a memory leak (the UINavigationController and its root View Controller are both being leaked) when presenting and dismissing a UINavigationController in a subview. My method of presentation of the navigation controller seems a bit non-standard, so I was hoping someone in the SO community might be able to help.
1. Presentation
The Navigation Controller is presented as follows:
-(void) presentSubNavigationControllerWithRootViewControllerIdentifier:(NSString *)rootViewControllerIdentifier inStoryboardWithName:(NSString *)storyboardName {
// grab the root view controller from a storyboard
UIStoryboard * storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:storyboardName bundle:nil];
UIViewController * rootViewController = [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:rootViewControllerIdentifier];
// instantiate the navigation controller
UINavigationController * nc = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:rootViewController];
// perform some layout configuration that should be inconsequential to memory management (right?)
[nc setNavigationBarHidden:YES];
[nc setEdgesForExtendedLayout:UIRectEdgeLeft | UIRectEdgeRight | UIRectEdgeBottom];
nc.view.frame = _navControllerParentView.bounds;
// install the navigation controller (_navControllerParentView is a persisted IBOutlet)
[_navControllerParentView addSubview:nc.view];
// strong reference for easy access
[self setSubNavigationController:nc];
}
At this point, my expectation is that the only "owner" of the navigation controller is the parent view controller (in this case, self). However, when dismissing the navigation controller as shown below, it is not deallocated (and as a result its rootViewController is also leaked, and so on down the ownership tree).
2. Dismissal
Dismissal is pretty simple, but it seems not to be sufficient for proper memory management:
-(void) dismissSubNavigationController {
// prevent an orphan view from remaining in the view hierarchy
[_subNavigationController.view removeFromSuperview];
// release our reference to the navigation controller
[self setSubNavigationController:nil];
}
Surely something else is "retaining" the navigation controller as it is not deallocated. I don't think it could possibly be the root view controller retaining it, could it?
Some research has suggested that retainCount is meaningless, but FWIW I've determined that it remains at 2 after dismissal, where I would expect it to be zero.
Is there an entirely different / better method of presenting the subNavigationController? Maybe defining the navigation controller in the storyboard would have greater benefit than simply eliminating the need for a few lines of code?
It is best practice when adding a controller's view as a subview of another controller's view, that you make that added view's controller a child view controller; that is, the controller whose view your adding it to, should implement the custom container controller api. An easy way to set this up is to use a container view in the storyboard which gives you an embedded controller automatically (you can select that controller and, in the edit menu, choose embed in Navigation controller to get the UI you're trying to make). Normally, this embedded view controller would be added right after the parent controller's view is loaded, but you can suppress that by implementing shouldPerformSegueWithIdentifier:sender:. I created a simple test app with this storyboard,
The code in ViewController to suppress the initial presentation, and the button methods to subsequently present and dismiss it is below,
#implementation ViewController
-(BOOL)shouldPerformSegueWithIdentifier:(NSString *)identifier sender:(id)sender {
if ([identifier isEqualToString:#"Embed"]) { // The embed segue in IB was given this identifier. This method is not called when calling performSegueWithIdentifier:sender: in code (as in the button method below)
return NO;
}else{
return YES;
}
}
- (IBAction)showEmbed:(UIButton *)sender {
[self performSegueWithIdentifier:#"Embed" sender:self];
}
- (IBAction)dismissEmbed:(UIButton *)sender {
[[self.childViewControllers.firstObject view] removeFromSuperview];
[self.childViewControllers.firstObject willMoveToParentViewController:nil];
[self.childViewControllers.firstObject removeFromParentViewController];
}
#end
The navigation controller and any of its child view controllers are properly deallocated when the Dismiss button is touched.
The navigationController property on a UIViewController is retain/strong, which is presumably the other strong reference.
So try popping all view controllers from the navigation controller and see if that works.

How to dismiss view controllers at any time (even during transitions) or when it is safe to dismiss a view controller ?

I have an iOS app that has a connection to a server. If we get disconnected, I want to be able to dismiss the top view controllers to get back to a "connecting to server" view controller. The problem is that a disconnection can occur at any time, including during a transition between view controllers.
The view controller hierarchy is like so:
ConnectingToServerViewController
SignInViewController
MainAppViewController
Other view controllers
When a disconnection is detected I want the view hierarchy to collapse back to:
ConnectingToServerViewController
So when a disconnection is detected, this method is called on the ConnectingToServerViewController to dismiss anything that it has presented and go back to attempting to connect to server:
- (void)restartSession
{
if (self.presentedViewController) {
[self dismissViewControllerAnimated:NO completion:nil];
}
}
However, if I try to dismiss while a view transition is occurring, I get errors such as
*** Assertion failure in -[UIWindowController transition:fromViewController:toViewController:target:didEndSelector:], /SourceCache/UIKit/UIKit-2380.17/UIWindowController.m:211
attempt to dismiss modal view controller whose view does not currently appear. self = <YYYYYViewController: 0x2089c8a0> modalViewController = <XXXXXViewController: 0x208e6610>
attempt to dismiss modal view controller whose view does not currently appear. self = <WWWWWWViewController: 0x1fd9e990> modalViewController = <YYYYYViewController: 0x2089c8a0>
The first of which will crash the app, the second will just not dismiss anything and continue to show the current presented view controller.
Thoughts:
delays won't work since we don't know when to start the delay
is there a way to track when view transitions complete?
should all view controllers override willAppear, didAppear and alert the app when it is safe to dismiss?
perhaps instead of dismiss, I should just set a new root view controller?
I've made sure that all overridden view(will|did)(dis)?appear methods call the appropriate super method.
Any solution that requires all view controllers to override view(did|will)appear methods to track state sounds like it could cause issues if we forget to set the base class for a new view controller.
Do something like this. Try this out once,
UIViewController *controller = self.presentingViewController; //THIS LINE IS IMP
[self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES
completion:^{
[controller presentViewController:adminViewController animated:YES completion:nil];
adminViewController.view.superview.frame = CGRectMake(1024/2 - 400, 768/2 - 280, 800 , 560);//it's important to do this after
[adminViewController release];
}];
One way that has worked for me is to assign a new view controller to the root view controller. That way, views in the old hierarchy can animate and transition to their hearts content while we have new controllers.
eg
- (void)restartSession
{
UIStoryboard *storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:#"MainStoryboard" bundle:nil];
ConnectingToServerViewController *vc = [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"ConnectingToServerViewController"];
vc.modalPresentationStyle = UIModalPresentationFullScreen;
[UIApplication sharedApplication].delegate.window.rootViewController = vc;
}
I'm not sure if I'm aware of all the downsides to this though. Perhaps the old view controllers will never get freed because of a dangling strong reference? We're no longer reusing ConnectingToServerViewController, we have to recreate that each time.
I based the code on what I saw in this answer for Managing and dismissing Multiple View Controllers in iOS.
It seems like you are trying to dismiss the view controller when it is not currently on screen. To check if it is on screen you could use:
if (self.presentedViewController.view.window)
{
[self dismissViewControllerAnimated:NO completion:nil];
}
else
{
self.presentedViewController = nil;
}
I will answer in order.
is there a way to track when view transitions complete?
You could try with the UINavigationControllerDelegate (if you are using one of those). Other approach could be using a custom animator.
should all view controllers override willAppear, didAppear and alert the app when it is safe to dismiss?
That's an option. You are free to do it if you want. Another option is not to do that. I think that container view controllers such as navigation controller has better approaches.
I should just set a new root view controller?
I would suggest to do the opposite. I would set the SignInViewController / MainAppViewController as the root flow, and present modally ConnectingToServerViewController on demand. In my opinion that's a healthier approach.
Hope it helps.

viewDidLoad (and loadView) is not fired after the view controller is pushed into navigation controller

viewController's view is not loaded just after that viewController is pushed into navigation controller.
This is my code snippet.
- (void)myMethodInClassA {
// window's root view controller is navigation controller
UINavigationController *naviCtrl = (UINavigationController*)[UIApplication sharedApplication].keyWindow.rootViewController;
MyViewController *myVC = [[MyViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"MyViewController" bundle:nil];
[naviCtrl pushViewController:myVC animated:NO];
// at this point, myVC's view is NOT loaded
}
When I call myMethodInClassA, myVC's viewDidLoad is called AFTER that method returns. I'd expected that myVC's view is loaded just after navigation controller's pushViewController:animated: is called and before myMethodInClassA returns.
When exactly view controller's view is loaded? Apple's documentation just says it is loaded when it is first accessed. It's a bit ambiguous. why doesn't navigation controller's pushViewController: access view controller's view?
p.s. sorry for initial ambiguous question.
Pushing a view controller (VC) onto a navigation controller's stack makes the VC into a child view controller of the navigation controller (which is a container view controller). Creating such a child-parent relationship is a distinct step which does not cause the child VC's view to be loaded immediately. Rather the container VC loads the view at a later time. I believe there is no explicit specification for what "later" means - usually it will be when the container VC has decided that the time has come to integrate the child VC's view into the container VC's view hierarchy. But basically it simply happens at the discretion of the container VC's implementation.
That being said, anyone can force a VC's view to be loaded by simply accessing the VC's view property. For instance, in your code you could add this line
myVC.view;
which would trigger loadView and then viewDidLoad in MyViewController.
However, in your case if MyViewController needs to react to the event that it has been associated with a container VC, then it would be better to override one (or both?) of the following methods in MyViewController:
- (void) willMoveToParentViewController:(UIViewController*)parent
{
// write your code here
}
- (void) didMoveToParentViewController:(UIViewController*)parent
{
// write your code here
}
You need to be aware, though, that willMoveToParentViewController and didMoveToParentViewController are also invoked when MyViewController is popped from its parent navigation controller's stack. You can detect that this is the case by checking the parent argument for nil.
(Swift 2)
Since this question doesn't have an accepted answer...
What I ended up doing is create a convenience init at the child view controller:
convenience init() {
self.init(nibName: "ChildViewController", bundle: nil)
//initializing the view Controller form specified NIB file
}
and in the parentViewController's viewDidLoad():
let commentsView = CommentsViewController()
self.addChildViewController(commentsView)
self.momentsScrollView.addSubview(commentsView.view)
commentsView.didMoveToParentViewController(self)
As stated above,viewDidLoad gets called once when a view is pushed,you might want to do your stuff in viewWillAppear or viewDidAppear.
Ya if that ViewController will be already pushed in navigationController stack then ViewDidLoad method will not be called again.
First time when you will push that ViewController then viewDidLoad will be called.
So if you need that your some functionality is to be executed every time then implement it in viewWillAppear method because it will be called every-time you push your viewController.
Hope it helps you.
are you pushing the view controller for the first tym?if YES then only viewDidLoad() of the controller will be called and if its already pushed and this is not the first tyn then viewWillAppear () will be called.(or) if you are making a new instance every tym u push it then viewDidLoad() will be called.
I find that I have to call loadViewIfNeeded()
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiviewcontroller/1621446-loadviewifneeded

UIViewController -dealloc method not called

I am working with Automatic Reference Counting.
I have a custom UIViewController subclass and whenever I call -presentViewController: animated:completion: or remove its view from the superview I would like to NSLog something like "I am dealloced" so I know that the view controller has successfully been removed. I have implemented the -dealloc method in my view controller. However I started a test project where I just had two UIViewController instances (no retain cycles) and -dealloc is not called either when I push the second UIViewController modally or when I remove the superview or when I remove it from the parent view controller. Am I missing something ? In my original project (not the test case) Instruments shows me that those controllers leave a memory footprint that I can't get rid off.
If you want to switch view controllers, and have the one you're switching away from be deallocated, then just switch the root view controller of the window. So, if you're in VC1 and want to go to VC2, then do this in VC1:
VC2 *vc2 = [[VC2 alloc] init]; // or however else is appropriate to get an instance of this class
self.view.window.rootViewController = vc2;
If you haven't created any property to point to vc1, then it will be deallocated after making this switch.
If you want to use a modal presentation or a modal segue (to get the animation when you switch controllers), you can still get the initial controller to be deallocated by switching the root view controller after the presentation from the viewDidAppear method of vc2:
-(void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
[super viewDidAppear:animated];
self.view.window.rootViewController = self;
}
To get a print when the View Controller is deallocated you can implement the dealloc method as
- (void) dealloc {
NSLog(#"The instance of MyViewController was deallocated");
}
Then to get a print when the View Controller left the view you can implement
- (void) viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated {
[super viewWillDisappear:animated];
NSLog(#"The instance of MyViewController left the main view")
}
If you use -presentViewController:animated:completion: you are retaining the parentViewController every time you call this method. ModalViewControllers are simply pushed on top of the other ViewController.
ModalViewControllers are only designed for some kind of information / User Input and stuff like that. If you want to dealloc the ParentViewController you have to deal with your own implementation.
dealloc method isn't called when the class is retained (or something in this class is retained) and not reeleased. It is justly for projects with both ARC and without it. So check your code twice.

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