What's the difference with :(id)sender? - ios

What's the difference between declaring a UIButton in Xcode like this:
- (IBAction)testButton;
and declaring a button like this:
- (IBAction)testButton:(id)sender;
I understand that in the .m file you would then implement the buttons accordingly, as shown below:
- (IBAction)testButton
{
// insert code here..
}
and setting it up like this:
- (IBAction)testButton:(id)sender
{
// insert code here..
}
Is there any additional things you can do by declaring the button with :(id)sender, is there some additional stability, or is there no difference?

With :(id)sender you are able to access the button itself through the sender variable. This is handy in many situations. For example, you can have many buttons and give each a tag. Then use the [sender tag] method to find which button was tapped if many buttons are using this IBAction.

- (IBAction)someMethod:(id)sender {
// do stuff
}
Using (id)sender, you have a reference to who sent the method call. Please note, this doesn't have to be limited to a UIButton.
If you're created this method via control-dragging from the storyboard an only hooking up a single button, then sender is basically useless (it will always be the same), and should probably be marked as unused:
#pragma unused (sender)
(The compiler can better optimize your code if you do this.)
However, there's nothing wrong with hooking up several UI elements to the same IBAction method. You can then distinguish the sender via:
[sender tag]
...which returns an int that was either set via the storyboard or programmatically.
Moreover, you can call this method elsewhere in your class. You can either pass nil as the sender, or you can pass it a particular UI element in order to force it into the results you've coded for objects of that tag.
Nonetheless, if you plan to call the method with a nil argument, you can always throw:
if(!sender)
... into the method in order to handle special logic for when the method has been invoked programmatically as opposed to via user interaction.

It allows you to know which button you are working with. I have posted a simple example for a card game below
- (IBAction)flipCard:(id)sender {
[self.game flipCardAtIndex:[self.cardButtons indexOfObject:sender]];
self.flipCount++;
[self updateUI];
}
This method is used for a card flipping game. There are multiple buttons on the screen representing different cards. When you hit the button, a card in the model must be flipped. We know which one by finding the index of the variable sender

Related

Button Action using Reactive Cocoa

can anyone say how do i observe for action in Reactive Cocoa for a UIButton or UIControl..
An alternative way is to bind the view to the view model.And observe changes on the Mutable Property.
I tried using below code but none is firing.
self.rollBtn.reactive.trigger(for: .touchUpInside).observeValues {
value in
print(value)
}
EDIT: Actually i am trying to get the sender on button Tap..how can i do that?
You have done nothing wrong in this code snippet - trigger(for:) is one of the ways to get notified in RAC 5.0. It should print () for every press on the button.
Have you linked the button with the view, if you are using Storyboard or Interface Builder? Where did you place this piece of code? Make sure you place it in viewDidLoad or awakeFromNib so that it gets called before the view is presented.
-
EDIT: Actually i am trying to get the sender on button Tap..how can i do that?
As mentioned in the comments, trigger(for:) returns a Signal<(), NoError>. It doesn't include the sender with the value event. You would need to reference the sender manually, e.g.:
button.reactive
.trigger(for: .touchUpInside)
.observeValues { [unowned button] in
_ = button
}

WKInterface button doesn't change title

I'm trying to change the title of a button after I call back from a notification but it doesn't respond at all. I checked it's not nil and checked the text Im' assigning and all is good. I made the property type strong instead of weak but no success.
- (void) setButtonTitleFromSelectedSearchResult:(NSNotification *)notif
{
[self popController];
self.sourceMapItem = [[notif userInfo] valueForKey:#"SelectedResult"];
NSLog(#"The Selected Result is: %#", self.sourceMapItem.name);
//Testing
NSLog(#"%#", self.fromButton); // check it's not nil
[self.fromButton setTitle:self.sourceMapItem.name];
}
With WatchKit, if a user interface element isn't currently visible, it cannot be updated. So, if you've presented another interface controller "on top", you can't update any of the presenting controller's interface elements until you've dismissed the presented controller. At that point, you can safely update the presenting controller in its willActivate method.
SushiGrass' method of passing blocks is certainly one valid approach. In my testing, however, I ended up having to manage multiple blocks, and many of the subsequent blocks reversed what earlier queued blocks had accomplished (for example, first changing a label's text to "foo", then "bar", then "foo" again. While this can work, it isn't optimal.
I'd suggest that anyone who is working on a WatchKit app takes a moment to consider how they want to account for off-screen (i.e. not-currently-visible) interface elements. willActivate is your friend, and coming up with a way to manage updates in that method is worthwhile if you're moving from controller to controller.
For what it's worth, I've encapsulated a lot of this logic in a JBInterfaceController subclass that handles a lot of this for you. By using this as a base class for your own interface controller, you can simply update your elements in the added didUpdateInterface method. Unfortunately, I haven't yet had the time to write proper documentation, but the header files and sample project should get you going: https://github.com/mikeswanson/JBInterfaceController
I'm using latest XCode 6.3 and below code working with me.
self.testBtn is bind with Storyboard and its WKInterfaceButton
I also have attached screenshot with affected result.
I'm setting initial text in - (void)willActivate
- (void)willActivate {
[super willActivate];
[self.testBtn setTitle:#"Test"];
[self performSelector:#selector(justDelayed) withObject:nil afterDelay:5.0]
}
-(void)justDelayed
{
[self.testBtn setTitle:#"Testing completed...!!"];
}
If you're using an IBOutlet for the property fromButton be sure that is connected to WKInteface on the storyboard, like below:
I solved this kind of issue by creating a model object that has a property that is a block of type () -> (Void) (in swift). I create the model object, set the action in the block that I'd like the pushing WKInterfaceController to do on completion, and finally pass that model object in the context to the pushed WKInterfaceController. The pushed WKInterfaceController holds a reference to the model object as a property and calls it's completion block when it's done with whatever it needs to do and after func popController().
This worked for me for patterns like what you are describing along with removing rows on detail controller deletion, network calls, location fetches and other tasks.
You can see what I'm talking about here: https://gist.github.com/jacobvanorder/9bf5ada8a7ce93317170

Invoking button action in Unit Test in Xcode

I am trying to write a unit test case for calculator in Xcode, currently I am writing test case for the add function.
This is my digit pressed function:
- (IBAction)digitPressed:(UIButton *)sender.
I have seen an example where if the method name is
- (IBAction)digitPressed:(id)sender,
you can invoke the function with help of view tag like
[calc_view_controller digitPressed:[calc_view viewWithTag:6];
The instance defined above in implementation section as
app_delegate = [[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate];
calc_view_controller = app_delegate.viewController;
calc_view = calc_view_controller.view;
now since my button type is (UIButton *) I cant use view tag, is there any other alternative for UIButton type?
If so, Can you give me an example?
A button is a view, so -viewWithTag: will find it just fine. The only issue is your sender type not agreeing with the type returned by -viewWithTag:, but you can solve that with a cast if you're sure the view you'll get back is a button, or you can check first:
[calc_view digitPressed:(UIButton*)[calc_view viewWithTag:6]];
or:
UIButton *button = (UIButton*)[calc_view viewWithTag:6]];
if ([button isKindOfClass:[UIButton class]]) {
[calc_view digitPressed:button];
}
Either works in practice; the latter is safer and makes it easy to add an additional test: you could fail the test if the button isn't a UIButton.
You do it in the bad way, you shouldn't compare sender.titleLabel.text. Think about what happens when you'll change the label text, because e.g you must ship your app in another language.
But if you still want to handle button recognizing in that way, you have to create UIButton in your unit test and set it the proper label text value.
Rather than invoking the IBAction method, I would invoke the specific method which peforms the addition.
There are a number of things that you could test here, for example:
The UIButton object sends the correct value to the digitPressed method
The digitPressed method correctly extracts the value from the UIButton object and passes this value to the add method
The result of the add method is what you expect
How much you test is up to you, personally I wouldn't get too hung up on 1 and 2. If the logic is wrong in either of these it will become obvious, and they are unlikely to attract regressions.
To me it is more important to fully test the add method. Send in plenty of common cases, edge cases and boundary values, rather than worrying about the flow from the UIButton press.

How to show the text of an UITextField in an UILabel?

I am building an interface, where I can add events like in a calendar.
In the AddAEventViewController I have Buttons to set the starttime, duration and recurrence.
Every time you press a button a viewcontroller comes up with a UIDatePicker, where you can set your time. The picked component is than displayed in a UITextField. Now when I press the Done-Button, it dismisses the ModalViewController and I am back to my AddAEventViewController. Next to the Durationbutton e.g. is a UILabel, where I want to show now the just picked and in the textfield shown duration.
How do I get access to the AddEventViewController out of an other ViewController? I tried to alloc and init a new one there, but it didnt work!
- (IBAction)pressedDoneButton:(id)sender {
_mainAddWishViewController.labelDuration.text=textFieldDuration.text;
[self dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}
Can someone help me please!
Thank you Jules
There are several ways you can do this, all of them documented here. Reading and understanding them will help you a lot in iOS software development.
There are many ways to achieve this. Here is one that is fairly straightforward.
In the "child" viewController, add a delegate property and set it to the parent view controller.
Then in your Done button handler, do something like:
[self.delegate performSelector:#selector(didComplete) withObject:self]
In the parent view controller, define a method as follows:
- (void) didComplete: (YourSubViewControllerClass *) sender
{
self.labelDuration.text = sender.textFieldDuration.text
}
Basically, this implements an informal protocol whereby the subViewController informs the main view controller that it is finished and input values are available.
Note that if you cancel out of the subViewController, don't send the didComplete message.

What's the best way to call an IBAction from with-in the code?

Say for instance I have an IBAction that is hooked up to a UIButton in interface builder.
- (IBAction)functionToBeCalled:(id)sender
{
// do something here
}
With-in my code, say for instance in another method, what is the best way to call that IBAction?
If I try to call it like this, I receive an error:
[self functionToBeCalled:];
But, if I try to call it like this (cheating a bit, I think), it works fine:
[self functionToBeCalled:0];
What is the proper way to call it properly?
The proper way is either:
- [self functionToBeCalled:nil]
To pass a nil sender, indicating that it wasn't called through the usual framework.
OR
- [self functionToBeCalled:self]
To pass yourself as the sender, which is also correct.
Which one to chose depends on what exactly the function does, and what it expects the sender to be.
Semantically speaking, calling an IBAction should be triggered by UI events only (e.g. a button tap). If you need to run the same code from multiple places, then you can extract that code from the IBAction into a dedicated method, and call that method from both places:
- (IBAction)onButtonTap:(id)sender {
[self doSomething];
}
This allows you to do extra logic based on the sender (perhaps you might assign the same action to multiple buttons and decide what to do based on the sender parameter). And also reduces the amount of code that you need to write in the IBAction (which keeps your controller implementation clean).

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