UITextFieldDelegate not working - ios

Question

I'm trying to separate the UITextViewDelegate methods from the main class of my project, I created a class to manage the delegate methods, but I can not change the values of the IBOulets from the main class.
I made a test project with a ViewController and a TextFieldController, in the Storyboard I add a text field and a label. What I want to do is change the text of the label when I start to write in the text field. Here is the code:
ViewController.h:
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "TextFieldController.h"
#interface ViewController : UIViewController
#property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UITextField *textField;
#property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UILabel *charactersLabel;
#end
ViewController.m:
#import "ViewController.h"
#interface ViewController ()
#property (nonatomic, strong) TextFieldController *textFieldController;
#end
#implementation ViewController
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
_textFieldController = [[TextFieldController alloc] init];
_textField.delegate = _textFieldController;
}
- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
}
#end
TextFieldController.h:
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "ViewController.h"
#interface TextFieldController : UIViewController <UITextFieldDelegate>
#end
Text Field Controller.m:
#import "TextFieldController.h"
#interface TextFieldController ()
#property ViewController *viewController;
#end
#implementation TextFieldController
- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil
{
self = [super initWithNibName:nibNameOrNil bundle:nibBundleOrNil];
if (self) {
// Custom initialization
}
return self;
}
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view.
}
- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
- (BOOL) textFieldShouldBeginEditing:(UITextField *)textField {
NSLog(#"hello");
_viewController.charactersLabel.text = #"hello";
return YES;
}
#end
When I start writing in the text field the message "Hello" is printed in the log, but the text of the label does not change. I want to know how to change the label text value from the other class.

Answer 1

First change the TextFieldController.h like this:
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "ViewController.h"
#interface TextFieldController : NSObject <UITextFieldDelegate>
{
}
#property (nonatomic, assign) ViewController *viewController;
#end
Then change your TextFieldController.m file like this:
#import "TextFieldController.h"
#interface TextFieldController ()
#end
#implementation TextFieldController
- (BOOL) textFieldShouldBeginEditing:(UITextField *)textField {
NSLog(#"hello");
self.viewController.charactersLabel.text = #"hello";
return YES;
}
#end
In the ViewController.m do like that:
#import "ViewController.h"
#interface ViewController ()
#property (nonatomic, strong) TextFieldController *textFieldController;
#end
#implementation ViewController
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
_textFieldController = [[TextFieldController alloc] init];
_textFieldController.viewController = self;
_textField.delegate = _textFieldController;
}
- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
}
#end
This will work but I personally dont like that way you took.
Good luck :)

Answer 2

It's failing because _viewController is nil. You need to assign the viewController property in your delegate in order to support the two way communication.
Also, I'd strongly recommend you make your delegate object a subclass of NSObject, and not UIViewController. It does nothing with controlling views. You can just manually instantiate it in your ViewController objects viewDidLoad.

Answer 3

In TextViewController I don't see where the viewController property (_viewController ivar) is being set so it is probably nil. You should set it when you create the TextViewController instance.

Answer 4

When you are navigating to other controllers using storyboad's segue then you need to implement prepareForSegue method to initialised its properties as follows
-(void)prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(id)sender
{
if([segue.identifier isEqualToString:#"segue for textFieldController"])
{
TextFieldController *_textFieldController = [segue destinationViewController];
_textField.delegate = _textFieldController;
}
}
But I was wondering, why are you setting textFieldDelegate here, why can't you set in TextFieldController's viewDidLoad method as then you didn't you to implement above prepareForSegue method call?
Besides you are keeping strong reference of each other and you are creating strong retain cycle.
One more thing, following code
_textField.delegate = _textFieldController;
will not work, until textFieldController is loaded and its viewDidLoad method is being called as you are only initialising it but its outlets will not be connected until view is loaded into navigation stack.