I am new to iOS development, with a couple of years of Android experience. I started directly with XCode 5 and the Storyboard paradigm. I like the visual approach to sketching out the flow of an app, but IMHO, it does not really force component reuse, or maybe I do not know how to do it.
I have an actual problem, which is the following: Instead of the typical master-detail approach, I have a situation, in which clicking on a TableView cell forces a push to another TableView, which looks the same and behaves the same way. There are two specific types of a TableViewCell that I want to reuse across the whole application, so I can't just duplicate the first TableViewController several times. I need changes in one type of TableViewCell to be affected everywhere, same for the look and behaviour of the Tableview. Sort of like reusing a component, you get the picture I hope.
I tried creating a custom TableView and TableViewCell in a separate xib file, connecting it to a custom controller class. Yet, when I want to reuse that controller class in the storyboard, I can't make a segue from the cell to the next one, because only view controllers are displayed, but no views inside.
Maybe, I am doing it all wrong. Perhaps, I should make a single controller, and force it to seque to itself if possible, no idea.
What would you do?
You can do programatic Segue from the didselected.....
#import "someVC.h"
Then when you want to Segue to the new VC
// Create a VC and remember to set the Storyboard ID of someVC (example someVCID)
someVC *newView = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"someVCID"];
// Can't remember how this works but you can change the Transition method
// newView.modalTransitionStyle = UIModalTransition;
// If you want to pass data, setup someArray in the someVC .h with #property (nonatomic, strong) NSArray *someArray;
newView.someArray = MyLocalArray;
// Animated or not
[self presentViewController:newView animated:NO completion:nil];
If what you're trying to do is performing a segue on the same UITableView you can check this answer by Rob
I'll report what it contains for completeness:
If you're using dynamic cell prototypes, you obviously can do a segue
from the table view cell to the controller without any problem.
When you make your segue, you end up with:
But let's imagine for a second that there's some reason that doesn't
work for you, e.g. you could not have a segue from the cell (for
example, you need to invoke segue from didSelectRowAtIndexPath, not
upon selecting the cell). In this case, you couldn't use that previous
technique.
There are a couple of options in this case:
As pointed out by Chris, if only supporting iOS 6 and above, use the above technique, but (a) make sure your
didSelectRowAtIndexPath uses self for the sender and then have
shouldPerformSegueWithIdentifier only allow the segue if the sender
== self (thus when the sender is the table view cell, it will be canceled);
Perhaps even easier, just don't define a segue at all and have your didSelectRowAtIndexPath manually
instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier and then push/present
that view controller as appropriate; or
You can use the following, kludgy work-around: In short, add a button to your view controller (drag it down to the bar at the
bottom), where it won't show up on the view, but you can use its
segues. So first, drag the rounded button to the controller's bar at
the bottom of the scene:
Now you can make a segue from that button to your view controller:
And thus, you end up with the self-referential segue again:
You must give that segue an identifier, so you can invoke it
programmatically via performSegueWithIdentifier, but it works. Not
the most elegant of solutions, but I think it's better than having an
extra scene on your storyboard.
None of these are ideal, but you have lots of options.
well.. in iOs think about it differently, if i were you i would create multiple ViewController, even if they're almost the same, and create a custom cell class, and make this cell take a configuration block.
Now for each ViewController (( or TableViewController )), you reuse your same custom UITableViewCell and just pass it what's slightly different for each case, and moreover you can also create a BaseTableViewController that will have the general configuration, and in each ViewController pass the custom changes you need.
Think about it, when you look at your storyboard you'll be able to see all your workflow, and when something goes wrong you'll be able to debug, if you have are gonna use what you suggested, debugging will be a real pain i imagine.
Anyway, try it out, and ask more if you need further clarification.
Related
I'm writing an app that uses storyboarding and I want to update the labels in one view by clicking a button in a previous view.
_label.text = variable1;
is the line I would use to change the value of label, which is in the next view, when I click the button. Using this method I can easily change labels in the same view as the button but it does nothing when I go to the next view and see empty labels.
I've tried looking everywhere and found similar issues but couldn't find anything that worked for me so any solution would be very appreciated!
Unfortunately, it is not possible to connect IBOutlets between different scenes in storyboard.
It is difficult to suggest some precise solution because you have to provide more details about the setup which you have. Still, it is possible to outline some possible solutions:
Using prepareForSegue
If the view controller which you want to modify appears after the segue is performed you can customise its appearance in prepareForSegue function.
Using delegation
You can assign the view controller which wants to modify another view controller as its delegate. For example, if ViewController1 wants to modify ViewController2:
#interface ViewController1: UIViewController {}
#property (nonatomic,weak) ViewController2 *controllerThatIWantToModify;
with such setup you can call:
self.controllerThatIWantToModify.label.text = variable1;
You use storyboards, so there must be a segue from your first viewController (with the button) to your second (with labels in it).
If it is the case, you can set up the labels of the second view controller from the prepareForSegue method of your first view controller.
This method is called with a segue object which has a destinationViewController property which is your second view controller.
If you have several segue from this viewController, you should check if it is the right segue and then set it up.
To do that you need to set up outlets that gives you access to the labels from the viewController.
Then you can either write a setUpLabelsWith:(NSString)text1 ... method in your view controller, or directly access the outlets from the first view controller (supposing their are not private).
Yes this supposes your second view controller has a custom class.
My program does not have an explicit table. It’s only table comes from “Search Bar and Search Display Controller” view as searchDisplayController.searchResultsTableView. So to create it’s custom TableViewCell, I use a xib file. Now I need to segue from the custom cell defined in the xib file to a ViewController defined in the storyboard? How do I do that?
stated differently: How to segue from a custom TableViewCell of “searchDisplayController.searchResultsTableView” to a ViewController
back story How do I add storyboard-based Header and CustomTableCell to a “Search Bar and Search Display Controller”
There seems to be an answer already but I don't get it: Segue from Storyboard to XIB
As with any table view, you should be able to set the UITableViewDelegate and UITableViewDatasource delegates on the searchDisplayControl class. And then handle segue event in the didSelectRowAtIndexPath method. I've never played with search display controllers as I typically break apart search bar and table views when I do anything search related for the sake of flexibility, and how you're saying you want to use prototype table view cells in a tableview within the storyboard.
But, if you're set on using the searchDisplayController, you could possibly get away with something like this..
You can't segue from one XIB -> Storyboard, or between 2 different storyboards.
You can pass a reference to the viewController to each tableViewCell, and access the segue that way if you'd like. However, I'd probably use protocols/delegates personally in this situation for the sake of future flexibility.
As we discussed in comments above, it's better to avoid UISearchDisplayController since it's deprecated in iOS 8.
So it would be better to use something like that https://github.com/alexbutenko/SimpleUITableViewSearch
You can use self.navigationItem.titleView = searchBar to embed search bar into navigation bar. If you have any issue just check code sample.
I have a storyboard with a navigation controller that leads to an UIVIewController that I want to reuse. That UIVIewController has a ParentUIViewController that has all the basic functionalities for all the UIVIewControllers that I am reusing.
Currently I am copying and pasting (meh) and then I change the class of the UIViewController to the ChildUIVIewController that I want to use (ChildUIViewController extends ParentUIViewController).
But this sounds like a bad solution. Everytime I want to change the ParentViewController visually I need to update, manually, all other ChildViewControllers.
I have tried to create a xib for the ParentViewController but the xib isn't loaded because I need a xib with the name of the ChildViewController. I have created it and then said the class is the ParentViewController but it crashes in the segue.
EDIT
I have created an example of the status of my problem
https://github.com/tiagoalmeida/storyboardexample
Note that the ParentViewController has a set of logic way more complicated that is not illustrated there. Also note that I am also using a TableView. I hope that this can illustrate the problem.
Keep the logic on the parentViewController and the UI Part on the child UIViewControllers. If you need to create a new UIViewController, you will create a child that will have a corresponding XIB (or get rid of XIBs and create the interface by hand).
Have you considered looping back into the same UIViewController via a "phantom button"?
Have a look at this: UIStoryboard Power Drill, Batteries included
Essentially you can drag a Bar Button Item into the little black bar under the View Controller in Storyboard (the 1 with View Controller, First Responder, and Exit icons; sorry, I don't recall what this is called exactly), then you can control+drag from that button back into the UIViewController for a Push segue. This should create a loop segue in your Storyboard. All you need to do next is give that segue an identifier, programmatically call it from your code using [self performSegueWithIdentifier:], then implement -(void)prepareForSegue: and use [segue destinationViewController] to conditionally set the title and perhaps some flags so you can identify when to use different kinds of fetches (or other code variations) in the same Class code.
In my app, I wanted to show a table in the "full screen," so I created a subclass of UITableViewController. When I want to show the table, I just instantiate it and use pushViewController:animated:. Now I've decided that I actually want to show it as a modal, so I want to give it a navigation bar with a "Done" button. I believe this means that I now need to make this a UIViewController subclass instead of a UITableViewController subclass, since it will now be more than just a table. I'm not really sure if this is something that can be done, though; I've created an xib, but Xcode doesn't seem to want to let me use that xib to create IBOutlets in the .h file, so I don't think the two are "connected."
I ran into this problem once before and worked around it by just creating a new UIViewController subclass and xib and just copy-and-pasting all the stuff I needed from the UITableViewController subclass's files into the new subclass's files. I knew then as I know now that that was a hacky and unpleasant solution, though. Does anyone know how something like this can be done properly?
Also, to avoid this problem in the future, should I just never make top-level views like this in the future and just make sure everything I use pushViewController:animated: or presentModalViewController:animated: with is a UIViewController subclass? Or is it safe to do what I've been doing?
Several things you mention in your question indicate some misunderstandings. First, if you're pushing you table view controller, then it has to be embedded in a navigation controller, and thus will have a navigation bar -- you can add a done button to this bar, if that's all you're trying to change. No need to refactor your code.
If you want to use a UIViewController instead of a table view controller, you should be able to hook up your nib. Did you change the class of the files owner in the nib to your UIViewController class? After you do that, you should be able to hook up the outlets.
There's nothing "hacky" about copying and pasting code from a table view controller into a view controller. I do this all the time, rather than writing out all those files.
I'm not sure what you're asking in the last question. How you get your table view on the screen (pushing or presenting) has nothing to do with whether what you're showing is a table view controller or a view controller. You should use the one that best fits your needs.
I'm stuck because of this problem in my code:
I am using a storyboard, and have my custom tableview that is able to swipe rows uncovering the "background" where I can add buttons etc.
Problem is that the number and presence at all is managed in runtime (each cell can have multiple buttons or none - I'm adding them to the background view). Now I want these buttons to segue and I just cannot figure out how to do it in my storyboard...
Anyone had similiar problem or I'm just thinking wrong?
Another way to do this is to go ahead and create the segue's in the storyboard. You can't connect them to the button (since it doesn't exist yet), but you can connect them to the view that the table is in. You give the segue an identifier (by clicking on the line that is the segue and setting the property). Then, it is a simple matter of calling:
[self.storyboard performseguewithidentifier:#"theIdentifier"];
you can't make segue connections outside of the storyboard:
Creating a segue programmatically
You can make custom segues in code, but connecting the segues up to objects can only be done by drawing lines on the Storyboard.
But you don't need to. Segues are only dressed-up transitions between viewControllers. They are a visual tool for replacing a small amount of code.
A push segue just replaces this code for example
UIViewController* myViewController = [UIViewController alloc] init;
[[self navigationController] pushViewController:myViewController
As you are making your buttons in code, you should manage your navigation in code.
First of all you need to set the StoryBoard ID. You can do this by selecting a particular view controller and going identity inspector on the right side. Under the custom class, there is "StoryBoard ID", you have to set name "Menu"
Secondly, you need to call this storyboard from the buttons or any other control.You can do this by using the following:
[self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"Menu"];
This way you can give StoryBoard IDs to different controllers in your StoryBoard and call them from whatever control you want.
Hope this helps