I have a very complex situation (well for me) I am trying to resolve but thus far am having trouble with it.
I will outline the structure of the application now and then explain the problem I am having.
The names I am using are made up due to sensitivity of the data I am using.
secondToLastViewController // is a UITableView on the navigation stack
lastViewController // is just a normal UIView that i want to push onto the navigation stack
RequestClass // this class dose requests to my database and passed the data back to correct classes
getInfoClass // class is used for this specific request stores the information correctly and passes it back to secondToLastViewController
So as the user initiates didSelectRowAtIndexPath inside secondToLastViewController I make a request for the data using the RequestClass
- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
//..
[RequestClass Getinfo:storedInfoPram];
}
now the thread shoots off to my RequestClass, which in turn queries the DB for some data which is then received and this data is passed off to my getInfoClass the reason I have done this is because there are dozens and dozens of different calls in RequestClass all doing different things, this particular request brings back alot of data I have to sort into correct object types so have created this class to do that for me.
anyway inside getInfoClass I sort everything into their correct types etc and pass this data back to secondToLastViewController in a method called recivedData, this is also where I think things are going wrong... as I create a new instance of secondToLastViewController the thing is I dont know how to pass the data back to the same secondToLastViewController that is already on the stack and was where the original request came from.
- (void) recivedData {
// do some stuff then pass data back to secondToLastViewController
SecondToLastViewController *sec = [[SecondToLastViewController alloc] init];
[sec sendGetSeriesArrays:pram1 Pram2:pram2 Pram3:pram3 Pram4:pram4 Pram5:pram5];
}
Now going back into SecondToLastViewController the thread lands in this method
- (void)sendGetSeriesArrays:pram1 Pram2:pram2 Pram3:pram3 Pram4:pram4 Pram5:pram5{
// call detailed view onto the stack
lastViewController *last = [[lastViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"lastViewController" bundle:nil];
[self.navigationController pushViewController:last animated:YES];
}
after the thread reaches this point nothing happens... all the data is there and ready to be sent but the new view is never pushed to the controller stack.. and I think it is due to me declaring another version of secondToLastViewController when I am inside getInfoClass
what I would like to know firstly is how do I pass the recived data in sendGetSeriesArrays to the final view and secondly how do i even load the lastview onto the navigation stack?
Your observation is correct you are creating the secondToLastViewController instance again inside the getInfoClass. Dont do like that you have to use delegate/protocol approach for passing the data back to the secondToLastViewController.
Do like this
Define a protocol in getInfo class
getInfoClass.h
#protocol GetInfoClassProtocol <NSObject>
//delegate method calling after getting data
// I dont know the argument types give it properly
- (void)sendGetSeriesArrays:pram1 Pram2:pram2 Pram3:pram3 Pram4:pram4 Pram5:pram5;
#end
// declare the delegate property
#property (assign, nonatomic)id<GetInfoClassProtocol>delegate;
getInfoClass.m
- (void) recivedData {
// do some stuff then pass data back to secondToLastViewController
if ([self.delegate respondsToSelector:#selector(sendGetSeriesArrays: param2:)])
{
[self.delegate sendGetSeriesArrays:pram1 Pram2:pram2 Pram3:pram3 Pram4:pram4 Pram5:pram5];
}
}
secondToLastViewController.m
- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
//..
RequestClass.delegate = self;
[RequestClass Getinfo:storedInfoPram];
}
Your secondToLastViewController should conform to the GetInfoClassProtocol
There are lots of ways you can accomplish this. In your revivedData function, instead of creating a new instance, you could:
1) Maintain a pointer to the navigation controller in getInfoClass, then you can get the last view controller from the view controllers on the navigation stack and use that. This will be the active instance of the view controller. There are ways to recover this from the window object, but those seem fragile and I would not recommend that approach.
2) You can pass a pointer to self from secondToLastViewController to your RequestClass getInfo call, then hold on to that and pass it back. This is probably a pain depending on the amount of code you have already.
3) You can maintain a static instance of the class if you will never have more than one secondToLastViewController. See How do I declare class-level properties in Objective-C?
Related
SettingsStore.h
#interface SettingsStore : IASKAbstractSettingsStore
{
#public
NSDictionary *dict;
NSDictionary *changedDict;
}
- (void)removeAccount;
#end
menuView.m
-(IBAction)onSignOutClick:(id)sender
{
SettingsStore *foo = [[SettingsStore alloc]init];
[foo removeAccount];
[self.navigationController pushViewController:foo animated:YES];
exit(0);
}
I want to call this removeAccount function from menuView.m. But I am getting error.
How to fix it and call this removeAccount.
There are few mistakes in your Code please find them below.
[foo removeAccount]; Calling this method is correct
[self.navigationController pushViewController:foo animated:YES];
Not correct because SettingsStore is not subclass of
UIViewController only subclass of UIViewController can be pushed to
Navigation controller
exit(0); Calling this method is not
recommended by Apple
You are calling removeAccount correctly from your menuView.m file, but there are several issues with your code:
You are treating foo as though it were a UIViewController, and it's actually a member of the SettingStore class. Does the SettingStore class refer to an actual screen, or is it more a data object (for storing settings?). If it's the latter, you don't want to push it on. You can create it, and use it, but the user doesn't need to see it.
You are calling exit(0); you can remove that line. If you want to remove the menuView.m file from your memory, remove references to it (e.g. from its parent view controller).
The menuView.m file is confusing, as in, is it a view or a viewController. An IBAction I would normally stick in a ViewController file, rather than a view file. Your basic design pattern is MVC (Model / View / Controller). In this case, it seems your SettingStore file is a Model (data), the menuView.m is a View and your code is for the Controller bit.
My app has two views managed by a Tab Bar Controller. One of the views is Google Map (GMSMapView using their SDK) and the other is a TableView showing a list of the same data. The markers on the map are the same data in the TableView (just alternate presentations of the same data).
I fetch the data from an NSURLSessionDataTask. I'm wondering what is the best way to share that data between the two views. Obviously, I don't want to fetch the data twice for each view. But I'm not sure what is the best practice for making that shared data available/synched between the two views.
A similar question was asked but not answered here.
You can create a model class which holds the map related data in an array/dictionary/custom class objects. You can make this model class as a singleton(can be initialized only once). Both view controllers (i.e the map and table view) can refer to this model to populate date in different views now.
Model Class
-----------
#property (strong, nonatomic) MyCustomDataRepresentationObj *data;
+ (id)sharedModel {
static MyModelClass *sharedModel = nil;
static dispatch_once_t onceToken;
dispatch_once(&onceToken, ^{
sharedModel = [[self alloc] init];
});
return sharedModel;
}
-(void)fetchMapDataWithCompletionBlock:(void(^)(id response, NSError *error)onComplete
{
// Check if data is available.
// Note: You can add a refresh data method which will fetch data from remote servers again.
if (!data) {
__weak MyModelClass *weakSelf = self;
// Make HTTP calls here, assume obj is returned value.
// Convert network response to your data structure
MyCustomDataRepresentationObj *objData = [MyCustomDataRepresentationObj alloc] initWith:obj];
// Now hold on to that obj in a property
weakSelf.data = objData;
// Return back the data
onComplete(objData, error);
} else {
onComplete(objData, nil); // Return pre fetched data;
}
}
Now in view controllers you would have to call the model class method which will inturn make the network call(if needed) and returns data in completion block.
View Controller 1
-----------------
-(void)viewDidLoad
{
// This is where the trick is, it returns the same object everytime.
// Hence your data is temporarily saved while your app is running.
// Another trick is that this can be accessed from other places too !
// Like in next view controller.
MyModel *myModelObj = [MyModel sharedModel];
// You can call where ever data is needed.
[myModelObj fetchMapDataWithCompletionBlock:^(id response, NSError *error){
if (!error) {
// No Error ! do whats needed to populate view
}
}];
}
Do the same in other view controller.
View Controller 2
-----------------
-(void)viewDidLoad
{
// Gets the same instance which was used by previous view controller.
// Hence gets the same data.
MyModel *myModelObj = [MyModel sharedModel];
// Call where ever data is needed.
[myModelObj fetchMapDataWithCompletionBlock:^(id response, NSError *error){
if (!error) {
// No Error ! do whats needed to populate view
}
}];
}
Note: I have just jotted down these lines of code here, there might be syntax errors. Its just to get the basic idea.
A UITabBarController act as a Container.
So from your 2 child ViewControllers, you can access the TabBarViewController with the property parentViewController.
So if you want to share the same data with your 2 child ViewControllers, you can fetch and store your data in your UITabBarController. And, from your UIViewControllers, you can access it like this
MyCustomTabBarController *tabBar = (MyCustomTabBarController*)self.parentViewController;
id data = tabBar.myCustomData;
Use Singleton Patterns create a singleton class and initialize singleton instance in your AppDelegate.m this way you can access your singleton class instance from your AppDelegate by using
How about a data fetching object? Make a new class that makes requests for your data bits and stores the results internally.
You then could get the data into your ViewController with a number of different methods:
Direct Reference Associate this object with each ViewController as a property on the ViewControllers before setting the viewControllers property on the Tab Bar Controller.
Your interface to this new class could include the set of fetched results, as well as a method (with a callback when the request finished perhaps) to tell the object to fetch more results.
Notification Center Your object could post notifications when it has more data, and just include a method to start requesting more data.
Delegate + Registration You could create a protocol for objects that want to get told about changes to the data set, make sure all of your necessary ViewControllers conform, and have a delegates NSArray property on your data fetching object. This is far more manual than Notification Center, but it's slightly easier if you need a very robust interface.
Needless to say, there are a lot of ways to handle this, but they all start with designating a class to do the specific task of fetching/storing your data.
So I have taken the plunge into Objective-C programming for iOS development. I have a little app that I am working on, nothing special, but something to help teach me the ropes. The problem I am having is as follows:
Currently, I have two classes. The first being
ViewController
and the second being one that I created myself called
UserDecision
The View controller shows what is on screen, and UserDecisions currently takes the information from buttons pressed on screen, and performs the proper logic on it while working with my model class. My issue is, that I have an update UI method in UserDecision which needs to update the button properties (text, visibility, etc.) in ViewController if certain events take place. Because of this, I can't user an instance of ViewController because I won't be able to access the buttons on screen. So for this I created a delegate system:
#protocol updateUIDelegate <NSObject>
-(void)hideAll;
-(void)makeBackVisible;
-(void)updateOutput:(NSString *)output;
-(void)updateChoices:(NSString *)choices;
-(void)updateTrueButton:(NSString *)trueString;
-(void)updateFalseButton:(NSString *)falseString;
-(void)removeChoiceFromArray;
#end
The above protocol is defined in UserDecision.h, and then I assigned my ViewController as my delegate:
#interface ViewController : UIViewController <updateUIDelegate>;
And then I flush out said methods in my ViewController.m:
#pragma - updateUIDelegates -
//Called when the last screen is displayed
-(void)hideAll{
[_trueButton setHidden:true];
[_falseButton setHidden:true];
[_choicesText setHidden:true];
[_backButton setHidden:true];
[_resetButton setHidden:false];
}
//Makes back button visible
-(void)makeBackVisible{
[_backButton setHidden:false];
}
//Updates the text on the false button
-(void)updateFalseButton:(NSString *)falseString{
[_falseButton setTitle:falseString forState:UIControlStateNormal];
}
//Updates the text on the true button
-(void)updateTrueButton:(NSString *)trueString{
[_trueButton setTitle:trueString forState:UIControlStateNormal];
}
//Updates the output text box
-(void)updateOutput:(NSString *)output{
[_outputText setText:output];
}
//Updates the choices textbox
-(void)updateChoices:(NSString *)choices{
if(!choicesArray){
choicesArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:4];
}
//If this is the first button press, add string to array and display
if([_choicesText.text isEqualToString:#""]){
[choicesArray addObject:choices];
_choicesText.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#", choices];
}
//Otherwise, add the new string to the array, and print the array
//using a comma as a way to concatinate the string and get rid of
//the ugly look of printing out an array.
else{
[choicesArray addObject:choices];
[_choicesText setText:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#",[choicesArray componentsJoinedByString:#", "]]];
}
}
//Removes the last choice from the array
-(void)removeChoiceFromArray{
[choicesArray removeLastObject];
[_choicesText setText:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#", [choicesArray componentsJoinedByString:#","]]];
}
This allows me to call theses methods by sending them as a message to self.delegate in my UserDecision class when needed.
This is my current setup. My issue has become that I want to create a modal seque view that pops up at the end (after a user presses a button to bring up the view), and which can be dismissed afterward. The problem I have is that this view, from the reading and research I have done online, can only be dismissed through delegation, unless I want things to get nasty. Now, I tried to implement this information in my class, but then I read that a class can only be a delegate to one other class. And since my ViewController(which is my main window) is already a delegate of my UserDecision class, I can't make it a delegate of the new View I have created, and thus can't dismiss the view. So, I am here to ask for your help. How can I go about solving this issue?
Also, for more of my code, should you want to have a look, here is a link to my gitHub: https://github.com/Aghassi/Xcode/tree/master/Bubble%20Tea%20Choice/Bubble%20Tea%20Choice
I read that a class can only be a delegate to one other class. And
since my ViewController(which is my main window) is already a delegate
of my UserDecision class, I can't make it a delegate of the new View I
have created
I don't believe that's true. You can make ViewController implement many different protocols, therefore being delegates to different classes/objects.
For example: (UITableViewDelegate and UITextViewDelegate can both be implemented on the same ViewController for 2 separate objects (UITextView and UITableView).
As for using delegation to close modal windows, another option is to use blocks as well.
It is possible for a viewController to dismiss itself. Just hook up a dismiss button to a function that calls something like:
[self.presentingViewController dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES];
or
[self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
Dismissal can be done with a delegate pattern but it is not required for everything.
You viewController class can be a delegate of multiple objects so it should be able to dismiss the modal view. The only issue is if its a delegate of multiple objects of the same class you may need to check which object is calling it.
Look at the tableView delegate methods as an example, the tableView calls them passing itself as the first parameter.
To dismiss a custom modal view you would define a different protocol anyway so there would be no problem with calling the same method.
See example below:
#protocol OSImageViewControllerProtocol <NSObject>
- (void)dismissImageViewer;
#end
#implementation OSImageViewController
- (void)loadView
{ //LOG(#"loadView called");
scrollView = [[ImageScrollView alloc] init];
scrollView.autoresizingMask = UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleWidth | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleHeight;
UITapGestureRecognizer *doubleTapRecognizer = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:#selector(scrollViewDoubleTapped:)];
doubleTapRecognizer.numberOfTapsRequired = 2;
doubleTapRecognizer.numberOfTouchesRequired = 1;
[scrollView addGestureRecognizer:doubleTapRecognizer];
self.view = scrollView;
}
- (BOOL)prefersStatusBarHidden {
return NO;
}
- (void)scrollViewDoubleTapped:(UITapGestureRecognizer*)recognizer {
//LOG(#"scrollViewDoubleTapped called");
[self.delegate dismissImageViewer];
}
#end
#implementation ViewController
-(void)browseImage:(UIImage*)image
{
OSImageViewController *_imageViewerController = [[OSImageViewController alloc] init];
UIImage *img = [[UIImage alloc] initWithData:UIImagePNGRepresentation(image)];
_imageViewerController.modalTransitionStyle = UIModalTransitionStyleFlipHorizontal;
_imageViewerController.modalPresentationStyle = UIModalPresentationFullScreen;
_imageViewerController.delegate = self;
[self presentViewController:_imageViewerController animated:YES completion:^(void){
[_imageViewerController setImage:img];
}];
}
- (void)dismissImageViewer {
[self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
}
#end
I believe you want to display a modal view from your ViewController.
Let the the modal view be managed by say ViewController2. In ViewController2.h declare a protocol of ViewController2
#protocol viewController2Delegate
-(void)dismissViewController2;
#end
Now make ViewController implement this protocol
#interface ViewController : UIViewController <updateUIDelegate,viewController2Delegate>
Add the method to the ViewController.m
-(void)dismissViewController2
{
[self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
}
Now whenever you push a modal view(managed by ViewController2) from ViewController you set the delegate to self. Your ViewController.m code might look like this
ViewController2 *objViewController2 = [[ViewController2 alloc]init];
objViewController2.delegate = self;
[self presentViewController:objViewController2 animated:YES completion:nil];
Hope this solves your problem
COMMUNICATION PATTERNS
Delegation is one of the communication patterns that more or less loosely coupled objects use to communicate each other. iOS Framework provides the following patterns: KVO, Notification, Delegation, Block, Target-Action.
In general, there are cases where the choice comes down to a matter of taste. However, there are many cases that are pretty clear cut.
It's also important to note that the use of each of this patterns results in a certain level of coupling among objects involved into the communication process.
Let's focus now on Delegation, Block, Target-Action.
DELEGATION
Level of coupling (proportional to the level of mutual ignorance) : loose
It allows us to customize an object’s behaviour (decoration) and to be notified about certain events (callback). In this case, the coupling is pretty loose, because the sender only knows that its delegate conforms to a certain protocol.
Since a delegate protocol can define arbitrary methods, you can model the communication exactly to your needs. You can hand over payloads in the form of method arguments, and the delegate can even respond in terms of the delegate method’s return value. Delegation is a very flexible and straightforward way to establish some sort of blind communication between two object that should be loosely coupled for design reason. Let's think to the communication mechanism between a tableview and its dataSource delegate.
Conversely, if two objects are that tightly coupled to each other that one cannot function without the other, there’s no need to define a delegate protocol (use composition instead). In these cases, the objects can know of the other’s type and talk to each other directly. Two modern examples of this are UICollectionViewLayout and NSURLSessionConfiguration.
TARGET-ACTION
Level of coupling : very loose
Target-Action is the typical pattern used to send messages in response to user-interface events. Both UIControl on iOS and NSControl/NSCell on the Mac have support for this pattern. Target-Action establishes a very loose coupling between the sender and the recipient of the message. The recipient of the message doesn’t know about the sender, and even the sender doesn’t have to know up front what the recipient will be. In case the target is nil, the action will goes up the responder chain until it finds an object that responds to it. On iOS, each control can even be associated with multiple target-action pairs.
A limitation of target-action-based communication is that the messages sent cannot carry any custom payloads. On the Mac action methods always receive the sender as first argument. On iOS they optionally receive the sender and the event that triggered the action as arguments. But beyond that, there is no way to have a control send other objects with the action message.
BLOCK
Blocks are usually used to pass to an object a behaviour to be executed before its lifecycle end. Besides, they can also substitute delegates with a caveat relevant to the potential creation of retain cycle.
self.tableView.didSelectRowAtIndexPath = ^(NSIndexPath *indexPath) {
...
[self.tableView reloadData];
...
}
In this case the sender retain the table view whose selection block retain the sender so we'd better use delegation pattern.
An example in which block communication shines:
self.operationQueue = [[NSOperationQueue alloc] init]
Operation *operation = [[Operation alloc] init];
operation.completionBlock = ^{
[self finishedOperation]
}
[operationQueue addOperation:operation];
There's a retain cycle in the above code as well, but once the queue removes the operation, the retain cycle is broken.
Blocks are a very good fit if a message we call has to send back a one-off response that is specific to this method call, because then we can break potential retain cycles. Additionally, if it helps readability to have the code processing the message together with the message call, it’s hard to argue against the use of blocks. Along these lines, a very common use case of blocks are completion handlers, error handlers, and the like.
A CHART HELPING US TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE
source: objc.io
In your specific case, I'd use the target-action communication pattern to dismiss the presented modal view controller.
For example,
ModalViewController *modalViewController = [[ModalViewController alloc] init];
[self presentViewController:modalViewController animated:YES completion:^{
[modalViewController.closeButton addTarget:self action:#selector(dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:)
forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
}];
i'm doing some testing of Core Data, let's say i have a mainViewController with a navigationBar and addButton.
Clicking on the addButton will open a detailViewController. When i press save to insert a new Object the detailVieController will close and show the table with the new data inserted.
I can think two different way to do that.
FIRST METHOD - Passing the ManagedObjectContext
In the action of the add button i create an instance of the new detailViewController and i pass the managedObjectContext to it. So will be the save button of the detailViewController that will take care of saving the context and then pop the controller.
This is the method called by the addButton in the MainViewController
-(void)addNewObject{
DetailViewController *detVC = [DetailViewController alloc]initWhit:self.managedObjectCOntext];
[self.navigationcontroller pushViewController:detVC animated:YES];
}
This method is called by the save button in the IngredientViewController
-(void)saveObject{
NSError *error;
if (![self.managedObjectContext save:&error]){
NSLog(#"Error");
}
}
SECOND METHOD - Using a delegate
In the action of addButton i create an instance of DetailViewController, i set it as delegate, so when i press the save button in the DetailViewCOntroller will call the delegate that will pass data to the main controller.
This is the method called by the addButton in the MainViewController
(void)addNewObject{
DetailViewController *detVC = [DetailViewController alloc]init];
detVC.delegate = self;
[self.navigationcontroller pushViewController:detVC animated:YES];
}
This method is called by the save button in the IngredientViewController
-(void)saveObject{
[self.delegate detailVCdidSaveObject];
}
This is the delegate implemented in the mainViewController
detailVCdidSaveObject{
NSError *error;
if (![self.managedObjectContext save:&error]){
NSLog(#"Error");
}
}
------------------------------ Passing the object
Is it best to pass raw data to the DetailViewController and create there the object or it's best to pass the instance of the object to DetailViewController that will take care of settin its data?
For Example
This way i link the object instance of the mainVC to the one DetailVC so i can easilly set its value
-(void)addObject{
DetailViewController *detailVC =[[DetailViewController alloc]init];
detailVC.delegate = self;
self.object = [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:#"Object" inManagedObjectContext:self.managedObjectContext];
detailVC.object = self.object;
[self.navigationController pushViewController:detailVC animated:YES];
}
this way i pass raw data and let the detailVC create the instance
-(void)addObject{
DetailViewController *detailVC =[[DetailViewController alloc]initWithName:#"objname"];
[self.navigationController pushViewController:detailVC animated:YES];
}
those code are just pseudocode for educational purpose. all ways works, i just want to know which do you think it's the most correct and why. thanks
I have used the first two methods and in my opinion they are both equally valid (though I personally prefer delegation). However, the third method caused problems if you give the user the option to cancel or go back in a navigation controller. If that happens, you will have an object that you never needed to create.
This sounds like a perfect use case for a NSFetchedResultsController. A NSFetchedResultsController is an object makes displaying data from core data in a UITableView a lot easier. It even tells you when the objects in core data matching a predicate change (insert, delete, update, move).
So the way I would do it is that MainViewController would have a NSFetchedResultsController that provides the data to the UITableView. When you press the add button, it would do what you have in the first method. The DetailViewController will create the new instance, set the values on it then save the managedObjectContext.
Since the MainViewController has the NSFetchedResultsController, it will automatically know that a new object have been created and it can update the UITableView to show it.
The NSFetchedResutsController documentation and the NSFetchedResutsControllerDelegate documentation show you exactly how to use it with a UITableView including code you can copy into your view controller that do the majority of the work.
The actual answer depends on your preference. In my project, I have implemented the first two methods. A definite No for the third method from my side because of same reasons as Kevin mentioned. If the user cancels the operation or some error occurs, then you will have to take care of removing the change (Perhaps write the following code in your didMoveToParentViewController method and cancel method):-
[self.managedObjectContext rollback]
Assuming of course that you do not have any other process modifying that managedObjectContext at the same time.
Now, I prefer the first two methods because :-
The first method allows me to write additional code in saveObject method. Lets say that you want to validate some properties before saving the object. These properties are only present in detailViewController. So, you cannot use a delegate in that situation without explicitly passing each and every property back to delegate function (which can get messy).
Now, assume that you are creating a object in your mainViewController and the detailViewController is only used to populate a field of the object that was created in mainViewController. In such a situation, I would use the delegate method and pass the field back to the mainViewController so that when the user saves the object in mainViewController, then the field values are saved along with it. If the user cancels mainViewController, then the field values are also not saved.
In my project I have 3 controllers;
NavigationController
ServiceTableViewController
DateTableViewController
The ServiceTableViewController is the initial view controller. It has several rows which prompt the user to enter in data, which will be emailed to a particular email address. One of the rows, when tapped, sends the user to the DateTableViewController which prompts the user to select a date from the UIDatePicker.
The issue I am facing is getting data back from DateTableViewController in order to display a label on the ServiceTableViewController to show the date the user selects in the DateTableViewController. I know how to get information from one view controller to another, but to go in reverse, so to speak, is not something I know how to do. Any help is appreciated.
Take a look at this:
https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/CocoaFundamentals/CommunicatingWithObjects/CommunicateWithObjects.html
There are couple of ways to pass data back and forth between view controllers.
Delegates
Target-Aciton
Notification
KVO
but honestly delegates are really all you need really and it sounds like in your current case.
see this -> (Passing Data between View Controllers)
Having said that, if you use delegates, here is how ---
setup a protocol in DateTableViewController.h at the top like so:
#protocol DateTableViewControllerDelegate <NSObject>
- (void)userSelectedThisDate:(NSDate *)d;
end
put this with the other properties
#property (nonatomic, weak) id <DateTableViewControllerDelegate> delegate;
and in DateTableViewController.m with the date to send back
[self.delegate userSelectedThisDate:withTheDateToSendBack];
in and ServiceTableViewController.h add
#import "DateTableViewController.h"
#interface ServiceTableViewController : UIViewController <DateTableViewControllerDelegate>
and since you are UINavigationController, somewhere in ServiceTableViewController.m add this when you are about to push to the DateTableViewController
DateTableViewController *vc = [[DateTableViewController alloc] init];
self.delegate = self;
[self.navigationController pushViewController:vc animated:YES];
and finally put the delegate method in ServiceTableViewController.m
- (void)userSelectedThisDate:(NSDate *)d {
NSLog(#"%#", d); // this should show the returned date
}
Research delegate pattern (here) (a heavily used pattern within Apple frameworks). You want to define a delegate protocol which allows to a date to be passed to the delegate.
You could implement the pattern as an #protocol with a single method and a property on the DateTableViewController. The ServiceTableViewController sets itself as the delegate before pushing the DateTableViewController.
Or, you could implement using a block. Again, the ServiceTableViewController sets the block before pushing the DateTableViewController.