Detail View filled with plist information - ios

Question

I've been following a tutorial on iOS development - specifically drill-down UITableViews. I have my own custom plist established, but I can't seem to get the DetailViewController to populate with my plist information. I could really use some help here, I'm a bit over my head!
edit: Here's some details...
The app works through a plist-populated RootViewController, which is a UITableView. When there aren't any children left in the plist, it changes to a Detail view:
AppDelegate.m
NSDictionary *tempDict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:#"Data" ofType:#"plist"]];
self.data = tempDict;
RootViewController.m
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
if(CurrentLevel == 0) { // At the 'root' of the plist
//Initilalize our table data source
NSArray *tempArray = [[NSArray alloc] init];
self.tableDataSource = tempArray;
AppDelegate *AppDelegate = (AppDelegate *)[[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate];
self.tableDataSource = [AppDelegate.data objectForKey:#"Rows"];
self.navigationItem.title = #"PedalTome";
}
else
self.navigationItem.title = CurrentTitle;
}
later on...
- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
//Get the dictionary of the selected data source.
NSDictionary *dictionary = [self.tableDataSource objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
//Get the children of the present item.
NSArray *Children = [dictionary objectForKey:#"Children"];
if([Children count] == 0) {
DetailViewController *dvController = [[DetailViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"DetailView" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
[self.navigationController pushViewController:dvController animated:YES];
}
else {
//Prepare to tableview.
RootViewController *rvController = [[RootViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"RootViewController" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
//Increment the Current View
rvController.CurrentLevel += 1;
//Set the title;
rvController.CurrentTitle = [dictionary objectForKey:#"Title"];
//Push the new table view on the stack
[self.navigationController pushViewController:rvController animated:YES];
rvController.tableDataSource = Children;
}
}
My DetailViewController.m is empty, with the exception of a placeholder self.navigationController.title.
If I'm understanding correctly, I need to pass information from RootViewController to DetailViewController - the location and implementation of the plist, the index level (is that what it's called) in the plist, and the string inside that index level (under the key Detail).
At this point, any progress is amazing progress. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You can pass whatever information you need to your DetailViewController by setting up a synthesized property in your DetailViewController, and then passing your data to it inside your if-block.
For example, in your DetailViewController.h you would have the following (without ARC):
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSDictionary *myAwesomeDictionary;
Or, with ARC enabled:
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSDictionary *myAwesomeDictionary;
Then in DetailViewController.m you would have the following:
#synthesize myAwesomeDictionary;
Then you would change your code block to the following:
if([Children count] == 0) {
DetailViewController *dvController = [[DetailViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"DetailView" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
[dvController setMyAwesomeDictionary:dictionary];
[self.navigationController pushViewController:dvController animated:YES];
}
This assumes that the NSDictionary called dictionary that you created a few lines above is the data that you'd like to show in your DetailViewController.
Then in your DetailViewController's viewDidLoad: method you can access that dictionary using self.myAwesomeDictionary and do whatever you need to do with it.
Disclaimer:
Two things seem to go against Apple's code style standards in your code:
Your AppDelegate stores your model (your plist). - Apple says that you shouldn't crowd your AppDelegate with global data/logic. In general, only write code that pertains specifically to a class, in that specific class.
You aren't parsing your plist into custom objects. - This makes it hard to code because you constantly have to figure out what your generic Array and Dictionary objects represent, and make your code totally unreadable for other people.
Some of your instance variable names are capitalized. For example, NSArray *Children should be NSArray *children and CurrentLevel should be currentLevel. Only Class names have the first letter capitalized.
Check out http://jlawr3nc3.github.com - specifically my CompanyRecords example code for information on how to make a class and FunWithArrays for how to parse a plist into custom objects. MusicLibraryiOS then delves into how to take a plist, parse it into custom objects, and then display it in a UITableView along with a detail view.

Answer 2

Table View Specifier May do what you need.
Specified Table View is an iOS table view that has its contents specified
via a plist file. Its purpose is largely demonstrative but is also designed
to be used in a live product (useful for credits pages). Can be used with
iOS version 4.2 and above.
A dig through their code will most likely be enlightening.