MGSplitViewController not as RootView but within a UIViewController - ios

Question

I'm very new to iOS programming (Coming from Java / C++). I'm trying to set up an app with a TabBarController of which one tab should be a SplitView. I've done my research and I know that UISplitview will not work and everywhere people recommend using the MGSplitViewController. I've looked at the demo but I just can't figure out how to use it without it beeing the app's root view and can't find any sample code that could help
So here is what I do with the classes from the demo in a separate UIViewController class that I afterwards add to the TabBarController: This is my class:
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "MGSplitCornersView.h"
#import "RootViewController.h"
#import "DetailViewController.h"
#interface ChannelViewController : UIViewController {
MGSplitViewController *splitViewController;
RootViewController *rootViewController;
DetailViewController *detailViewController;
}
#property (nonatomic, retain) MGSplitViewController *splitViewController;
#property (nonatomic, retain) RootViewController *rootViewController;
#property (nonatomic, retain) DetailViewController *detailViewController;
#end
And this is my desperate try to set it up
- (id)initWithTabBar
{
self = [super init];
//this is the label on the tab button itself
self.title = #"SplitView";
//use whatever image you want and add it to your project
//self.tabBarItem.image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"name_gray.png"];
// set the long name shown in the navigation bar at the top
self.navigationItem.title=#"Nav Title";
self.splitViewController = [[MGSplitViewController alloc] init];
self.rootViewController = [[RootViewController alloc] init];
self.detailViewController = [[DetailViewController alloc] init];
[self.splitViewController setDetailViewController:detailViewController];
[self.splitViewController setMasterViewController:rootViewController];
[self.view addSubview:splitViewController.view];
[self.rootViewController performSelector:#selector(selectFirstRow) withObject:nil afterDelay:0];
[self.detailViewController performSelector:#selector(configureView) withObject:nil afterDelay:0];
if (NO) { // whether to allow dragging the divider to move the split.
splitViewController.splitWidth = 15.0; // make it wide enough to actually drag!
splitViewController.allowsDraggingDivider = YES;
}
return self;
}
I guess I'm doing something wrong with delegates? Or do I have something else mixed up?
Is the demo doing things in the IB that I can't see in the code?
I get the split view but no content and especially no navigation bar with the buttons the demo comes with.
I'd be very thankful for hints or sample code!

Answer 1

Ok manny, here we go. This is my working code for the interface:
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "MGSplitViewController.h"
#import "ecbView.h"
#import "ecbCalc.h"
#interface splitMain : MGSplitViewController <UIPopoverControllerDelegate,
MGSplitViewControllerDelegate>
{
IBOutlet UIPopoverController* popoverController;
IBOutlet UINavigationController* naviController;
IBOutlet ecbCalc* viewCalcLeft;
IBOutlet ecbView* euroRatesRight;
UIBarButtonItem* savedButtonItem;
BOOL keepMasterInPortraitMode;
BOOL memoryWasDropped;
BOOL viewLoaded;
}
#property (nonatomic, retain) UIPopoverController* popoverController;
#property (nonatomic, retain) UINavigationController* naviController;
#property (nonatomic, retain) ecbCalc* viewCalcLeft;
#property (nonatomic, retain) ecbView* euroRatesRight;
#property (nonatomic, retain) UIBarButtonItem* savedButtonItem;
#property (nonatomic, readonly) BOOL keepMasterInPortraitMode;
#property (nonatomic, readonly) BOOL memoryWasDropped;
#property (nonatomic, readonly) BOOL viewLoaded;
- (void)dismissPopoverController: (BOOL)animated;
- (void)settingsChanged;
#end
and here excerpts from implementation file:
- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder
{
if ((self = [super initWithCoder:aDecoder]))
{
// my initialization...
}
return self;
}
// Implement loadView to create a view hierarchy programmatically, without using a nib.
- (void)loadView
{
CGRect rectFrame = CGRectMake(0.0, 20.0, 768.0, 1004.0 - 48.0); // being above a tab bar!
viewLoaded = NO;
self.view = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:rectFrame];
viewCalcLeft = [[ecbCalc alloc] initWithNibName:#"ecbCalc" bundle:nil];
euroRatesRight = [[ecbView alloc] initWithNibName:#"ecbView-iPad" bundle:nil];
naviController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:self.viewCalcLeft];
naviController.navigationBar.barStyle = UIBarStyleBlack;
naviController.title = nil;
viewCalcLeft.title = NSLocalizedString(#"BtnTitleCalc", #"");
viewCalcLeft.view.hidden = NO;
NSUserDefaults* prefs = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
if ([prefs objectForKey:#"iPadAlwaysSplitTableView"] != nil)
self.keepMasterInPortraitMode = [prefs boolForKey:#"iPadAlwaysSplitTableView"];
else
self.keepMasterInPortraitMode = YES;
NSArray* theViewControllers = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:self.naviController, self.euroRatesRight, nil];
[self setViewControllers:theViewControllers];
[self setDelegate:self];
[self setShowsMasterInPortrait:keepMasterInPortraitMode];
}
// Implement viewDidLoad to do additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
// protection because this one is called twice
if (viewLoaded)
return;
[super viewDidLoad];
if (memoryWasDropped)
{
if (!self.keepMasterInPortraitMode && UIInterfaceOrientationIsPortrait(self.interfaceOrientation))
{
// recreate popover controller
self.popoverController = [[UIPopoverController alloc] initWithContentViewController:self.viewCalcLeft];
}
}
viewLoaded = YES;
}
- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
// Releases the view if it doesn't have a superview.
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
memoryWasDropped = YES;
// Release any cached data, images, etc. that aren't in use.
}
- (void)viewDidUnload
{
[super viewDidUnload];
// Release any retained subviews of the main view.
// e.g. self.myOutlet = nil;
[self dismissPopoverController:NO];
self.popoverController = nil;
self.naviController = nil;
self.viewCalcLeft = nil;
self.euroRatesRight = nil;
viewLoaded = NO;
}
My MainWindow.xib has a UITabBarController and the button for splitMain is configured for this class but with an empty xib entry. So creation has to go via loadView. Maybe I could have done the viewDidLoad stuff within loadView ... but so I had to protect viewDidLoad from being called twice. That happens in loadView as soon as the view is instantiated from MGSplitViewController class because the initWithCoder there is calling [self setup]. In that function the frame rect is calculated with self.view.bounds so that viewDidLoad is called again because the view doesn't exist yet. Maybe one could implement a workaround within MGSplitViewController.m but I was too lazy doing that.
To get this working on a tab bar controller please make sure you commit most of the changes that are published on the MGSplitViewController's git page. Good luck.