De-initialzing a ViewController after dismissal? - swift

Question

I have two viewControllers in my App, the code for the first viewController is as illustrated below:
import UIKit
class firstViewController: UIViewController {
// The below two variables will be passed from the firstViewController to the secondViewController then back again from the secondViewController to the firstViewController:
var selectedRowValue: Int = 0
var selectedSectionValue: Int = 0
let main = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
lazy var secondViewController = main.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "secondViewController")
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
}
// The below function will be triggered when the user tap on a specific tableView cell detailClosure icon. This is when the needed data get sent from this viewController to the secondViewController:
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, accessoryButtonTappedForRowWith indexPath: IndexPath) {
let secondViewControllerProperties = secondViewController as! secondViewController
secondViewControllerProperties.receivedSelectedSectionValueFromFirstVc = indexPath.section
secondViewControllerProperties.receivedSelectedRowValueFromFirstVc = indexPath.row
// The below is the relevant content of a UILabel inside the tapped tableView cell by the user that get send to the secondViewController for it to be displayed as its NavigationBar title:
secondViewControllerProperties.selectedUniversalBeamSectionDesignation = arrayWithAllDataRelatedToUbsSections.filter({ $0.sectionSerialNumber == "\(arrayWithAllSectionsSerialNumbers[indexPath.section])" }).map({ $0.fullSectionDesignation })[indexPath.row]
self.present(secondViewControllerProperties, animated: true, completion: nil)
}
}
// The below extension inside the firstViewController is used to pass data back from the secondViewController to the firstViewController:
extension firstViewController: ProtocolToPassDataBackwardsFromSecondVcToFirstVc {
func dataToBePassedUsingProtocol(passedSelectedTableSectionNumberFromPreviousVc: Int, passedSelectedTableRowNumberFromPreviousVc: Int) {
self.selectedRowValue = passedSelectedTableRowNumberFromPreviousVc
self. selectedSectionValue = passedSelectedTableSectionNumberFromPreviousVc
}
}
Below is the code inside the second view controller:
import UIKit
class secondViewController: UIViewController {
weak var delegate: ProtocolToPassDataBackwardsFromSecondVcToFirstVc?
// The below variables get their values when the data get passed from the firstViewController to the secondViewController:
var receivedSelectedRowValueFromFirstVc: Int = 0
var receivedSelectedSectionValueFromFirstVc: Int = 0
var selectedUniversalBeamSectionDesignation: String = ""
// Inside the below navigationBar declaration, its labelTitleText will depend on the tapped tableViewCell by the user inside the firstViewController:
lazy var navigationBar = CustomUINavigationBar(navBarLeftButtonTarget: self, navBarLeftButtonSelector: #selector(navigationBarLeftButtonPressed(sender:)), labelTitleText: "UB \(selectedUniversalBeamSectionDesignation)", navBarDelegate: self)
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
view.addSubview(navigationBar)
}
// The below gets triggered when the user hit the back button inside the navigationBar of the secondViewController. This is where using the Protocol data get passed back to the firstViewController:
extension secondViewController: UINavigationBarDelegate {
#objc func navigationBarLeftButtonPressed(sender : UIButton) {
if delegate != nil {
delegate?.dataToBePassedUsingProtocol(passedSelectedTableSectionNumberFromPreviousVc: self.selectedTableSectionNumberFromPreviousViewController, passedSelectedTableRowNumberFromPreviousVc: self.selectedTableRowNumberFromPreviousViewController)
}
dismiss(animated: true) {}
}
}
However, what I am noticing is whenever the secondViewController gets dismissed when the user hit on the back button inside the navigationBar of the secondViewController. The secondViewController does not get de-initialized, and therefore, whenever I press on a different cell inside the tableView inside the firstViewController, the navigationBar title that gets displayed inside the secondViewController is still the same as the one displayed when I pressed the first time. Since the secondViewController did not get de-initialzied and thus, I am seeing the same values as the first time it got initialized.
My question is how to de-initialize the secondViewController when it gets dismissed, so that every time I tap on a different cell inside the tableView inside the firstViewController a new secondViewController gets initialized?

Answer 1

Your code generates secondViewController once and reuses it (it's a property).
lazy var secondViewController = main.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "secondViewController")
It means it will live until the first view controller is destroyed, and of course - will be reused.
Instead, you should create it as needed.
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, accessoryButtonTappedForRowWith indexPath: IndexPath) {
// Create the second view controller
let secondViewController = main.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "secondViewController")
let secondViewControllerProperties = secondViewController as! secondViewController
secondViewControllerProperties.receivedSelectedSectionValueFromFirstVc = indexPath.section
secondViewControllerProperties.receivedSelectedRowValueFromFirstVc = indexPath.row
// The below is the relevant content of a UILabel inside the tapped tableView cell by the user that get send to the secondViewController for it to be displayed as its NavigationBar title:
secondViewControllerProperties.selectedUniversalBeamSectionDesignation = arrayWithAllDataRelatedToUbsSections.filter({ $0.sectionSerialNumber == "\(arrayWithAllSectionsSerialNumbers[indexPath.section])" }).map({ $0.fullSectionDesignation })[indexPath.row]
self.present(secondViewControllerProperties, animated: true, completion: nil)
}
}
Remove the lazy var of course, it is no longer needed.
Also, you could just do:
let secondViewController = main.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "secondViewController") as! SecondViewController instead of casting it later, it's a bit cleaner.