Is it possible to modify the properties of a subclass from a parent class in Swift 4? - swift

Question

Via a method or closure, perhaps?
I created a subclass view controller of my superclass/parent view controller and placed labels with placeholder text in that subclass view controller.
I want to set the labels' values to blank strings from the superclass/parent view controller, or, specifically, from an IBAction function that causes the subclass view controller to appear.
Here is the code, first from the parent class, then from the subclass...
'''
class ViewController: UIViewController {
#IBAction func leavingView(){
self.EntryViewController.entryDateLabel.text = ""
self.EntryViewController.entryLabel.text = ""
self.dismiss(animated: true, completion: nil)
}
'''
then from the subclass...
'''
class EntryViewController: ViewController {
#IBOutlet var entryDateLabel: UILabel!
#IBOutlet var entryLabel: UILabel!
}
'''

Answer 1

I have come up with 2 solutions to this problem, without having the parent view controller know about its subclass.
In the first example the parent sets properties on itself that the child listens to (via the didSet method, it then updates its view accordingly. However, this isn't ideal because the entryDate and entry string fields are useless on their own, almost redundant in the parent.
class ParentViewController: UIViewController {
var entryDate: String?
var entry: String?
#IBAction func leavingView(){
self.entryDate = ""
self.entry = ""
self.dismiss(animated: true, completion: nil)
}
}
class ChildViewController: ParentViewController {
#IBOutlet var entryDateLabel: UILabel!
#IBOutlet var entryLabel: UILabel!
override var entryDate: String? {
didSet {
guard isViewLoaded else {
return
}
entryDateLabel.text = entryDate
}
}
override var entry: String? {
didSet {
guard isViewLoaded else {
return
}
entryLabel.text = entry
}
}
}
In my opinion, the second solution is clearer and keeps implementation details more separate because you're using instructions or events to notify the child view controllers.
class ParentViewController: UIViewController {
#IBAction func leavingView(){
self.dismiss(animated: true, completion: didLeaveView)
}
func didLeaveView() { }
}
class ChildViewController: ParentViewController {
#IBOutlet var entryDateLabel: UILabel!
#IBOutlet var entryLabel: UILabel!
override func didLeaveView() {
entryDateLabel.text = ""
entryLabel.text = ""
}
}

Answer 2

Since your requirement is not that much clear I have created a demo for you and into that demo I have added child ContainerViewController into parent ViewController and from that parent view controller you can change UILabel text when you click on UIButton of parent ViewController and code will be for ViewController
class ViewController: UIViewController {
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
}
#IBAction func btnFromParentViewTapped(_ sender: Any) {
//Here get the child of your parent view controller
if let containerView = self.children[0] as? ContainerViewController {
containerView.lblContainer.text = ""
}
}
}
and ContainerViewController code will be:
class ContainerViewController: UIViewController {
#IBOutlet weak var lblContainer: UILabel!
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Do any additional setup after loading the view.
}
}
Don't need to add much here because you are accessing it from parent view.
And your result will be:
As you can see when I click on button which title says Change Container label text the label text from ContainerViewController set to empty string.
For more info check THIS demo project.