When does searchDisplayController delegate methods get called? - iphone

Question

I set up my searchDisplayController and searchBar like so:
UISearchBar *aSearchBar = [[UISearchBar alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 150, 44)];
self.reportSearchBar = aSearchBar;
_reportSearchBar.tintColor = DARKGRAY_COLOR;
_reportSearchBar.autoresizingMask = UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleLeftMargin;
_reportSearchBar.delegate = self;
[aSearchBar release];
UISearchDisplayController *searchDisplayCtlr = [[UISearchDisplayController alloc] initWithSearchBar:self.reportSearchBar contentsController:self];
self.reportSearchDisplayController = searchDisplayCtlr;
self.reportSearchDisplayController.searchResultsDataSource = self;
self.reportSearchDisplayController.searchResultsDelegate = self;
[searchDisplayCtlr release];
UIBarButtonItem *searchBBI = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:_reportSearchBar];
self.reportSearchBBI = searchBBI;
[searchBBI release];
[self.navigationItem setRightBarButtonItem:_reportSearchBBI animated:NO];
I checked if my ViewController conforms to the class just in case:
if ([self conformsToProtocol:#protocol(UISearchDisplayDelegate)]) {
NSLog(#"conform to search display");
}
My ViewController .h file has:
<UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource, UISearchBarDelegate, UISearchDisplayDelegate>
however, I set a break point at
- (BOOL)searchDisplayController:(UISearchDisplayController *)controller shouldReloadTableForSearchString:(NSString *)searchString {
[self filterContentForSearchText:searchString];
return YES;
}
And it never reaches there. I implement one of the UISearBarDelegate methods and it does get to that method. When I run Apple's example code TableSearch, the searchDisplayController delegate method copied above does get run. So for me, I try to put in text into the search bar and my app crashes since the filtered list has no objects in it since the searchDisplayController delegate never gets called.
Thoughts? Thanks!

Answer 1

I just see in the apple reference:
searchController = [[UISearchDisplayController alloc]
initWithSearchBar:searchBar contentsController:self];
searchController.delegate = self;
searchController.searchResultsDataSource = self;
searchController.searchResultsDelegate = self;
I dont see the searchController.delegate = self in your code, isn't that nessesary?
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#DOCUMENTATION/UIKit/Reference/UISearchDisplayController_Class/Reference/Reference.html

Answer 2

Make sure you create an iVar for the UISearchDisplayController in your header file.
If you create an UISearchDisplayController using:
UISearchDisplayController* searchDisplayController = [[UISearchDisplayController alloc] initWithSearchBar:searchField contentsController:self];
it will get released by ARC, it will not call any delegate methods and when you'll call self.searchDisplayController (the UIViewController's property) it will be nil.
So, the fix is:
In your header (.h) file:
#interface MenuViewController : UIViewController <UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate, UISearchBarDelegate, UISearchDisplayDelegate> {
UISearchDisplayController* searchDisplayController;
UISearchBar *searchField;
UITableView* tableView;
NSArray* searchResults;
}
and in the implementation (.m) file:
searchField = [[UISearchBar alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, 49)];
searchField.delegate = self;
searchDisplayController = [[UISearchDisplayController alloc] initWithSearchBar:searchField contentsController:self];
searchDisplayController.delegate = self;
searchDisplayController.searchResultsDataSource = self;
searchDisplayController.searchResultsDelegate = self;
tableView.tableHeaderView = searchField;
tableView.contentOffset = CGPointMake(0, searchField.frame.size.height);
When implemented like that, you can call both self.searchDisplayController and searchDisplayController in the rest of your code.