Load different view controllers inside UIView (Like iFrame for Xcode) - iphone

I am in the process of making my first iPhone app with storyboard in Xcode and am stuck. My main screen has a view controller called MemberViewController, which is the home screen. This screen has a UIView that is smaller than the view controller called mainContent.
So basically, I want to be able to load different view controllers (all the same size as the UIView) inside the UIView.
MemberViewController (home page)
-mainContent (UIView)
GetStartedViewController (separate view controller that I want to show inside the UIView)
ProfileViewController (separate view controller that I want to show inside the UIView)
For example, I want the GetStartedViewController to have a button that I can press to switch to the ProfileViewController. The view controllers need to be able to replace each other inside the mainContent UIView.
Thank you so much in advance for your help. If there's an easier way to do this, please let me know.

I use this technique a lot actually. My typical setup of a root UIViewController (you call it memberController) has a view with a UITabBar at the bottom, and then another UIView (you call it mainContent) which contains the rest of the space above that bar.
memberController stays on the screen all the time. Inside of mainContent, add a UINavigationController and initialize it with your first content-carrying GetStartedViewController. When you want to switch tabs on your tab bar, send the appropriate message to this UINavigationController and the views will change inside.
HINT: say your UINavigationController is called navController - you can get rid of the navigation bar (blue one at the top) by sending the message [navController setNavigationBarHidden:TRUE];
EDIT: The code you requested looks like this. This adds a nav controller to a window's view in the applicationDidFinishLaunchingWithOptions method. Instead of window, just do this same thing on your view controller in the viewDidLoad.
window and navController are both properties
self.window = [[[UIWindow alloc] initWithFrame:[[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]] autorelease];
self.navController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:[YourViewController new]];
[self.navController setNavigationBarHidden:YES];
[self.window addSubview:self.navController.view];
[self.window makeKeyAndVisible];
Hope this helps!

Related

How to use UItableView and UINavigationController in a "search" application ? Best practices

I would like to combine UITableView and UINaviationController in an app but as a newbie most apps I've seen just send you straight to the results view (UITableView). But, I guess a "normal" search application does not assume you have the results on the first screen. There should be a search form on first screen with input fields and a button that triggers the search process and show some results and navigation.
So, I'm just trying to replicate this normal behaviour in my app. I've already made the search form (no navigation shown on it, of course) and a seperated View called "ListingViewController" with its related View and containing a UITableView and where I think I should add the Navigation...The next idea will be to make a DetailViewController and possibly and ListingMapController to show the listing in a GoogleMap.
So, where I'm stuck at is how to add this Navigation Controller ?
Some suggested me to add it in the SearchViewController delegate...
But I don't want a navigation on search form of course...
Some suggested me to open the Navigation controller modally...
But, I"m also planning at adding a Tab Bar to allow user to see other informations (like About,etc...) and with a modal Nav controller I don't know if they will still see the bottom Tabbar...
Any suggestions? What do you think is of best practices especially to avoid my app of being rejected by Apple?
Thx in advance for reading and helping!
Stephane
You could init the navigationController with your View Controller as the root view Controller. Then hide the navigationBar (if you need to). You would then add the navigationController.view as the subview. This will basically look like the original view controller. Then you can pushViewController: animated: to push the results view Controller.
So, for example in your AppDelegate (or in the proper view controller):
Create a property and ivar for a UINavigationController and hook up its outlets in interface builder. Then set your search controller as the root view controller for the nav bar, and add it as a subview.
MySearchViewController* searchController = [[MySearchViewController alloc] init];
self.myNavigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootController:searchController];
[searchController release];
self.myNavigationController.navigationBarHidden = YES;
[self.window addSubview:self.myNavigationController.view];
[self.window makeKeyAndVisible];
Then of course in your searchController, you would simply say:
ResultsViewController* myResultsViewController = [[MyResultsViewController alloc] init];
//You may want to create another init method and pass in some arguments like an array:
// [[MyResultsViewController alloc] initWithResults:results];
then push the viewController
//This is in your search controller class
[self.navigationController pushViewController:myResultsViewController Animated:YES];
[myResultsViewController release];
from the results viewController, to get back you pop the view controller off of the navigationController view controller's stack.
//In results view controller perhaps in some IBAction for a back button:
-(IBAction)backButtonPressed:(id)sender
{
[self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}

Help me understand understand how to access UINaviagtionController using this implementation

So I'm building an app and I am running through a few ViewControllers that don't need to know about each other, so I start off switching through views like so...
// remove the previous view in order to load in the new view
NSArray *sViews = [self.view subviews];
[sViews makeObjectsPerformSelector:#selector(removeFromSuperview)];
// create the new view, in this case the user wishes to
BaseViewController *baseVC = [[BaseViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"BaseViewController" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
self.baseViewController = baseVC;
[baseVC release];
// add the newly created view to the screen
[self.view insertSubview:baseViewController.view atIndex:0];
The above is the view controller that I want the navigation controller to reside in. So within the .m of this view controller I created a UINavigationController as a member variable and named it navController. I then tried implementing a UINavigationController using the code below.
UIViewController *control = [[BusinessDisplayViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"BusinessDisplayViewController" bundle: nil];
navController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:control];
[self presentModalViewController:navController animated:YES];
The problem I'm running into is two fold. First, when the BusinessDisplayViewController (below) is loaded there is a 20 pixel or so gap between my mapView and tableView that isn't there when I was loading it using insertSubview: not sure why that would be. Second, once I'm in BusinessDisplayViewController.m I'm not sure how to access the navigationController created in BaseViewController. Could someone explain why my view would be effected, how I could access the navigationController or if I'm even going about this the right way.
UINavigationController is designed for use in one of three possible contexts on iPhone:
As the app's root view controller, with its view added as a subview of the app's window.
As one of the viewControllers of a UITabBarController.
Presented as a full screen view controller via presentModalViewController:animated:.
In your case, the UINavigationController has configured itself for presentation as a subview of the window. This is why you see the 20 pixel gap at the top. Since the window object underlaps the status bar, UINavigationController offsets the position of its navigation bar by 20 pixels (or more, if you're on a phone call).
The standard way to use UINavigationController as your root view controller is to construct it as a property of your app delegate in application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:, and add its view as a subview of the window. Then within any view controller you push onto your navigation stack, you can access the navigation controller object using self.navigationController.
Usually, you want your UINavigationController to be at the root level, Is there a specific reason for having your app setup this way? To answer your question though, you can access the variable by setting a property for it, then using the dot notation: baseVC.navController.
For the 20 pixel space problem, post your BaseViewController view related code. It is probably a bounds vs frame issue.

iPhone SDK: Can't specify view to Navigation Controller

I am working on my first iPhone app and making good progress. But there is one thing I just don't understand.
When my app starts it displays a UIView with some functionality on it. This works fine. One of the buttons on that screen is supposed to load a new view (HistoryViewController) which contains a navigation controller.
The problem is… whenever HistoryViewController is loaded the app crashes because there is no view. It's true because in the xib-File I can't connect the File's Owner's view to anything:
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?1a3caa8b8d.png
I definitely have a lack of knowledge somewhere but after hours of research I have not been able to solve this problem.
Any hints?
Thank you!
Normally you would either:
click on that bottom line (History Table View Controller, "HTVC") and in the inspector window specify a NIB Name - which means you would first have to make a new NIB.
or
doubleclick that bottom line (HTVC), so the 320x480 preview window pops up, and then drag in a UIView from the library.
Using the first method, you tell the view controller to dynamically load the NIB as the view to connect, and using the second method you do this for the view controller using IB. The view you drag in will then show up as a child of that bottom line (HTVC).
edit to actually load the nib file you created, do this to push the view controller:
UIViewController *controller = [[UIViewController alloc] autorelease];
[controller initWithNibName:#"nibfilename" bundle:nil];
[self.navigationController pushViewController:controller animated:YES];
substituting UIViewController for your own view controller class (if needed) and nibfilename with the filename of the nib (minus the extension!)
It's hard to tell what your problem is exactly, but I'll offer some advice.
When creating a navigation controller (or tab controller for that matter) in interface builder, its easy to not understand what is really happening, so my suggestion drop interface builder for a second and lets build it in code.
In general I really dislike building either UI Navigation Controller or tab view controller in interface builder, I really just rather build the views themselves and create the UINavigationController in code.
You have a view which shows the HistoryTableViewController which you want to be contained in a UINavigationController so the code to do this is:
- (void) showHistory
{
HistoryViewController *historyVC = [[HistoryViewController alloc] init];
// If you create historyviewcontroller in nib
// HistoryViewController *histroyVC [[HistoryViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"myNib" bundle:nil];
UINavigationController *navController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootController:histroyViewController];
[self presentModalViewContoller:navController animated:YES];
}
This will create a nav controller showing your history view controller as the root view controller. Can't be easier.

Custom transitions between view controllers?

Is there a good way to provide custom transitions between view controllers? For example, in the Photos app on the iPad, tapping on a photo album changes the navigation controller, but it also animates nicely into the grid of photos.
Thanks.
If the nice animation you're referring to is the photo grid sliding into view from the right, that's handled by the UINavigationController automatically. You just tell it which view you want to show and it will handle the slide animation for you.
This sets up the navigation controller with your first view (the photo album table) on it.
// init your first view controller here, create a navigation controller for it
UIViewController *myRootViewController;
UINavigationController *myNavController;
myNavController = [[UINavigationController alloc]
initWithRootViewController:[myRootViewController view]];
// the nav controller now owns your first view
[myRootView release];
// add the nav controller view (ie. do this in the app delegate)
[window addSubView:[myNavController view]];
Then create the second view (the photo grid) and ask the navigation controller to display it.
// init your second view controller here
UIViewController *mySecondViewController;
[myNavController pushViewController:[mySecondViewController view] animated:YES];
[mySecondView release];

Set a navigation controller without an app delegate

I would like to show a Navigation Controller after clicking a button. Every tutorial assumes the navigation controller will be the first screen so it links it to the App Delegate, but App delegate only appears at MainWindow.xib.
How do you guys add a navigation controller to a view different than the MainWindow?
Thanks!
Here is some sample code to expand on Roger's answer. The following method is linked to some user interaction on the current view controller (to compose an email for example). This will give the compose view the navigation bar across the top instead of coding buttons inside your custom view.
-(void) composeButtonPushed: (id) sender {
ComposeViewController *controller = [[ComposeViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"ComposeView" bundle:nil];
UINavigationController *composeNavController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:controller];
[self presentModalViewController:composeNavController animated:NO];
}
UINavigationController is to navigate a heirarchy of views with UIViewControllers. If you don't have a root UIViewController, it won't work (and doesn;t make sense). If you do have a UIViewController, you simply send a - (id)initWithRootViewController:(UIViewController *)rootViewController init message to a new navigation controller passing in your UIViewController.