My goal is to get a navigation bar like the HBO GO app on iPad. Their nav bar has a larger height and a custom background. It seems like they're using a navigation controller since when you press on a show it takes you to a new screen with a back button.
I'm wondering either
1) Can I use an instance of UINavigationBar without a NavigationController and use the navigation bar delegate to handle pushing and popping my views?
or
2)Is there another way that I can implement this?
I am currently trying to do this with a navigation controller and navigation bar but I am running into difficulties and I think its not the best way to do it. Also Apple docs specifically say not to change the frame of the navigation bar in a navcontroller.
Ideas please? Thanks in advance!
From the looks of it, the HBO Go application uses completely custom navigation controls. A basic UINavigationController-alike class is relatively straightforward to build, but you must be careful to consider that UIViewControllers are not intended to be nested on iOS <= 4 and so you will have to pass through several methods such as view{Will,Did}appear:.
I recommend starting from the ground up, as trying to heavily customize the built-in controls will only lead to further frustrations as you run into issues or limitations in their customizability.
Related
I am developing app that has multiple skins and I have a dilemma on how to implement this.
One of the solutions would be to have separate nib files for every skin, and load it depending on which skin is currently selected. Problem with this is that I can't edit navigation bar of navigation controller (which my app uses), and I have to change it's background image and back button image etc.. I came up with an idea to hide this navigation bar on every screen and replace it with custom UIView in Interface Builder which will act as navigation bar and custom back button with IBAction for popping current View Controller, so that user won't see any difference.
Is this approach acceptable and if I make it this way, will I have problems with rejection in App Store?
If you choose to hide & replace the UINavigationBar with your own UIView it's no problem as far as Apple goes.
However, I can tell you that you will have to spend some time trying to replicate some visual effects that come naturally with UINavigationBar.
For example, when you push/pop a new controller, you will see that the navigation bar title will slide & fade beautifully. The same applies for left and right bar items.
Personally I would not completely hide the UINavigationBar, but customize it. In the end it all depends on what you want, but by default the UINavigationBar is pretty customizable.
You can add your own buttons or even entire UIViews as left and right bar items. Also, you can add your own UIView as the title (with your own label, custom font or whatever) or change the background.
EDIT:
To easily customize the looks in your entire application, you can subclass UINavigationController and create your own CustomUINavigationController. Then, in viewDidLoad method you can change whatever you want to the navigation bar and this will be accessible in the entire application.
No way, what you are doing is perfect. This will work & no way it will get rejected from app store (just based on this approach). I too have explored several ways to provide skins & what you wrote seemed to be the least hassle-some. Plus its way more easier to create UI elements in Interface Builder hence the separate nib files for different skins.
I am saying this so confidently 'coz I have done the same thing & app store approved.
Best of luck.
I want to create tabbar controller placed at the top like Real Simple Recipes in iPad has done. I suspect that it is not UITabBarController as I have tried so many ways to place tab bar on the top by setting its view frame as
self.tabBarController.tabBar.view.frame = CGRectMake (0,0,768,self.tabBarController.tabBar.view.frame.height);
But it is not working.
Is it custom tabbar controller created or it is managed manually ? Any sample code or direction would be appriciated.
You want to make a custom view switcher of your own. This blog post has a nice tutorial for doing so. It uses a segmented control to do the switching, but you could adapt it to use a row of buttons if you needed a custom look.
(If you are OK requiring iOS 5, this gets easier with the view controller containment APIs, and it'd be a completely different implementation to the one suggested in that article.)
I have an application that seems best suited for a navigation controller. There are a few places where navigation splits off and is not completely hierarchical but I think I can remedy that just using a modal view at those points.
I want to know if this is the best way to navigate through multiple views or if there is a better way. I want the user to be able to progress through several steps but be able to go back a step or even return to the beginning at certain points.
Additionally, I want to be able to do this using custom buttons. I want to use the entire screen without any navigation bars, etc. I figured I could push and pop the stack with my own custom buttons but I want to know how to make sure the screen is totally usable by me.
As far as I know, Navigation controller is the best way to navigate among views, you can go back and forth between views using navigation controller easily, even you can present navigation controller as modal view. You can specify your own custom navigation items in navigation bar. And if you do not want navigation bar, you can hide navigation bar. pushing and popping is the best way to implement navigation among views.
#gonzobrains
I have been in that situation!
Here's what I'd do:
"Hide the navigation bar" using the setHidden property. At places where you want the navigation bar to be seen, I suggest you use a UIToolbar with custom buttons. (its almost impossible to differentiate)
to go back one step you can popViewController
to go all the way back you can use popToRootViewController (like the top right corner button in the IMDB app)
There is no reason why you should not be able to use a navigation controller without using the navigation bar.
Hope this helps!
Keep the nav controller, but you can hide the nav bar easily enough. It could be a viable solution, but make sure your implementation is solid and clear; otherwise you may be rejected. A possible alternative would be to have pages side by side, as in the weather app…but it's your decision as to which paradigm is best.
I've got a UISearchBar in my view, and when the results button is pressed I'd like it to load in a new view. Is this possible without using a navigation controller?
I'm new to iPhone development so not entirely sure if moving between views is solely reliable on a navigation controller or not. From all the examples I've seen using pushViewController, it seems to look that way. Hoping I'm proven wrong.
UINavigationController provides the simplest way to manage a stack of view controllers, but it's not necessary by any means; you can move your views around, and add and remove them from the hierarchy, however you like. Can you elaborate on what you're trying to do, and why you want to avoid using a navigation controller?
Im a budding iphone developer, and doing my best but i have a query regarding the UINavigationController.
I have a tab bar app, with 3 tabs.
The 1st tab has five UIButtons, each loading a different "section" of the app, and each section will have a number of views.
The other tabs simply display some info.
as users select any of the UIButtons on my first tab i am using [self.view addSubview: xxxxx];
and as users navigate away from this view i use [self.view removeFromSuperview];
My question is:
Is this a bad way to do things? should i use a navigation controller? The reason i have not used one is because i wanted a custom looking UI and i understand that the navigation controller forces your design a little.
And on top of that i will be using core data to implement persistent storage.... will my way of implementing this application cause an issue with core data?
Any help regarding thsi would be highly appreciated.
Cheers
Tom
First, if you don't need a navigation controller, then don't use it. You shouldn't feel bad about it. That said, I think UINavigationController doesn't impose a specific UI on you at all. It's very easy to hide the navigation bar and implement any UI you like. The thing that UINavigationController does impose is a modular design: each view is managed by a separate view controller and takes up the full screen. Only you can answer if this design is suitable for your app. If it is and if your app is designed around a hierarchy of views, a navigation controller is probably a good choice.
As you said: when one of the five buttons is tapped the users is navigating to another view and the five buttons disappear. This is what the navigation controller is designed for and helps you manage the memory better than simply adding and removing views (depending on how many views are added/removed it might also be better on performance). As Ole points out the NavigationController is highly customizable and doesn't impose much.
A NavigationController gives you more flexibility down the road: say you want to add another hierarchy level after one of the buttons has been tapped in version 2.0. Then you will find that your MainView will be growing as you keep adding views to it. A UINavigationController keeps your code well structured and lets you extend the navigation later one.
CoreData is very flexible and UI-independent. You shouldn't have to worry about this.