Trouble setting UISwitch in FlipsideViewController - iphone

Question

I have an iPhone utility app from the standard template, so I have MainViewController and FlipsideViewController that gets initialized and called controller. In controller's xib I have a UISwitch called pathSwitch and a UISegmentedControl called locationSelector that are outlets (and hooked up!) When I call the showInfo:(id)sender method, I do the following:
[EDIT] Adding the interface of the controller...
[EDIT 2] Updated interface to show added properties
- (IBAction)showInfo:(id)sender {
ALog(#"method begin...");
FlipsideViewController *controller = [[FlipsideViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"FlipsideView" bundle:nil];
DLog(#">sun path visible = %#, setting flip side controller switch", sunPathIsVisible ? #"YES" : #"NO");
// deleted -> [controller.pathSwitch setOn:sunPathIsVisible];
controller.sunPathIsVisible = sunPathIsVisible; // added this
DLog(#">location mode is %d, setting flip side controller segment index to %d - 1 = %d", locationMode, locationMode, locationMode - 1);
// deleted -> controller.locationSelector.selectedSegmentIndex = locationMode - 1;
controller.delegate = self;
controller.locationMode = locationMode; // added this
controller.modalTransitionStyle = UIModalTransitionStyleFlipHorizontal;
[self presentModalViewController:controller animated:YES];
[controller release];
}
#interface FlipsideViewController : UIViewController {
id <FlipsideViewControllerDelegate> delegate;
int locationMode; // added this
UISegmentedControl *locationSelector;
BOOL sunPathIsVisible;
UISwitch *pathSwitch;
}
#property (nonatomic, assign) id <FlipsideViewControllerDelegate> delegate;
#property int locationMode; // added this
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UISegmentedControl *locationSelector;
#property BOOL sunPathIsVisible; // added this
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UISwitch *pathSwitch;;
- (IBAction)done:(id)sender;
- (IBAction)cancel:(id)sender;
#end
// There's also the `protocol` stuff, but I left that out here...
The problem is that the controls do not accept their values and always show segment 0 and OFF. If I set their properties in controller's viewWillAppear method, they do show the correct setting.
Is controller not fully loaded when I do this or something?

Answer 1

You're probably right. The cleanest way would be to add some properties to the FlipsideViewController, and set those. Then let viewWillAppear set the actual switches using these properties.
This will also put the UI layout issues of FlipsideViewController where they belong, namely in FlipsideViewController and not in any other controller that may ever use it. (i.e. if you ever decide to not use a switch but some kind of button, you can change FlipsideViewController without having to look at other code)
edit
Some clarification. Try to add properties to FlipsideViewController with these lines at the relevant places:
BOOL switchState;
NSInteger locationMode;
#property (nonatomic,assign) BOOL switchState;
#property (nonatomic,assign) NSInteger locationMode;
#synthesize switchState;
#synthesize locationMode;
Then, in your current -(IBAction)showInfo:(id)sender you could say:
FlipsideViewController *controller = [[FlipsideViewController alloc]
initWithNibName:#"FlipsideView" bundle:nil];
controller.switchState = sunPathIsVisible;
controller.locationMode = locationMode;
controller.delegate = self;
// etc etc
Then, in FlipsideViewController, in viewDidLoad, put the actual handling of the switch value:
[self.pathSwitch setOn:self.sunPathIsVisible];
[self.locationSelector setSelectedSegmentIndex:self.locationMode];
This will a) solve your problem and b) separate your concerns regarding the user interface. If you would decide to change the layout of FlipsideViewController, there is no need to change any code other than that of FlipsideViewController.
There are other ways of achieving this, e.g. by letting your viewDidLoad fetch the value from its delegate, which would look like:
[self.pathSwitch setOn:[delegate pathSwitch]];
Which may be better, depending on your situation. Generally speaking I would always prefer this last approach, since it prevents synchronisation issues between your different view controllers.

Answer 2

I am not sure but shouldn't this be
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UISegmentedControl *locationSelector;
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UISwitch *pathSwitch;
instead of
#property (nonatomic, assign) IBOutlet UISegmentedControl *locationSelector;
#property (nonatomic, assign) IBOutlet UISwitch *pathSwitch;;