Help Menu iPhone - iphone

I have a design question/technical question about my iPhone app.
I have a pretty simple (read really really simple) single view application. And it does everything that I need it to do. However I find myself in need of a help view. And I really don't quite know what to do!
I have a simple helpButton() method in my main view controller, and I really just want to display a scrollview with a bunch of images that show what to do during the use of my app. However, should I make a new viewcontroller class? How do I call it from my method?
Really I was thinking of an unfortunately simple method, just putting a scrollview behind everything and hiding it. Then showing it when the IBAction is called. Horrible...
Sorry if this is elementary, I haven't needed to do anything more yet!

You can push a modalViewController. To do that just make a new viewController with the scrollview and associated data in it, then
MyViewController *myViewController = [[MyViewController alloc] init];
[self presentModalViewController:myViewController animated:YES];
Create an IBAction in your new viewController and a hooked up button to that action to dismiss the modalView (something like this:
IBAction done {
[self dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}

A couple options:
1) Create a new UIView object, either programmatically, or even in your existing XIB file. Use the [self.view addSubview:view] method to display it.
2) Create a new UIViewController with its own XIB file. Use [self presentModalViewController:anaimated:] to display it.
Either way, you'll need to add something to the new view to dismiss it when you're done.

Related

iPhone: How to show pop-up windows and dismiss them

In my Universal App I have a long UITableView with custom cells..and for some cells I may need to show some long pop-up explanaiton about that cell when for instance user clicks a "i" label on the cell. In iPad popover view seems excellent choice for this, but don't know how can I implement this on iPhone, what are the possibilities? Also I want to spend as less time as possible when making it work for iPad- popover view. I want to re-use some of the code or logic i use on iPhone
Things came up to my mind;
-Show explaination in alert shild, but the current look and feel of alert shield is ugly can I customize it however I like and show wherever I line on screen and if I can make it scrollable;
-Or maybe I can make a uitextview to show on top, but then how will I dismiss it, I will need some buttons there..which sounds tricky.
-UIActionsheet with a uitextview on it, is reasonable here?
Also I found this code in S.O but dont know how to use this in my case;
newView.frame = CGRectMake(60, 140, 200, 200);
[parentView addSubview:newView];
Have a look at http://iosdevelopertips.com/open-source/ios-open-source-popover-api-for-iphone-wepopover.html. It's a Popover component for iPhone. I think it works best in your case. You can Google "iphone popover" for more options.
We built an open source library for iPad-like popovers on iPhone allowing you to customise the look and feel of the popovers and place any view or controller inside it.
Watch the project on Github and download it at http://www.50pixels.com/blog/labs/open-library-fppopover-ipad-like-popovers-for-iphone/
On dismissing it, see the following instructions:
Know when a new popover is displayed
- (void)presentedNewPopoverController:(FPPopoverController *)newPopoverController
shouldDismissVisiblePopover:(FPPopoverController*)visiblePopoverController;
Use this delegate method to know when a new different popover is displayed. If you want to dismiss the old popover, and release it, send the dismiss message inside this method.
- (void)presentedNewPopoverController:(FPPopoverController *)newPopoverController
shouldDismissVisiblePopover:(FPPopoverController*)visiblePopoverController
{
[visiblePopoverController dismissPopoverAnimated:YES];
[visiblePopoverController autorelease];
}
Know when the popover is dismissed
- (void)popoverControllerDidDismissPopover:(FPPopoverController *)popoverController;
Use this delegate method to know when the popover is dismissed. This could happen when the user taps outside the popover or when a dismiss message is sent by other actions.
Typically if you used a UIPopover on the iPad you use present a Modal view controller on the iPhone.
So if you create a subclass of UIViewController (e.g. called MyViewController), with the necessary subviews such as a UILabel.
MyViewController *infoViewController = [[MyViewController alloc] init];
//pass data to the new view controller, e.g.
//[infoViewController setInfoText:...];
[self presentModalViewController:infoViewController animated:YES];
[infoViewController release];

iPhone utility application, connection from FLipSideView to MainView?

I'm trying to learn Objective-C and iPhone programming, but I'm stuck with a problem. I have a utility application, and I have a text on my MainView and a button that change the text when I click it. Easy, and workes great. But what if I wan't to place the button on the "backside" in the FlipSideView, and still make it change the text on the frontside (MainView)? How do I get the views to talk together? I have tried a lot of different things, and searched for an answear, but can't seem to figure it out.
Would be great if someone had a answear, or maybe a link to a tutorial/example.
I suppose you've used the template which implements the following method in the MainViewController:
- (IBAction)showInfo:(id)sender {
FlipsideViewController *controller = [[FlipsideViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"FlipsideView" bundle:nil];
controller.delegate = self;
...
}
As you can see it sets the delegate of the FlipSideController to the instance of the MainViewController.
A way would be to put an action into your FlipSideViewController, something like this:
- (IBAction)changeTextInMainView
{
[(MainViewController *)self.delegate changeText];
}
which is triggered when touching your button on the backside. You've got to wire it in IB as well as add the method to the header.
Then implement something like this in your MainViewController
- (void)changeText
{
self.myLabel.text = #"text changed to this";
}
Add this method to the header as well.
Another more elegant approach would be to save the text of your label in a property(maybe in it's own model class) which can be accessed from any view, by passing it by reference down the controllers. Then add a Key Value Observer from each viewController to the property which should show the text and update the view.

TabBar Application with a View that has a UIButton on the View to goto another View outside the TabBar

I'm new to iPhone development, and multiple views (xib or nib) are really confusing me. This is what i'm trying to achieve...
using TabBarControllerAppDelegate
Have 5 different TabBar Items and have created 5 different Views thru the TabBarController
The First View has a UIButton that is a Next button that needs to go to another view called View2.XIB.
I setup a new UIViewController which references the View2 and an IBAction for the switchPage, etc but not able to get it to do anything when clicking on the button.
All of My TabBar buttons work but not able to Navigate to anything outside of the Tabbar
Any help in this regard will be highly appreciated. Anyone have any examples
IBAction switchPageButtonPressed:(id)sender
{
[self.tabbarcontroller.tabBar setSelectedItem:[self.tabbarcontroller.tabBar.items objectAtIndex:1]];
here 1 means ur 2nd tabbar
}
It is difficult to find the problem without the code, but I will assume your action code for the switchPage button is incorrect. You should use code similar to the following:
- IBAction switchPageButtonPressed:(id)sender
{
ViewController2 *view2VC = [[ViewController2 alloc] initWithNibName:#"View2" bundle:nil];
[self presentModalViewController:nview2VC animated:YES];
[view2VC release];
}
If you are confident your method works, then you will want to verify that the action is hooked up correctly. The easiest way to do this is to place a breakpoint on the method and run the app in Debug. When you click the button, the debugger should break on your method, if it doesn't, you will need to check your connections in Interface Builder.

xCode - Changing views between 2 existing xib-files

I'm very new to xCode and objective-C so I wanted to make a simple textRPG.
I'm currently making a character creation process consisting of 4 xib-files. The only way I got switching views to work was to look at the utility-template. Problem is, now I have the first screen being the delegate for the second screen, being the delegate for the third screen etc. So by the end of the character creation process I can't dismiss the views because that just "steps back" through the views.
When I've searched around for a solution I've found a addSubview-method but it seems like that makes a new view, like, empty to arrange programmatically.
All I need is a simple way to switch from one loaded xib to another xib. Have I misunderstood addSubview or do I need something completely different?
(If it helps: I've worked with VB for several years, in case you notice that I missed some kind of concept concerning views and such)
Thanks in advance! :)
Use this code. It is really simple and works well.
View *view = [[View alloc] initWithNibName:#"xibNameGoesHere" bundle:nil];
view.modalTransitionStyle = UIModalTransitionStyleFlipHorizontal;
[self presentViewController:view animated:YES completion:nil];
This will switch to another xib file and the two views won't own one another. I am using it in my own game right now.
#Joakim Ok, this is the way I do it. I have a class called RootViewController : UIViewContoller, whose view I add directly to the window. Then I make a subclass of UIView i.e. MyView. All of my views then subclass MyView. I also make an enum for all my views. In RootViewController you should have a switchView:(int)view method that looks something like this:
-(void) switchView:(myView) view
{
[_currentView removeFromSuperview];
switch(view)
{
case titleView:
_currentView = [[TitleView alloc] initWithRoot:self];
break;
case homeView:
_currentView = [[HomeView alloc] initWithRoot:self];
break;
default: break;
}
[self.view addSubview:_currentView];
[_currentView release];
}
in #interface RootViewContoller define MyView *_currentView;
TitleView and HomeView both subclass MyView and have a common method -(id)initWithRoot:(RootViewController*) rvc.
To switch between views use [_rvc switchView:homeView];
Hope this helps :)
It is called UINavigationController. Idea is
1) You push corresponding 'next' controller into navigation controller each time user submits current screen. Bonus - you'll get 'back' button for free on each step of character creation.
2) After character is created you pop all character creation controllers from stack.
Please read View Controller Programming Guide for iOS before trying to 'switch views' and such. You'll save tons of time and nerves.
another idea is not to use interface builder at all. i have been working with iphone apps for two years now and found that interface builder really prolongs the time to actually make something. make your own root controller and think about the logic you need to navigate through the views.

presentModalViewController on parent viewcontroller

I have a viewcontroller, where I load subviews on. In those subviews I have a UIButton which will show a modalViewController. If I call the function on the main viewcontroller, I get the modal exactly in the middle as I want them to be, but if I call the exact same method in the view I've added as a subview the modal is presented somewhere on the right side of the screen. So now is my question: how can I present the modal on the super view instead? Or how do I put the modalview in center? Because the views I've added as subviews contains data which the modalpopup needs.
This is how I present the modal:
MapViewer *map = [[MapViewer alloc] init];
map.modalPresentationStyle = UIModalPresentationFormSheet;
[self presentModalViewController:map animated:YES];
[map release];
Hope somebody can help me with this.
Thanks in advance!
Edit:
Maybe useful to be more clear:
AppDelegate.m
-> MainWindow.m
-> OtherViewController.m
So I add an x amount of OtherViewControllers as subviews to MainWindow. The OtherViewController contains the function mentioned above. But the map needs to be displayed as a modal on the MainWindow, and not on the OtherViewController so it gets nicely centered etc.
One thing you might do is set the target of the UIButton object to the main view controller using setTarget:action: method.
Ok I've managed to get it working using the notificationcenter so I can call a method on the MainWindow from other views. So if anyone is asking the same question, have a look at the notificationcenter :D