How can I load storyboard programmatically from class?

Question

My problem is that I was looking for way to use both storyboard and xib. But I can't find proper way to load and show storyboard programmatically. Project was started developing with xib, and now it's very hard to nest all xib files in storyboard. So I was looking a way to do it in code, like with alloc, init, push for viewControllers. In my case I have only one controller in storyboard: UITableViewController, which has static cells with some content I want to show. If anyone knows proper way to work both with xib and storyboard without huge refactoring, I will appreciate for any help.

Answer 1

In your storyboard go to the Attributes inspector and set the view controller's Identifier. You can then present that view controller using the following code.

UIStoryboard *sb = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"MainStoryboard" bundle:nil];
UIViewController *vc = [sb instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"myViewController"];
vc.modalTransitionStyle = UIModalTransitionStyleFlipHorizontal;
[self presentViewController:vc animated:YES completion:NULL];

Answer 2

Swift 3

let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
let vc = storyboard.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "viewController")
self.navigationController!.pushViewController(vc, animated: true)

Swift 2

let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
let vc = storyboard.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier("viewController")
self.navigationController!.pushViewController(vc, animated: true)

Prerequisite

Assign a Storyboard ID to your view controller.

IB > Show the Identity inspector > Identity > Storyboard ID

Swift (legacy)

let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
let vc = storyboard.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier("viewController") as? UIViewController
self.navigationController!.pushViewController(vc!, animated: true)

Edit: Swift 2 suggested in a comment by Fred A.

if you want to use without any navigationController you have to use like following :

    let Storyboard  = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
    let vc = Storyboard.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "viewController")
    present(vc , animated: true , completion: nil)

Answer 3

In attribute inspector give the identifier for that view controller and the below code works for me

UIStoryboard *storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"MainStoryboard" bundle:nil];
DetailViewController *detailViewController = [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"DetailViewController"];
[self.navigationController pushViewController:detailViewController animated:YES];

Answer 4

Try this

UIStoryboard *mainStoryboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"Main" bundle:nil];
UIViewController *vc = [mainStoryboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"Login"];

[[UIApplication sharedApplication].keyWindow setRootViewController:vc];

Answer 5

in swift
NavigationController and pushController you can replace for

present(vc, animated:true , completion: nil)

Answer 6

For swift 4 and 5, you can do this. Good practice is set name of Storyboard equal to StoryboardID.

enum StoryBoardName{
   case second = "SecondViewController"
}
extension UIStoryboard{
   class func load(_ storyboard: StoryBoardName) -> UIViewController{
      return UIStoryboard(name: storyboard.rawValue, bundle: nil).instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: storyboard.rawValue)
   }
}

and then you can load your Storyboard in your ViewController like this:

class MyViewController: UIViewController{
     override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        guard let vc = UIStoryboard.load(.second) as? SecondViewController else {return}
        self.present(vc, animated: true, completion: nil)
     }

}

When you create a new Storyboard just set the same name on StoryboardID and add Storyboard name in your enum "StoryBoardName"

Answer 7

You can always jump right to the root controller:

UIStoryboard* storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"Main" bundle:nil];
UIViewController *vc = [storyboard instantiateInitialViewController];
vc.modalTransitionStyle = UIModalTransitionStyleFlipHorizontal;
[self presentViewController:vc animated:YES completion:NULL];

Answer 8

The extension below will allow you to load a Storyboard and it's associated UIViewController. Example: If you have a UIViewController named ModalAlertViewController and a storyboard named "ModalAlert" e.g.

let vc: ModalAlertViewController = UIViewController.loadStoryboard("ModalAlert")

Will load both the Storyboard and UIViewController and vc will be of type ModalAlertViewController. Note Assumes that the storyboard's Storyboard ID has the same name as the storyboard and that the storyboard has been marked as Is Initial View Controller.

extension UIViewController {
    /// Loads a `UIViewController` of type `T` with storyboard. Assumes that the storyboards Storyboard ID has the same name as the storyboard and that the storyboard has been marked as Is Initial View Controller.
    /// - Parameter storyboardName: Name of the storyboard without .xib/nib suffix.
    static func loadStoryboard<T: UIViewController>(_ storyboardName: String) -> T? {
        let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: storyboardName, bundle: nil)
        if let vc = storyboard.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: storyboardName) as? T {
            vc.loadViewIfNeeded() // ensures vc.view is loaded before returning
            return vc
        }
        return nil
    }
}