Container View Controller Examples

Question

Can anyone point me to any good examples of creating a Custom View Controller as a Container View Controller? The only documentation I can find is a couple of paragraphs in the UIViewController Class Reference. I feel I need a little more information than that and an example implementation would be nice. Google has turned up nothing at all.

I am specifically interested in the method:

transitionFromViewController:toViewController:duration:options:animations:completion:

Did you find other sources for this other than the one hypercrypt mentioned? — John Estropia, Oct 17 '11 at 08:50
Not yet. I'm going to have another dig later today if I have time. It seems bizarre that there would be so little information about it given how important and useful it is. I wonder if it's buggy and will be better documented when it's improved. — Undistraction, Oct 17 '11 at 09:00
This is extremely confusing to me to. For example, the view can only have one embeded controller. What about if you want to switch the controller on that container view? — user4951, Oct 10 '12 at 05:36

score 52 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 18 '13 at 15:40

52

The best thing I have found so far is the WWDC 2011 Session Video Session 102 - Implementing UIViewController Containment.

edited Feb 18 '13 at 15:40

Max MacLeod

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answered Oct 13 '11 at 18:42

hypercrypt

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Ditto. It's not my favorite demo code example, but it does properly implement VC containers as well as memory management -- it's really important that your child view controllers get released when they are no longer visible. – memmons Mar 28 '12 at 18:54
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Unfortunately, the demo for how to use ContainerViewController didn't work because he didn't have email setup on his iPad :-( – Ken M. Haggerty Oct 02 '12 at 15:09
Does that session has code sample? – user4951 Oct 15 '12 at 01:14
do you have the sample code now, i need it because i have tried a lot but no solute yet. – iPhone Programmatically Dec 14 '12 at 10:33

JosephH · Answer 2 · 2012-07-22T15:57:07.730

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In addition to the WWDC Session Video Session 102 - Implementing UIViewController Containment that hypercrypt already mentioned, Apple WWDC 2012 session on "The Evolution of View Controllers on iOS" also covers this topic and the example code is part of the sample code package:

https://developer.apple.com/devcenter/download.action?path=/wwdc_2012/wwdc_2012_sample_code/wwdc_2012_session_code.dmg

There's also an example here: https://github.com/toolmanGitHub/stackedViewControllers

edited Jul 22 '12 at 15:57

answered Jul 22 '12 at 14:12

JosephH

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+1 mentioning where to get that damned code package. I've been looking through it. – user4951 Oct 15 '12 at 06:30
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+1 again, why o why can't Apple put the WWDC sessions code on their member pages? – axello Jan 10 '13 at 16:58
+1, Would you mind sharing, how to get this source code path ? – Janak Nirmal Oct 19 '13 at 10:02
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@JanakNirmal which source code are you having trouble getting? To get the WWDC code just follow the dmg link and login with your apple developer id. – JosephH Oct 19 '13 at 13:39

score 17 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 10 '14 at 10:01

- (void)viewDidLoad{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    // I put self in a Navigation VC so we can use its right navigationbar 
    // item for triggering the transition
    self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = 
     [[[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonSystemItemEdit 
                                                    target:self 
                                                    action:@selector(button:)] 
                                                                  autorelease];

    // create test1 and test2 instance (subclass UIViewController and 
    // also need to define their own nibs)
    vc1 = [[test1 alloc]initWithNibName:@"test1" bundle:nil];
    vc2 = [[test2 alloc]initWithNibName:@"test2" bundle:nil];

    //add to the container vc which is self    
    [self addChildViewController:vc1];
    [self addChildViewController:vc2];

    //the entry view (will be removed from it superview later by the api)
    [self.view addSubview:vc1.view];
}

this IBAction triggers the transition between two VCs:

-(IBAction)button:(id)sender {
    [self transitionFromViewController:vc1 
                      toViewController:vc2 
                              duration:0.5    
                               options:UIViewAnimationOptionTransitionCurlDown 
                            animations:nil 
                            completion:nil];
}

This is a great example. But the memory management in this case can be improved: http://stackoverflow.com/a/8453677/849616 for more suitable solution. — Nat, Sep 26 '12 at 14:16
Not that you're wrong. But [self addChildViewController:vc1]; doesn't make sense. The Container VC may have SEVERAL Container View Controllers. — user4951, Oct 10 '12 at 06:00
@Vive I have reached a point in my project where I am concerned about memory management. Could you tell me what particularly the link you posted does better in terms of memory management? I am very new and have a hard time seeing the discrepancies — jacobronniegeorge, Jan 11 '13 at 20:37

score 11 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 10 '14 at 10:28

11

I found this example very useful for me

http://sandmoose.com/post/35714028270/storyboards-with-custom-container-view-controllers

And they have source on github:

https://github.com/mluton/EmbeddedSwapping

answered Apr 10 '14 at 10:28

Yuri Solodkin

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score 10 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 13 '11 at 14:56

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Could this:

http://subjective-objective-c.blogspot.com/2011/08/writing-high-quality-view-controller.html

Be enough for your needs?

answered Oct 13 '11 at 14:56

Rui Peres

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Actually I had already found that, but unfortunately it is written about Ios4, but 5 has made significant changes. Apple now explicitly support creating custom View Controller Containers, though they don't seem to want to help us work out how to use them. Thanks though. – Undistraction Oct 13 '11 at 15:08
Can you show me where they say that. Not doubting you, just curious, because I have been struggling with that too. – Rui Peres Oct 13 '11 at 15:13
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No worries. I looked through the code for his container classes and none of them use any of the following methods: addChildViewController:, removeFromParentViewController, transitionFromViewController:toViewController:duration:options:animations:completion:, willMoveToParentViewController: and didMoveToParentViewController: Which are all mentioned in the updated ios5 Documentation for UIViewController. – Undistraction Oct 13 '11 at 15:28

score 8 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 17 '11 at 15:42

8

don't know if this is a "good" example, but you can get a free Container ViewController from https://bitbucket.org/javieralonso/jaacordeonviewcontroller/overview

It's a full accordion metaphor container view controller

answered Nov 17 '11 at 15:42

javieralog

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Nice find. That looks useful. – Undistraction Nov 17 '11 at 16:41

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 24 '14 at 11:32

These are my favorite (iOS7-ready) tutorial / examples on the subject (all three have source code available on github):

View Controller Containment

Custom Container View Controller Transitions

Interactive Custom Container View Controller Transitions

And then, of course, Apple offers a whole write-up on the subject which I find invaluable:

Creating Custom Container View Controllers

Container View Controller Examples

7 Answers7

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