Subclass of UITableViewController will not fire didSelectRowAtIndexPath when it is contained in a subview, how can I fix this?

Question

I have a view controller embeded in another view using 'addSubView' that is not catching events, how can I make sure it does?

background: I'm attempting to nest views in order to break up a storyboard that is to be shared by multiple devs. To accomplish this with minimal duplication of functionality I/we have created a mainStoryboard which contains a tab controller and 4 tabs, each tab contains a subview that loads a UIView (contained in another storyboard) into itself. These views are added like so:

//Add sub view
UIStoryboard *board = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"MessagesStory" bundle:nil];
UIViewController *boardController = [board instantiateInitialViewController];

[self.view addSubview:boardController.view];
boardController.view.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 320, 480);

The initial view controller that is loaded is a UITableView subclass, the whole thing works great for rendering the table and it's contents to the screen and I can interact with the table and select rows, however the event listener on the the views controller 'didSelectRowAtIndexPath' fails to fire.

I know it's not firing thanks to good ol' NSLog():

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    NSLog(@"Please kind sirs help a poor string appear in the console.");

}

I know it is related to the subview because if I load the subview on it's own as the main view the event listener functions properly.

Any help is appreciated as this is taking longer than expected and I may be pulled to another project before I can finish implementing this.

That is not the correct way to implement viewController containment — Paul.s, Mar 22 '12 at 00:59
If you have the time I would strongly recommend watching the [Apple video from wwdc 2011](https://developer.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2011/) look for the video/slides on `Implementing UIViewController Containment` — Paul.s, Mar 22 '12 at 01:06
You should really read the docs: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#featuredarticles/ViewControllerPGforiPhoneOS/Introduction/Introduction.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007457 By the way, I love the NSLog string!! — sosborn, Mar 22 '12 at 01:08
Sounds like a problem that would be caused by the UITableView delegate not being set properly. — Patrick T Nelson, Mar 22 '12 at 03:52

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:56

I figured it out.

It was stunningly simple but I had to do quite a bit of reading to find the answer. All my searches where for 'addSubView' tutorials and examples I didn't even know 'addChildViewController' existed.

Anyway I believe it's this simple:

-(void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
    if (firstLaunch) {    
            firstLaunch = NO;

            //Find the view controller in the other storyboard
            UIStoryboard *board = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"MessagesStory" bundle:nil];
            UIViewController *boardController = [board instantiateInitialViewController];

            //add it as a child view controller (THIS IS WHAT I WAS MISSING)
            [self addChildViewController:boardController];

            //now it is okay to add the subview
            [self.view addSubview:boardController.view];

            //trigger this method (also missing this but it will run without it, I assume is good practice)
            [boardController didMoveToParentViewController:self];
    }

    [super viewDidAppear:animated];
}

Once I knew I wanted to 'addChildViewController' it was easy to find information:

How does View Controller Containment work in iOS 5?

Is it wise to "nest" UIViewControllers inside other UIViewControllers like you would UIViews?

Subclass of UITableViewController will not fire didSelectRowAtIndexPath when it is contained in a subview, how can I fix this?

1 Answers1