How to add a tabController to another tabController

Question

Hi

I have a tabController-based iPhone application. First tab is associated with a table view controller. When I select a table cell I want to show another table controller view, but with different tabs on the bottom. What is the best way to do it? Change dynamically tab entries, or do it through IB? Please advise.

Thanks,

Nava

Answer 1

The Apple Human Interface Guidelines really advise against this.

For example, on iPhone, iPod uses a tab bar to allow users to choose which part of their media collection to focus on, such as Podcasts, artists, videos, or playlists. The Clock application, on the other hand, uses a tab bar to give users access to the four functions of the application, namely, World Clock, Alarm, Stopwatch, and Timer. Figure 6-10 shows how selecting a tab in a tab bar changes the view in Clock. Notice how the tab bar remains visible in the different Clock modes shown in Figure 6-10. This makes it easy for users to see which mode they’re in, and allows them to access all Clock modes regardless of the current mode.

What you're thinking of doing might be possible with toolbars.

Answer 2

Check this link for an explanation on how to do this.

http://www.wiredbob.com/blog/2009/4/20/iphone-tweetie-style-navigation-framework.html

Answer 3

BTW, I found the best and the cleanest way to do that thanks to Rufus - iPhone Beta Dev Forum contributor: you can change the views of root tabbarcontroller anytime you want, also you can change tabbaritems title & icons. So actually I don't need 2 tabbarcontrollers, instead i change the existing one, setting its views & tabbaritems of views accordingly.