This seems to be a classic problem. In my case I wanted to intercept some events over a UIWebView which can't be subclassed, etc etc.
I've found that the best way to do it is to intercept the events using the UIWindow:
EventInterceptWindow.h
@protocol EventInterceptWindowDelegate
- (BOOL)interceptEvent:(UIEvent *)event; // return YES if event handled
@end
@interface EventInterceptWindow : UIWindow {
// It would appear that using the variable name 'delegate' in any UI Kit
// subclass is a really bad idea because it can occlude the same name in a
// superclass and silently break things like autorotation.
id <EventInterceptWindowDelegate> eventInterceptDelegate;
}
@property(nonatomic, assign)
id <EventInterceptWindowDelegate> eventInterceptDelegate;
@end
EventInterceptWindow.m:
#import "EventInterceptWindow.h"
@implementation EventInterceptWindow
@synthesize eventInterceptDelegate;
- (void)sendEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
if ([eventInterceptDelegate interceptEvent:event] == NO)
[super sendEvent:event];
}
@end
Create that class, change the class of your UIWindow in your MainWindow.xib to EventInterceptWindow, then somewhere set the eventInterceptDelegate to a view controller that you want to intercept events. Example that intercepts a double-tap:
- (BOOL)interceptEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
NSSet *touches = [event allTouches];
UITouch *oneTouch = [touches anyObject];
UIView *touchView = [oneTouch view];
// NSLog(@"tap count = %d", [oneTouch tapCount]);
// check for taps on the web view which really end up being dispatched to
// a scroll view
if (touchView && [touchView isDescendantOfView:webView]
&& touches && oneTouch.phase == UITouchPhaseBegan) {
if ([oneTouch tapCount] == 2) {
[self toggleScreenDecorations];
return YES;
}
}
return NO;
}
Related info here:
http://iphoneincubator.com/blog/windows-views/360idev-iphone-developers-conference-presentation