How to pushviewcontroller to a viewcontroller stored in a tabbaritem?

Question

First of all I know this is a long question. REST ASSURED I have tried to figure it out on my own (see: StackOverflow #2609318). This is driving me BATTY!

After trying and failing to implement my own EDIT feature in the standard moreNavigationController, I have decided to re-implement my own MORE feature.

I did the following:

Add a HOME view controller which I init with: initWithRootViewController

Add 3 other default tabs with:

ResortsListViewController *resortsListViewController;
resortsListViewController = [[ResortsListViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"ResortsListView" bundle:nil];
resortsListViewController.title = [categoriesDictionary objectForKey:@"category_name"];
resortsListViewController.tabBarItem.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"whatever.png"];
resortsListViewController.navigationItem.title=@"whatever title";
localNavigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:resortsListViewController];
localNavigationController.navigationBar.barStyle = UIBarStyleBlack;
[localControllersArray addObject:localNavigationController]; 
[localNavigationController release];
[resortsListViewController release];

Those work when i add them to the tabbar. (ie: click on them and it goes to the view controller)

Then I add my own MORE view controller to the tabbar:

MoreViewController *moreViewController;
moreViewController = [[MoreViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"MoreView" bundle:nil];
moreViewController.title = @"More";
moreViewController.tabBarItem.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"more.png"];
moreViewController.navigationItem.title=@"More Categories";
localNavigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:moreViewController];
localNavigationController.navigationBar.barStyle = UIBarStyleBlack;
[localControllersArray addObject:localNavigationController]; 
[localNavigationController release];
[moreViewController release];

Then

tabBarController.viewControllers = localControllersArray;
tabBarController.moreNavigationController.navigationBar.barStyle = UIBarStyleBlack;  
tabBarController.customizableViewControllers = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:nil];
tabBarController.delegate = self;

That creates the necessary linkages. Okay, so far all is well. I get a HOME tab, 3 category tabs and a customized MORE tab -- which all work.

in the MORE tab view controller I implement a simple table view that displays all the other tabs I have in rows. SINCE I want to be able to switch them in and out of the tabbar I created them JUST like i did the resortslistviewcontroller above (ie: as view controllers in an array). When I pull them out to display the title in the tableview (so the user can go to that "view") i simply do the following:

    // [myGizmoClass CategoryArray] holds the array of view controller tab bar items that are NOT shown on the main screen.
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    ... etc...

        UIViewController *Uivc = [[myGizmoClass plusCategoryArray] objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
        cell.textLabel.text = [Uivc title];
        cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryDisclosureIndicator;
    }

THIS is where it falls through:

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

    MyGizmoClass *myGizmoClass= [MyGizmoClass sharedManager];

    UIViewController *tbi = [[myGizmoClass plusCategoryArray] objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
    NSLog(@"%@\n",[[tbi navigationItem ]title]);

    [self.navigationController pushViewController:tbi animated:YES];

}

This is the error i get ("ATMs" is the title for the clicked tableview cell) so i know the Uivc title is pulling the correct title and therefore the correct "objectatindex":

2010-04-09 11:25:48.222 MouseAddict[47485:207] ATMs 2010-04-09 11:25:48.222 MouseAddict[47485:207] * Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: 'Pushing a navigation controller is not supported'

BIG QUESTION: How do i make the associated VIEW of the UIViewController *tbi show and get pushed into view?

I am GUESSING that the UIViewController is the correct class for this tbl .. i am not sure. BUT i just wanna get the view so i can push it onto the stack.

Can someone plz help?

To answer kovpas's question below: myGizmoClass is a singleton (apple's singleton myGizmo class. The array of viewcontrollers is stored in that just like it is in [localControllersArray addObject:localNavigationController]; (in the first code snippet above). AND it does put it in and pull it out correctly as evidenced by the fact that when i NSLOG the [Uivc title] the log prints ATMs. This means the plusCategoryArray is correctly storing and retrieving the viewController (if, indeed, that is what is being stored).

Pushing a navigation controller is not supported is really bothering me. Why would a viewController return a navigationController and is it possible to coerce the navigationController to get the "pushable" view out of it... or does the navigationController have some element in it that is the view?

Answer 1

I'm not sure, but it looks like this error appears when you are trying to push UINavigationController into another UINavigationController. Could you please provide an implementation of MyGizmoClass?

Answer 2

From the error, it looks as if your Gizmo class has an array of UINavigationControllers, not UIViewControllers. So instead push with:

[self.navigationController pushViewController:[[tbi viewControllers] lastObject] animated:YES];

If the array is the same array as you called localControllers above, then this should work better. Or you could just create the array without the UINavigationControllers, they aren't needed if you are going to push them onto your more controller navigation controller.

Answer 3

from what the error says, the following code is returning a navigationcontroller:

[[myGizmoClass plusCategoryArray] objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];

navigationcontrollers are also viewcontrollers, but you can't pass a navigationcontroller to pushviewcontroller.