Add a UINavigationBar to a TableViewController presented modally?

Question

Let's say that I'm trying to create something like the contacts app. I have a TableViewController (TVC) where you select an item and see all the information about it. You can tap on edit and then a TVC with static cells is presented. This same TVC is also used to add a new item.

I currently have a TVC that I'm trying to re-use. When the user is editing my model, I push the TVC into the navigation stack, but when the user is creating a new item I present the TVC modally.

Obviously, when the TVC is pushed automatically it gets a NavigationBar. On the other hand, when I present it modally, I create my own NavigationBar (with buttons and everything else I need) and I add it as a subview. This presents two problems:

• The NavigationBar is on top of the first cell.
• The NavigationBar scrolls with the other cells.

For what I've read, this happens because I'm adding the NavigationBar to the TVC itself.
Having a TableView inside a Navigation controller sounded like an option, but without a TVC I can't have static cells on my TableView.

I thought about not re-using my TVC, but I'd still be stuck with the same problem as I need a TVC with a bar on top.

How can I add a NavigationBar to a TVC with static cells when it is presented modally? Is there another way to tackle this problem?

By the way, I'm using storyboards and I'm targeting iOS6+, so I can't use presentModalViewController:

Answer 1

You can always create a UINavigationController with code, then set the existing table view controller as the root view controller. Then you can present the newly created UINavigationController modally.

With UINavigationController instance, you will have a UINavigationBar added.

Get the existing UITableViewController from your storyboard by using the method instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier . Do not forget to set the identifier in your storyboard first by setting the Storyboard ID. For example, below I set the identifier as CategoriesViewController.

Then I can obtain it with the following code:

UITableViewController *tableViewController = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"CategoriesViewController"];
UINavigationController *navcon = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:tableViewController];
[self presentViewController:navcon animated:YES completion:nil];