How do I add UITabBarController subview to UINavigationController

Question

I am new to Objective-C and Cocoa and I am trying my way through some tutorials with some success. One task is troubling me. I am trying to create a root view controller that is a navigation controller as given by this tutorial:

http://fuelyourcoding.com/iphone-view-switching-tutorial/

On the second page that is pushed I would like the option to load a subview that is a TabBarController. Is this within iOS view guidelines. Is this possible? If so, could someone give some code snippets and explain necessary instantiations and connections in IB? Your help is appreciated in advance!

Answer 1

No, you should not push a UITabBarController to a UINavigationController stack.

Perhaps tell us what you're trying to accomplish and someone can suggest an alternative.

From Apple's View Controller Programming Guide - Tab Bar Controllers:

Note: Although a navigation controller can be embedded inside a tab, the reverse is not true. Presenting a tab bar interface from within a navigation interface is potentially confusing for users. A navigation interface uses one or more custom view controllers to present an interface focused on one goal, which is usually the management of a specific type of data. By contrast, the tabs of a tab bar interface can reflect completely different purposes in an application and need not be related in any way. In addition, pushing a tab bar controller on a navigation stack would cause the tabs to be displayed for that screen only and not for any others.

Answer 2

I cannot answer your question directly, but in my app I have a UITabBarController which displays multiple UINavigationControllers and other types of controllers. So I think you may have it the wrong way around. In other words, create a project which uses a UITabbarController as the base controller and when you select a tab, load up the corresponding UINavigationController (or other type of controller) as necessary.