How to show view controller with TabBarController navigation from push notification

Question

(reposting due to initial wrong title)

When users receive a push notification for our app (and they tap on it), the app should open up a details screen. From a navigation perspective, the app usually has this structure anytime the user opens it:

TabBarController -> Navigation Controller -> View Controller

Once a use open the push notification, I'd like to instantiate a UIViewController. However, this VC should be part of the tabbarcontroller, so that the user can navigate to other areas of the app as well. Right now I am able to display the VC itself, but I can't make it appear as part of the tabbarcontroller:

class private func instantiateJobDetailsViewController(job: JobModel) {
        if let currentViewController = UIApplication.sharedApplication().delegate?.window??.rootViewController {
            let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
            let jobDetailViewController = storyboard.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier("JobDetailController") as! JobDetailController
            jobDetailViewController.job = job
            currentViewController.presentViewController(jobDetailViewController, animated: true, completion: nil)
        } else {
            ClientHelper.displayAlertAsync("Error", message: "Info for support: cannot present jobDetails view controller", controller: nil)
        }
    }

Can someone provide some guidance about how to instantiate such a VC and, at the same time, preserve the tab bar controller so the user can navigate within the app?

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 25 '16 at 14:04

For reference, here is how I resolved this situation:

class private func instantiateJobDetailsViewController(job: JobModel) {
        if let tabBarController = UIApplication.sharedApplication().delegate?.window??.rootViewController as? UITabBarController {
            tabBarController.selectedIndex = 0
            let currentNavigationController = tabBarController.selectedViewController as! UINavigationController
            let currentViewController = currentNavigationController.topViewController!
            currentViewController.performSegueWithIdentifier("JobDetailSegue", sender: job)
        } else {
            ClientHelper.displayAlertAsync("Error", message: "Info for support: cannot present jobDetails view controller", controller: nil)
        }
    }

So it is basically:

Get the instance of the tab bar controller.
Make sure you are in a relevant screen on the tab bar controller by setting its selectedIndex property.
Get the instance of the navigation controller
Get the instance of the view controller being presented by the navigation controller.

In this way, I can open up a relevant screen from a push notification while a) showing the tab bar controller and b) preserving the navigation element to allow the user to navigate back from the screen.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 19 '16 at 09:41

You try change to structure Navigation Controller -> TabBarController -> View Controller
You have a main navigationcontroller, set it is a global variable-a singleton ( var mainNavigation:UINavigationController?)
and when users receive a push notification, you can push to detailScreen from mainNavigation. Like this storyboard

How to show view controller with TabBarController navigation from push notification

2 Answers2