Disable All buttons except Home in Tab Controller

Question

Ive been searching and i cant seem to find out how to disable all tab bar items EXCEPT the home button from being used until a user logs in or creates and account

sometimes faking UI is a solution 1) hide tabbar 2) define a UIView looking like tabbar 3) only define action for home button or other views ca be only images. Summary: define a fake tabbar(UIVİew) with one button and images :) — Gökhan Sayılgan, Jul 31 '19 at 11:53
@GökhanSayılgan Faking the UI is never a solution. There is always a way. — Desdenova, Jul 31 '19 at 12:22

Vikky · Answer 1 · 2019-07-31T12:35:18.460

You can do something like below, create a custom class(TabBarController), extend it from UITabBarController, and write code inside TabBarController class.

Assign TabBarController class to your UITabBarController

extension TabBarController: UITabBarControllerDelegate{
func tabBarController(_ tabBarController: UITabBarController, shouldSelect viewController: UIViewController) -> Bool {
    // allow your desired controller to be tapped
    if tabBarController.selectedIndex == indexOfHomeControllerInTabBar {
        return true
    }
    return false
}
}

Note: Apple doesn't recommend blocking tabbars, for more info check this link https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/ios/bars/tab-bars/

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 31 '19 at 12:11

here is my approach

note that it is kinda a hack way so you might modify as per your needs
you will conform to UITabBarControllerDelegate and make your VC the delegate for it in the viewDidLoad
then in the "didSelect viewController" delegate method callback you will do your logic and override the selected index as below code

class ViewController: UIViewController, UITabBarControllerDelegate {

    // MARK: Lifecycle Methods
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        self.tabBarController?.delegate = self
    }

    func tabBarController(_ tabBarController: UITabBarController, didSelect viewController: UIViewController) {
        if /* your logged in logic */ {
            self.tabBarController?.selectedIndex = 0 /* assuming that the home is at index 0 */
        }
    }


}

note if you did this step in base VC it will be much better and code saving for you

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 31 '19 at 12:15

0

You can loop for all items in your Tabbar and disable items you want

        for i in 0..<tabbarController.tabBar.items!.count {
        let item = tabbarController.tabBar.items![i]
        item.isEnabled = i == indexOfHomeTab
    }

answered Jul 31 '19 at 12:15

Alexandr Kolesnik

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 31 '19 at 12:16

Put this somewhere in viewDidLoad()

if let viewControllers = self.tabBarController?.viewControllers {

        for viewController in viewControllers {

            if viewController != viewControllers[0] { // assuming your homeViewController index is 0

            tabBarController?.tabBarItem.isEnabled = false

            }

        }
    }

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 31 '19 at 13:20

The short answer is probably "Don't do that." Tabs in a tab bar are supposed to let the user switch between always-available screen at the top level of your UI. If you read Apple's HIG I suspect you will find that what you are trying to do is not recommended.

Better to have each of the other screens show some sort of disabled/inactive state.

Disable All buttons except Home in Tab Controller

5 Answers5