Pass storyboard outlet to base controller class

Question

I have a base class:

class BaseViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDataSourcePrefetching {
    var posts = [Post]()

    func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
        return posts.count
    }

    func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
        guard let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "PostTableViewCell", for: indexPath) as? PostTableViewCell else {
            fatalError("The dequeued cell is not an instance of PostTableViewCell.")
        }

        let post = posts[indexPath.row]

        cell.parentViewController = self
        cell.initialize(post: post)

        return cell
    }
}

That I use as a subclass:

class FeedViewController: BaseViewController {
    @IBOutlet weak var tableView: UITableView!

    // Other stuff
}

I use the base class to handle all table view functions (which I reuse in many parts of my app).

In my storyboard, I have a controller design set up for FeedViewController, with a table view. However, I'm not sure how to pass my storyboard outlet, which is currently connected to FeedViewController to my base controller, so that the base controller handles all the table view logic. How would I do this?

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 19 '20 at 19:01

2

If you don't instantiate BaseViewController in code directly, then just move outlet declaration in base class (storyboard will handle this automatically)

class BaseViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDataSourcePrefetching {
    @IBOutlet weak var tableView: UITableView!

    // Other stuff
}

class FeedViewController: BaseViewController {

    // Other stuff
}

answered Mar 19 '20 at 19:01

Asperi

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What if I subclass BaseViewController in many other view controllers, and have a separate storyboard and table view for each? – user2343632 Mar 19 '20 at 19:02
it is not static, every subclass will have own tableview connection to own instance in storyboard, base class has only declaration. – Asperi Mar 19 '20 at 19:06

Pass storyboard outlet to base controller class

1 Answers1