Storyboard with NavigationController and TabContro

Question

It seems like this should be easy to figure out, but I haven't had any luck this afternoon. I threw together this quick, simplified storyboard mockup of my problem.

Basically, I would like the table view controllers below to also be in a tab bar controller (in addition to the already present navigation controller). The tabs would switch between the two table view controllers.

Right now, the view controller with the buttons acts as a sort of menu. Each button leads to one of the table view controllers. Ideally this view controller would not have the tab bar visible, and would only be reachable from back buttons on the nav bars of the table view controllers.

I've tried a few different ways of embedding into a tabbarcontrollers but none of them produce the desired result:

-I've tried selecting both table view controllers and embedding those in a tab view controller. The tabbar doesnt show up in simulator, and the 'unreachable scene' warning appears.

-I've tried embedding the initial nav controller into a tabbarcontroller. This creates a tab entry for the first 'menu' page. It also causes issues with push segues once I connect the tableviews to the tabview.

I would be fine implementing some programmatic options on top of the storyboard, I just chose storyboarding for this project since it's a relatively simple presentation of data.

What is the proper way of going about this? Thanks!

Answer 1

I accept JMStone answer but we might get into situation where we need to put tab bar controller inside other controller especially table view controller.

Please refer Storyboard navigation controller and tab bar controller

and also the good example by Matthjin: http://cl.ly/VQLa

Hopes it help some one who want to put tab bar controller inside table view controller and wants proper navigation.

Answer 2

A tab bar controller needs to be the root view controller of your view hierarchy. It goes against the HIG and Apple's standards to put a tab bar controller inside of any other type of container controller.

From the Apple docs:

When deploying a tab bar interface, you must install this view as the root of your window. Unlike other view controllers, a tab bar interface should never be installed as a child of another view controller.

So, the bottom line here is you need to rethink your design. One option would be to set the UITabBarController as the root view of your window, and then have each of your UITableViewControllers inside of a UINavigationController, which is placed inside of the UITabBarController. In this way, you still get the navigation bar, and stay within Apple's design guidelines (you also won't get those pesky warnings, and Apple may even be throwing an exception nowadays if you try to install a UITabBarController as anything other than the root view of the window).