How to pop back to root view controller but then p

Question

I am writing a simple application that has 3 view controllers. The root view controller is an item listing, basic table view. Off of this view controller, I push two different view controllers based on some user interaction - a create item view controller or a view item view controller.

So, the storyboard segues just look like a V, or something.

On my create item view controller, I would like it to pop back to the root view controller when the user creates a new item, but then push to the view item controller so that I can look at the newly created item.

I can't seem to get this to work. It's easy enough to pop back to the root view controller, but I'm unable to push that view item controller.

Any ideas? I've pasted my code, below. The pop function works, but the new view never appears.

- (void) onSave:(id)sender {

    CLLocation *currentLocation = [[LocationHelper sharedInstance] currentLocation];

    // format the thread object dictionary
    NSArray* location = @[ @(currentLocation.coordinate.latitude), @(currentLocation.coordinate.longitude) ];
    NSDictionary* thread = @{ @"title": _titleField.text, @"text": _textField.text, @"author": @"mustached-bear", @"location": location };

    // send the new thread to the api server
    [[DerpHipsterAPIClient sharedClient] postPath:@"/api/thread"
                                       parameters:thread
                                          success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {

                                              // init thread object
                                              Thread *thread = [[Thread alloc] initWithDictionary:responseObject];

                                              // init view thread controller
                                              ThreadViewController *viewThreadController = [[ThreadViewController alloc] init];
                                              viewThreadController.thread = thread;

                                              [self.navigationController popToRootViewControllerAnimated:NO];
                                              [self.navigationController pushViewController:viewThreadController animated:YES];

                                          }
                                          failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {

                                              [self.navigationController popToRootViewControllerAnimated:YES];

                                          }];

}

Answer 1

Sharing a category on UINavigationController based on Dave DeLong's answer that we use in our application to keep the back button always working as required.

@implementation UINavigationController (PushNewAndClearNavigationStackToParent)

- (void) pushNewControllerAndClearStackToParent:(UIViewController*)newCont animated:(BOOL)animated
{
    NSArray *viewControllers = self.viewControllers;
    NSMutableArray *newViewControllers = [NSMutableArray array];
    
    // preserve the root view controller
    [newViewControllers addObject:[viewControllers firstObject]];
    // add the new view controller
    [newViewControllers addObject:newCont];
    // animatedly change the navigation stack
    [self setViewControllers:newViewControllers animated:animated];
}

@end

Answer 2

I think
[self.navigationController pushViewController:viewThreadController animated:YES]; is using a different NavigationController than the statement before that. Because after popping to the root view Controller you loose the navigation Controller you are in. Solve that using this code instead

UINavigationController *nav = self.navigationController; 
[self.navigationController popToRootViewControllerAnimated:NO];
[nav pushViewController:viewThreadController animated:YES];

I also think that this wont solve your whole problem. You will probably get an error saying that two fast popping and pushing may invalidate the NavigationController.
And to solve that you can either push the NavigationController in the viewDidDissappear Method of the 2nd View Controller or push it in the viewDidAppear Method in the Main View Controller(item listing).