Displaying instances of view controllers within Xcode without disturbing the current hierarchy

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I am producing an application written in swift in Xcode, I have reached a point in development in which I need to be capable of instancing views. Ideally I would alter the hierarchy of my program to contain a 'Main' or 'Parent' view, the main view would be responsible for displaying the views given to it.

Instancing other view controllers and passing the instance to the main view would be my goal, however, i am inexperienced with Xcode and swift, I am unsure how to go about including a main view without altering my entire storyboard hierarchy.

Here is an image to give a visual description of the current structure.

Current Hierarchy

The intention is to alter the hierarchy to include a main/ parent / master view, the view would be an empty display item which will display all views as and when needed, ideally I would keep the tab control method.

Mainly and most importantly the view will allow instances of view controllers to be displayed, closed and refreshed without impacting other aspects of the app.

Code seems irrelevant here as my views are handled by the storyboard. Something which would be really helpful to me here would be a brief explanation of how I can handle instancing with the new hierarchy.

Thank you in advance for any help regarding this matter

viewcontroller xcode-storyboard swift xcode ios
1 Answers

A view controller can serve as a custom parent view controller of one or more child view controllers, displaying their views in any desired manner within its own view's interface.

You can instantiate a view controller in any desired manner. If you wish to pluck a view controller instance out of the storyboard (because you have already designed its view there), call:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uistoryboard/1616214-instantiateviewcontroller

Your view controller in the storyboard will need to have a storyboard ID string so that you can identify it.

After you've plucked a view controller from the storyboard in that way, to display its view in your interface, you must do the following dance:

  1. The parent calls https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiviewcontroller/1621394-addchild

  2. The parent captures the view controller's view and sticks it into the interface as a subview of the parent's own view.

  3. The parent calls https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiviewcontroller/1621405-didmove

The two view controllers now stand in a legal parent-child relationship and both view controllers will work properly. They can even refer to one another.

If you wish to remove the child view controller's view from the interface, you must reverse the dance:

  1. The parent calls https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiviewcontroller/1621381-willmove with a nil parameter

  2. The parent removes the child view controller's view from the interface

  3. The parent calls https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiviewcontroller/1621425-removefromparent

Please read "Implementing a Container View Controller" on the main view controller docs page:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiviewcontroller

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