UISplitViewController: How force to show master popover in app launch? (portrait)

Question

In an iPad App i'm using the UISplitViewController. I need to force to show the master popover when the app launch in portrait mode.

Now I'm using this code and it works well on iOS 5.0.

if (UIInterfaceOrientationIsPortrait(self.interfaceOrientation)) {
   if ([[[AppDelegate sharedAppDelegate] splitViewController] respondsToSelector:[[[AppDelegate sharedAppDelegate] btnMenu] action]]) {
      [[[AppDelegate sharedAppDelegate] splitViewController] performSelector:[[[AppDelegate sharedAppDelegate] btnMenu] action]];
   }            
}

But in iOS 5.1 (with the new type of master popover) the behaviour seems to be random. Sometimes the popover shows in fullscreen and sometimes works well.

Some suggestion for 5.1?

Solution 1

I struggled with this one for a while, and even now I'm not 100% happy with the solution, but it is the only thing I've been able to come up with, given the current constraints.

First, override the following delegate method:

- (void)splitViewController:(UISplitViewController *)splitController willHideViewController:(UIViewController *)viewController withBarButtonItem:(UIBarButtonItem *)barButtonItem forPopoverController:(UIPopoverController *)popoverController

and use it to grab a reference to the bar button item, and store it in an iVar:

barButtonForMaster = barButtonItem;

Then, when you want to show the master view controller, make a call like this:

[barButtonForMaster.target performSelector: barButtonForMaster.action withObject: barButtonForMaster];

In case you want to perform this right at the start, then use some delay in order to prevent app crashing (thanks to the helpful comment):

[barButtonForMaster.target performSelector: barButtonForMaster.action withObject: barButtonForMaster afterDelay:1];

In that case you can perform the selector right in the split view delegate method.

Solution 2

No suggestion here for 5.1, but one for 8.0:

Now with iOS8, there are a bunch of new methods for UISplitViewController configuration.

In your case, juste set the right value in preferredDisplayMode, for example in the masterViewController viewDidLoad.

Objective-C:

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    // configuring splitviewcontroller
    self.splitViewController.preferredDisplayMode = UISplitViewControllerDisplayModeAllVisible;

    //....
}

Swift:

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        self.splitViewController?.preferredDisplayMode = UISplitViewControllerDisplayMode.AllVisible
    }

But it's of course iOS8 only.

Solution 3

Extending on Rob's answer, this works well for me (in viewDidLoad of detail screen):

//If in portrait mode, display the master view
if (UIInterfaceOrientationIsPortrait(self.interfaceOrientation)) {
    [self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem.target performSelector:self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem.action withObject:self.navigationItem];
}

No need to fetch a separate reference, using self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem instead

Solution 4

For iOS8 the easiest way is with the following:

 self.splitViewController.preferredDisplayMode = UISplitViewControllerDisplayModePrimaryOverlay;

I use this when the app is launched the first time for showing log-in in masterViewController. In all other cases I use

self.splitViewController.preferredDisplayMode = UISplitViewControllerDisplayModeAutomatic

Solution 5

If you need it at app launch, override this method in your detail view controller:

-(BOOL)splitViewController:(UISplitViewController *)svc shouldHideViewController:(UIViewController *)vc inOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)orientation
{
    return NO;
}

However if you then need it to subsequently hide it looks as though the method isn't called, so you'll have to manually hide it.

View more solutions

Comments

[akofink]

Here is a good answer: stackoverflow.com/a/15817100/733862

[alejandromp]

Thanks. I do this with your code plus my previous code. But sometimes the App crashes. I think that is because I do that in the splitViewController delegate and maybe, in some cases, the controller it's not fully created. Now I do that code with perfromSelectorAfterDelay and work very well. Thanks.

[BObereder]

this is amazing and works perfectly! it is giving me a warning though, "PerformSelector may cause a leak because its selector is unknown" would you know why and what to do about it?

[Setomidor]

AFAIK the compiler analyzes method calls and adds code to manage the ARC reference counters (to managage Garbage Collection). Calling a method like this is kind of like using reflections in Java (done during runtime), so the compiler cannot do its refCount magic in this case. However, as long as the method called does not return any allocated object (which would then be a leak) it won't be any problem. In this case, we're not returning anything from the called method. To avoid this warning, see: learningipadprogramming.com/2012/04/03/…

[anders]

This will result in a compiler possible memory leak warning

[Victor Engel]

That toggleMasterVisible is a private method.

[Victor Engel]

This doesn't work if nothing is loaded in the detail view controller, which would be the main point to force the master to show.

[Setomidor]

@VictorEngel it does, but since this code goes into the detail view you need to make sure to load an empty detail view by default.

[phatmann]

This forces side-by-side display. It does not show the master view in popover mode as the OP requested.

[phatmann]

This is deprecated in iOS 8.

[Martin]

@phatmann, I don't think alejandromp was talking about popover. He says I need to force to show the master popover but that doesn't mean anything, in fact. Considering the context, he does talk about displaying the master view side by side in portrait mode, as in landscape.

[fujianjin6471]

can also be called in detailViewController