Presenting correct View Controller instance depending on cell selection in UITableView - objective-c

Question

I understand this might be covered in parts in answers to other questions (see references) I've seen on the site, but due to my limited experience I haven't been able to understand each part as it relates to my code. Please forgive me for any duplications.
I have a PFQueryTableViewController (essentially a UITableViewController) called threadsViewController that sources cell information from a Parse backend. The table view consists of threads similar to what you would see on a web forum.
I then have a separate class postsViewController which is another PFQueryTableViewController that I wish to display a table of all the responses ('posts') to that particular thread.
The functionality I'm looking for is for a user tapping on a thread (left screen in the image) to be presented with a postsViewController (right screen) containing only those posts/responses related to that thread. (See basic diagram below).
What I do know from my research:
The Parse backend is established with classes for Thread and Post.
I'm probably going to use the didSelectRowAtIndexPath delegate method
What I need help with:
How can I know which thread cell a user tapped on, and then pass that on so that the postsViewController only displays posts from that Thread?
A layman's description of how to use indexPath.row etc
I understand how to complete PFQueries etc to get the data for the cells, I just don't know how to implement the navigation and how to tell postsViewController which posts to show.
In case it helps somehow, here is my implementation so far. I have tried addign a property to the postsViewController called fromThread to somehow store the thread but apart from that I'm out of ideas!
- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
[super tableView:tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:indexPath];
postsViewController *postsVC = [[postsViewController alloc] init];
postsVC.fromThread = //?
[self performSegueWithIdentifier:#"threadsToPosts" sender:self];
}
References
How to filter a Parse query by an tableview index?
Pass Index Number between UITableView List segue
didSelectRowAtIndexPath and prepareForSegue implementation

Answer 1

You're on the right track. You need know how to do two things: (1) access your parse objects by indexPath, and (2) push a new view controller in a navigation controller.
(1) is simpler: PFQueryTableVC provides a method called objectAtIndexPath: that does just what you need.
// indexPath is the indexPath parameter to the didSelectRow delegate method
PFObject *fromThread = [self objectAtIndexPath:indexPath];
(2) is simple, too. But more complicated because there are a couple ways to do it. Segue is the more modern way, but I think the old way is simpler, and certainly easier to describe in code. View Controllers are given storyboard ids on the "Identity" tab in the storyboard editor. Give your Posts-presenting VC a storyboard id like "PostVC".
To get a new instance, use that storyboard id as follows:
MyPostVC *postVC = [self.storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"PostVC"];
// initialize it with the PFObject we got above
postVC.fromThread = fromThread;
// present it on the navigation stack
[self.navigationController pushViewController:postVC animated:YES];
And fromThread is just what the PostVC will need to form a query for posts associated with the selected thread.

Answer 2

You can pass data of cell to next ViewController in prepareForSegue with something like this
- (void)prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(id)sender {
if ([segue.identifier isEqualToString:#"threadsToPosts"]) {
UINavigationController *navCon = segue.destinationViewController;
postsViewController *postsViewController = [navCon.viewControllers objectAtIndex:0];
// Whatever you are populating your tableView with
Thread *thread = [self.thread objectAtIndex:self.tableView.indexPathForSelectedRow.row];
postsViewController.thread = thread;
}
}