SplitViewController UI layout - objective-c

Question

I'm trying to create a UI whereby I have a SplitView with the Details area containing a TabBarController. The TabBarController will show 3 different types of detail for the item selected in the RootViewController of the SplitView.
So far, I've got the TabBar showing the SPlitView by doing the following;
1) Created a new SplitView based app.
2) Created a new TabBar based app
3) Copy the .xib, .h and .m files for the FirstView and SecondView controllers from the TabBar app into the SplitView app.
4) Added the following to my application delegate header file;
#class RootViewController;
#class DetailViewController;
#class FirstViewController;
#class SecondViewController;
#interface SplitViewTemplateAppDelegate : NSObject <UIApplicationDelegate> {
UIWindow *window;
UISplitViewController *splitViewController;
UITabBarController *tabBarController;
RootViewController *rootViewController;
DetailViewController *detailViewController;
FirstViewController *firstViewController;
SecondViewController *secondViewController;
}
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIWindow *window;
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UISplitViewController *splitViewController;
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet RootViewController *rootViewController;
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet DetailViewController *detailViewController;
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UITabBarController *tabBarController;
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet FirstViewController *firstViewController;
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet SecondViewController *secondViewController;
5) Opened up MainWindow.xib in IB and changed the class on the DetailsView to UITabController
6) Added the following code to my application delegate module file;
#import "FirstViewController.h"
#synthesize window, splitViewController, rootViewController, detailViewController, tabBarController, firstViewController, secondViewController;
-(void) makeTabBarController {
NSMutableArray *controllers = [NSMutableArray arrayWithArray:splitViewController.viewControllers];
int index = 0;
for (UIViewController *controller in splitViewController.viewControllers) {
if (index == 1) {
//NSLog(#"Index is: %#", index);
//NSLog(#"Controller name is: %#", controller.title);
UINavigationController *localNavController;
tabBarController = [[UITabBarController alloc] init];
NSMutableArray *localViewControllersArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:2];
firstViewController = [[FirstViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"FirstView" bundle:nil];
localNavController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:firstViewController];
localNavController.tabBarItem.title = #"First Tab";
[firstViewController release];
[localViewControllersArray addObject:localNavController];
[localNavController release]; // Retained by above array
secondViewController = [[SecondViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"SecondView" bundle:nil];
localNavController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:secondViewController];
localNavController.tabBarItem.title = #"Second Tab";
[secondViewController release];
[localViewControllersArray addObject:localNavController];
[localNavController release]; // Retained by above array
tabBarController.viewControllers = localViewControllersArray;
[localViewControllersArray release]; // Retained thru above setter
//tabBarController.delegate = splitViewController;
[controllers replaceObjectAtIndex:index withObject:tabBarController];
}
index++;
}
splitViewController.viewControllers = controllers;
}
7) Added the following to the didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method;
[self makeTabBarController];
So now I get an out of the box SplitView with a tab bar controller on the right with two tabs in it. The tabs work for switching between the views.
A couple of things that I am now struggling with are;
The button to fire the Popover is missing, do I need to add this to each tab view?
How do I hook the RootViewController with the TabBarController so that details for the selected item is shown?

Answer 1

not sure if you're still looking for an answer for this. I ran into a very similar issue with the question about multiple detail views. In the end, I found and used this solution from the apple developer site:
SubstitutableDetailViewController
Their solution is very straightforward to implement and very understandable.
With regards to the second part of your question, you could have the TabBarController Delegate inform the view on the left hand side of the split view who the current detail view is. It could then use that information to provide updates to the proper view.