Question

I am assigning my view controller to my tab right after I create it. Is it possible to select the view that will show after the tab is clicked?

For eg
//user clicks tab 1
if(hasMessages)
//show view A
else
//show view B

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible. You need to set a delegate for your tab controller:

UITabBarController *tabBarController = (UITabBarController *)self.window.rootViewController;
tabBarController.delegate = self;  // or whatever suitable class you have

This delegate needs to conform to the UITabBarControllerDelegate protocol.

In your delegate, implement tabBarController:didSelectViewController: and inside it, find out which view you want to present. Assuming your tab’s root view controller is a navigation controller, then the delegate method implementation would be something like this:

- (void)tabBarController:(UITabBarController *)tabBarController didSelectViewController:(UIViewController *)viewController {
    /* logic goes here */

    [viewController pushViewController:someNewVC animated:YES];
}