Question

I have a UIViewController in my iOS application that displays a table that is derived from an NSMutableArray. The cells in this table each refer to a unique UIViewController that is called when the user makes a selection. What I am trying to do in my “didSelectRowAtIndexPath:” method is to dynamically create the UIViewController via an NSMutableDictionary that contains keys that match the values in the NSMutableArray that the table is built from, as well as values that contain the corresponding Class names for the respective UIViewController that needs to be called. Because the list is rather long, I figure I need to do this using a for loop, but I am a bit confused as to how to do it. My NSMutableDictionary looks like this:

NSMutableDictionary *dict = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
    [dict setObject:@"aViewController" forKey:@"SelectionA"];
    [dict setObject:@"bViewController" forKey:@"SelectionB"];
    [dict setObject:@"cViewController" forKey:@"SelectionC"];

and my NSMutableArray that is the basis for my TableView looks like this:

NSMutableArray *myArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithObjects:@"SelectionA", @"SelectionB", @"SelectionC",...,nil];

How would I obtain a reference to the value inside the cell, and then construct a for loop that would dynamically create the correct viewController that corresponds to the selection made by the user from the tableView, and then take the user to that viewController via the navigationController?

Thanks in advance to all who reply.

Answer 1

If you really need a view controller for each cell, there’s no need to use a dictionary to look them up. Since selection will be by index path, an array is a better choice.

Create a custom object that has two properties: the name you want to display in the cell and a pointer to the view controller you want to push when it’s selected. Load myArray with these objects instead of strings. When you are populating a cell, select the object that matches the row and use its name. When a cell is tapped, select the object that matches the row and push its controller.

(But, as others have said, if you can use the same controller and only change the data, that’s the way to go!)