Question

I have an array of view controllers (there are more that I have shown):

..
settings = [[settingsSettingTab alloc] initWithNibName:@"settingsTab" bundle:nil];
other = [[otherSettingTab alloc] initWithNibName:@"otherTab" bundle:nil];
..

NSArray *views = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:settings,other, nil];

I then loop through them and assign some details to them before pushing them:

for (int i = 0; i < views.count; i++) {
...
NSString *className = NSStringFromClass([[views objectAtIndex:i] class]);
Class myClass = NSClassFromString(className);

myClass *subView = (myClass*)[views objectAtIndex:i];

[self.scrollView addSubview:subView.view];
}

How can I assign the right class to the *subView. It worked fine when I had only one type of view in my array and then I just used:

settingTab *subView = (settingTab*)[views objectAtIndex:i];

But now I need to check and use the right one. I have googled the question, but I’m not sure of how I would describe it? (dynamic typing? Duck typing?) Any pointers would be really appreciated.

Thanks

EDIT:

Here is the whole code:

NSArray *titles = [NSArray arrayWithObjects: @"Basics", @"Colours", @"Shapes", @"Settings", @"Other", nil];

basics = [[basicsSettingTab alloc] initWithNibName:@"basicsTab" bundle:nil];
colours = [[colorsSettingTab alloc] initWithNibName:@"colorsTab" bundle:nil];
shapes = [[shapesSettingTab alloc] initWithNibName:@"shapesTab" bundle:nil];
settings = [[settingsSettingTab alloc] initWithNibName:@"settingsTab" bundle:nil];
other = [[otherSettingTab alloc] initWithNibName:@"otherTab" bundle:nil];

NSArray *views = [NSArray arrayWithObjects: basics,colours,shapes,settings,other, nil];

for (int i = 0; i < views.count; i++) {


    CGRect frame;
    frame.origin.x = self.scrollView.frame.size.width * i + 20;
    frame.origin.y = 0;

    CGFloat newWidth = 280;
    CGFloat newHeight = 320;
    CGFloat locx = 0;
    CGFloat locy = 0;

    CGRect panel = CGRectMake(locx, locy, newWidth, newHeight);

    frame.size = panel.size;//self.scrollView.frame.size;
    //subview.view.backgroundColor = [colors objectAtIndex:i];

    NSString *className = NSStringFromClass([[views objectAtIndex:i] class]);
    Class myClass = NSClassFromString(className);

    myClass *subView = (myClass*)[views objectAtIndex:i];
    [subView.view setFrame:frame];
    subView.tabTitle.text = [titles objectAtIndex:i];

    [subView.view.layer setCornerRadius:5.0f];
    [subView.view.layer setMasksToBounds:YES];

     subView.delegate = self;

    [self.scrollView addSubview:subView.view];
}

self.scrollView.contentSize = CGSizeMake(self.scrollView.frame.size.width * views.count, self.scrollView.frame.size.height);
pageControl.numberOfPages = views.count;

}

Answer 1

From your edit, we see that you have a property tabTitle on each of your custom view controllers. I would recommend that you create a new UIViewController subclass that implements tabTitle, and use that as the superclass for each of your custom controllers. That way your code only needs to know that they are all a MyTabViewController class (for want of a better class name!). So in your for loop:

MyTabViewController *subview = (MyTabViewController *)[views objectAtIndex:i];
[subview.view setFrame:frame];
[subview.tabTitle setText:[titles objectAtIndex:i]];

// ...

[self.scrollView addSubview:subView.view];

Everything else (view property for example) is defined by UIViewController, from which all your subclasses are descendants.

EDIT

Incidentally, I would be careful about the naming of your objects – your view controllers are not views. In particular, this might cause confusion where you have subview.view. Perhaps more appropriate would be subviewController.view, or even just controller.view?