Question

So the problem I am having is that I’m using RestKit to to authenticate a self signed certificate and deal with user login simultaneously but after the webView opens then that first page is not being added to the backForward list (as far as i can tell). i.e. after i click on a link on that page I cannot go back to the previous page. If I click on another link (3 pages in) i can go back to the second page but still not the first.. Is there a way to manually add the URL to the backForward list when I open the UI Webview? Or any suggestions for other work-arounds?

- (id)initWithURL:(NSURL*)pageURL {

    _retainedURL = pageURL;
    [_retainedURL retain];

    RKClient *client;
    NSUserDefaults *userDefaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
    client = [RKClient clientWithBaseURL: pageURL];
    client.username=[userDefaults objectForKey:@"UserName"];
    client.password=[userDefaults objectForKey:@"Password"];
    client.authenticationType=RKRequestAuthenticationTypeHTTPBasic;
    client.disableCertificateValidation= TRUE;
    //The below "delegate:self seems to be what is preventing the URL from passing into the forwardBack list (works if it is delegate self but then RestKit breaks
    RKRequest *request=[RKRequest requestWithURL:pageURL delegate:self];
    [client configureRequest:request];
    request.authenticationType = RKRequestAuthenticationTypeHTTPBasic;
    request.disableCertificateValidation = TRUE;
    self.authenticatedRequest = request;
    NSLog(@"%@",[request URLRequest]);
    [request sendAsynchronously];

    if(self = [super init]) {
        self.URL = pageURL;
        self.availableActions = SVWebViewControllerAvailableActionsOpenInSafari | SVWebViewControllerAvailableActionsMailLink | SVWebViewControllerAvailableActionsCopyLink;
    }
    return self;
}

Answer 1

I ended up fixing this error by creating an NSMutableArray array to keep track of the browser history and adding code to handle various things such as the forward and back buttons display. I’m using 2 ints (urlListIndex and urlIndexMax) as well as a BOOL (backFix) for navigation control

        - (id)initWithURL:(NSURL*)pageURL {

        _retainedURL = pageURL;
        [_retainedURL retain];

        RKClient *client;
        NSUserDefaults *userDefaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
        client = [RKClient clientWithBaseURL: pageURL];
        client.username=[userDefaults objectForKey:@"UserName"];
        client.password=[userDefaults objectForKey:@"Password"];
        client.authenticationType=RKRequestAuthenticationTypeHTTPBasic;
        client.disableCertificateValidation= TRUE;
        RKRequest *request=[RKRequest requestWithURL:pageURL];
        [client configureRequest:request];
        request.delegate = self;
        request.authenticationType = RKRequestAuthenticationTypeHTTPBasic;
        request.disableCertificateValidation = TRUE;
        self.authenticatedRequest = request;
        [request sendAsynchronously];

        //Instantiate urlList (for web history) and urlListIndex 
        urlList = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
        urlListIndex = 0;

        if(self = [super init]) {
            self.URL = pageURL;
            self.availableActions = SVWebViewControllerAvailableActionsOpenInSafari | SVWebViewControllerAvailableActionsMailLink | SVWebViewControllerAvailableActionsCopyLink;
        }
          return self;
    }

    - (void)updateToolbarItems {

        //check if you are further than the first page. If so, enable the back button
        if (urlListIndex > 0)
        {
        self.backBarButtonItem.enabled = YES;
        }
        else
        {
        self.backBarButtonItem.enabled = NO;
        }

        //Check if there are more total urls in the list than the one you are on. If so, enable the forward button
        if (urlListIndex < maxListIndex)
        {
        self.forwardBarButtonItem.enabled = YES;
        }
        else
        {
        self.forwardBarButtonItem.enabled = NO;  
        }
    //Took out the rest for space 

- (void)webViewDidFinishLoad:(UIWebView *)webView {
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setNetworkActivityIndicatorVisible:NO];
    self.navigationItem.title = [webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:@"document.title"];

    NSURL *urlstring = self.mainWebView.request.URL;

    //Check to see if the current url is in the list. If not, add it to the list.
    if ([urlList containsObject:urlstring])
    {}
    else
    {
        //The first url you click doesnt show up normally so an exception is used here with _retainedURL
        if (_retainedURL != nil) 
        {
            [urlList addObject:_retainedURL];
            _retainedURL = nil;
        }
        else
            { if (backFix == NO)
            {
                urlListIndex++;
                [urlList addObject:urlstring];
            }
            }
    }

    //Keeps track of the max number of URLs in the list
    if (urlListIndex > maxListIndex)
    {
        maxListIndex = urlListIndex;
    }

    [self updateToolbarItems];
    backFix = NO;
}

- (void)goBackClicked:(UIBarButtonItem *)sender {
    backFix = YES;
    urlListIndex--;
    _request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[urlList objectAtIndex:urlListIndex]];
   [mainWebView loadRequest:_request];
}

//Handles the forward button by incrementing the urlListIndex and then loading the url for that index.
- (void)goForwardClicked:(UIBarButtonItem *)sender {
    urlListIndex++;
    _request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[urlList objectAtIndex:urlListIndex]];
    [mainWebView loadRequest:_request];

}