Question

There must be a simple solution to this, but after 4 hours of browsing StackExchange, I’m giving up and trying to get this answered here:

Situation:
iOS 5, Xcode 4.2.1, using Storyboards

Setup:

• Root Navigation Controller = UITabBarController with 5 items
• Each tab links to a UITableViewController (via segues), which works perfectly, automatically
• I have classes for each view controller and the navigation controller (UITabBarController)
• I click on a tab, say “Program”, and it shows me a list of items (in the linked UITableViewController), say one of these items is “Sessions”
• I click on “Sessions”, didSelectRowAtIndexPath gets called just fine.
• I want to perform a segue now (which I have connected from that UITableViewController, not the cell, to the new UITableViewController and given it an identifier.

• I call:
  [self performSegueWithIdentifier:@"programToSessions" sender:self];

• prepareForSegue gets called, but nothing afterwards. No error, no warning. The new UITableViewController doesn’t show up.

• Note: It DOES show up, however, if I switch the segue to a “modal” – but it discards/hides the original tab bar at the bottom then (not intended…)

So far, my problem seemed to have a likely solution. The navigation controller. I figured, if I setup a navigation controller reference in the AppDelegate, initiated/set it once the actual root navigation controller is loaded (in viewDidLoad), i.e. basically used something along the lines of: app.navController = self.navigationController in the viewDidLoad – this could work! Right? So, I changed the segue action to:
[app.navController performSegueWithIdentifier:@"programToSessions" sender:self];

Yet, nothing changes, it does not show up.

Any ideas?

Solved:

There were a few issues here. Major issue was the fact that I missed putting a “Navigation Controller” between the UITabBarController and the UITableViewController. This can be done by adding a new “Navigation Controller” to the storyboard, then drag from UITabBarController (the rootViewController) to this new controller and set a RELATIONSHIP. Next, drag a RELATIONSHIP to the UITableViewController. So, as outlined by the correct answer it should look like:
UITabBarController –> (relationship) –> UINavigationController –> (relationship) –> UITableViewController

In order to load new UITableViewControllers on top of the last UITableViewController, a simple segue and calling it through code will suffice. The final tree will look like:

UITabBarController –> (relationship) –> UINavigationController –> (relationship) –> UITableViewController –> (segue) –> UITableViewController

Give the segue an identifier. In code, use this:

     - (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
    {
        [self performSegueWithIdentifier:@"loadMyDetailView" sender:self];
    }

Answer 1

You have to use prepareForSegue:sender: to fire the equivalent of didSelectRowAtIndexPath:. (Empty out the latter.) Instead of pushing the new view controller on the navigation stack, the segue already has a property destinationViewController that will just work automatically. You can modify this property if you want to customize the new view controller. Make sure segue.identifier is correct!

Also, from your question I notice some confusion about the controllers of view controllers. You mention two of these: the tab bar controller and a navigation controller. In storyboard, the setup should be like this:

TabBarController --(relationship)--> NavigationController 
--(relationship)--> ViewController 
--(segue)--> next ViewController

Make sure all these are correct in storyboard and see if it works.