Segue instantiated ViewController with instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier

Question

Is it possible to use segues in Views of ViewControllers instantiated with instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier?

Here is a minimal example of what I'm trying to do (I need something like that in a biger project): In the Main Storyboard I have a rootViewController, a secondViewController with the StoryboardID "secondViewControllerID" and a thirdViewController. The secondViewController is connected with the thirdViewController via button through a show-Segue.

In the class of the rootViewController I instantiate the secondViewController and set its view as subview of my rootViewController:

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
        let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil);
        var vc = storyboard.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier("secondViewControllerID") as UIViewController
        self.view.addSubview(vc.view)
    }

    override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
        super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
        // Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
    }
}

When I now execute the programm I see correctly the subview (secondViewController). But now the segue doesn't work anymore (when I click on the button I don't get to the thirdViewController)

Does anyone has an idea why?

(It is not possible in my project just to use the secondViewController without the instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier because the secondViewController is part of a pageViewController that is managing its viewControllers via instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier )

Answer 1

You are adding one view controller's view as a subview of another view controller. But by default, taps and gestures are handled by your main view controller and are not passed on to the subsidiary VC - hence your problem. There are some functions you need to call to get this to work. Take a look at the Apple Docs here.

Look at the section on "Creating Custom Container View Controllers". In summary, you need to wrap your addSubview method call with self.addChildViewController(vc) and vc.didMoveToParentViewController(self) function calls.