Execute action when back bar button of UINavigationController is pressed

Question

I need to execute an action (emptying an array), when the back button of a UINavigationController is pressed, while the button still causes the previous ViewController on the stack to appear. How could I accomplish this using swift?

Answer 1

One option would be implementing your own custom back button. You would need to add the following code to your viewDidLoad method:

    - (void) viewDidLoad {
        [super viewDidLoad];
        self.navigationItem.hidesBackButton = YES;
        UIBarButtonItem *newBackButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"Back" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered target:self action:@selector(back:)];
        self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = newBackButton;
    }

    - (void) back:(UIBarButtonItem *)sender {
        // Perform your custom actions
        // ...
        // Go back to the previous ViewController
        [self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
    }

UPDATE:

Here is the version for Swift:

        override func viewDidLoad {
            super.viewDidLoad()
            self.navigationItem.hidesBackButton = true
            let newBackButton = UIBarButtonItem(title: "Back", style: UIBarButtonItemStyle.Bordered, target: self, action: "back:")
            self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = newBackButton
        }

       @objc func back(sender: UIBarButtonItem) {
            // Perform your custom actions
            // ...
            // Go back to the previous ViewController
            self.navigationController?.popViewControllerAnimated(true)
        }

UPDATE 2:

Here is the version for Swift 3:

        override func viewDidLoad {
            super.viewDidLoad()
            self.navigationItem.hidesBackButton = true
            let newBackButton = UIBarButtonItem(title: "Back", style: UIBarButtonItemStyle.plain, target: self, action: #selector(YourViewController.back(sender:)))
            self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = newBackButton
        }

       @objc func back(sender: UIBarButtonItem) {
            // Perform your custom actions
            // ...
            // Go back to the previous ViewController
            _ = navigationController?.popViewController(animated: true)
        }