Stopping the self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem from exiting a view [duplicate]

Question

I'm trying to overwrite the default action of the back button in a navigation controller. I've provided a target an action on the custom button. The odd thing is when assigning it though the backbutton attribute it doesn't pay attention to them and it just pops the current view and goes back to the root:

UIBarButtonItem *backButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] 
                                  initWithTitle: @"Servers" 
                                  style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain 
                                  target:self 
                                  action:@selector(home)];
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = backButton;

As soon as I set it through the leftBarButtonItem on the navigationItem it calls my action, however then the button looks like a plain round one instead of the arrowed back one:

self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = backButton;

How can I get it to call my custom action before going back to the root view? Is there a way to overwrite the default back action, or is there a method that is always called when leaving a view (viewDidUnload doesn't do that)?

Answer 1

Try putting this into the view controller where you want to detect the press:

-(void) viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated {
    if ([self.navigationController.viewControllers indexOfObject:self]==NSNotFound) {
       // back button was pressed.  We know this is true because self is no longer
       // in the navigation stack.  
    }
    [super viewWillDisappear:animated];
}

Answer 2

I've implemented UIViewController-BackButtonHandler extension. It does not need to subclass anything, just put it into your project and override navigationShouldPopOnBackButton method in UIViewController class:

-(BOOL) navigationShouldPopOnBackButton {
    if(needsShowConfirmation) {
        // Show confirmation alert
        // ...
        return NO; // Ignore 'Back' button this time
    }
    return YES; // Process 'Back' button click and Pop view controler
}

Download sample app.

Answer 3

Unlike Amagrammer said, it's possible. You have to subclass your navigationController. I explained everything here (including example code).

Answer 4

Swift Version:

(of https://stackoverflow.com/a/19132881/826435)

In your view controller you just conform to a protocol and perform whatever action you need:

extension MyViewController: NavigationControllerBackButtonDelegate {
    func shouldPopOnBackButtonPress() -> Bool {
        performSomeActionOnThePressOfABackButton()
        return false
    }
}

Then create a class, say NavigationController+BackButton, and just copy-paste the code below:

protocol NavigationControllerBackButtonDelegate {
    func shouldPopOnBackButtonPress() -> Bool
}

extension UINavigationController {
    public func navigationBar(_ navigationBar: UINavigationBar, shouldPop item: UINavigationItem) -> Bool {
        // Prevents from a synchronization issue of popping too many navigation items
        // and not enough view controllers or viceversa from unusual tapping
        if viewControllers.count < navigationBar.items!.count {
            return true
        }

        // Check if we have a view controller that wants to respond to being popped
        var shouldPop = true
        if let viewController = topViewController as? NavigationControllerBackButtonDelegate {
            shouldPop = viewController.shouldPopOnBackButtonPress()
        }

        if (shouldPop) {
            DispatchQueue.main.async {
                self.popViewController(animated: true)
            }
        } else {
            // Prevent the back button from staying in an disabled state
            for view in navigationBar.subviews {
                if view.alpha < 1.0 {
                    UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.25, animations: {
                        view.alpha = 1.0
                    })
                }
            }

        }

        return false
    }
}