UITableView datasource and delegate will not connect to user class

Question

I cannot connect the data source and delegate the output of the table view in the storyboard to my custom delegated class. I would like to delegate these table functions to another class. There is something that I fundamentally misunderstood regarding delegation, exits, and posting things in a storyboard.

Background

I have a UIViewController that has a view containing a UIPickerView and, among other things, a UITableView .
I have reached the point where my UIViewController too large, and I would like to move the table related functions to another class.

I created the following class containing table methods such as numberOfSectionsInTableView:

 @interface ExerciseTableDelegate : NSObject <UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource> @property (strong, nonatomic) ExerciseDataController *dataController; @end 

I thought to put a link to the class above in my UIViewController

 @interface ExerciseViewController : UIViewController <UIPickerViewDataSource, UIPickerViewDelegate> { UIPickerView *exercisePicker; } @property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet ExerciseTableDelegate *tableDelegate; @end 

I was hoping that in the storyboard, when I drag one of the data sources or delegates of my table view onto the UITableViewController , it will give me the ability to connect to my delegated class. This is not true.

Then I tried to create an object in the storyboard by providing it with the ExerciseTableDelegate class. Then I could drag the table view delegate into the object, but this is not the object that I configure in my AppDelegate .

My application delegate

 - (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions { UINavigationController *navigationController = (UINavigationController *)self.window.rootViewController; ExerciseViewController *rootViewController = (ExerciseViewController *)[[navigationController viewControllers] objectAtIndex:0]; ExerciseTableDelegate *tableDelegate = [[ExerciseTableDelegate alloc]init]; ExerciseDataController *dataController = [[ExerciseDataController alloc] init]; tableDelegate.dataController = dataController; rootViewController.tableDelegate = tableDelegate; // Override point for customization after application launch. return YES; } 

• Should I make my object single and still initialize it to a delegate?
• Do I need to make this setting in code, and not in the Storyboard?
• Does the object in the storyboard create the wrong idea?

I feel like I'm close, but I think I'm doing too much.

Answer 1

If you need access to the ExerciseTableDelegate instance that you configured in the application’s deletion, then you will have to connect it to the table view in the code, since it will not be accessible from the storyboard - since you Found, adding a new object to the storyboard creates a new instance.

Fortunately, this is pretty easy to implement. In the viewDidLoad method of your table view controller, add the following:

 self.tableView.delegate = self.tableDelegate; self.tableView.datasource = self.tableDelegate; 

This reassigns the data source and delegates it to a separate object.