The last two are identical; "atomic" is the default behavior (note that it is not actually a keyword; it is specified only by the absence of nonatomic
-- atomic
was added as a keyword in recent versions of llvm/clang).
Assuming that you are @synthesizing the method implementations, atomic vs. non-atomic changes the generated code. If you are writing your own setter/getters, atomic/nonatomic/retain/assign/copy are merely advisory. (Note: @synthesize is now the default behavior in recent versions of LLVM. There is also no need to declare instance variables; they will be synthesized automatically, too, and will have an _
prepended to their name to prevent accidental direct access).
With "atomic", the synthesized setter/getter will ensure that a whole value is always returned from the getter or set by the setter, regardless of setter activity on any other thread. That is, if thread A is in the middle of the getter while thread B calls the setter, an actual viable value -- an autoreleased object, most likely -- will be returned to the caller in A.
In nonatomic
, no such guarantees are made. Thus, nonatomic
is considerably faster than "atomic".
What "atomic" does not do is make any guarantees about thread safety. If thread A is calling the getter simultaneously with thread B and C calling the setter with different values, thread A may get any one of the three values returned -- the one prior to any setters being called or either of the values passed into the setters in B and C. Likewise, the object may end up with the value from B or C, no way to tell.
Ensuring data integrity -- one of the primary challenges of multi-threaded programming -- is achieved by other means.
Adding to this:
atomicity
of a single property also cannot guarantee thread safety when multiple dependent properties are in play.
Consider:
@property(atomic, copy) NSString *firstName;
@property(atomic, copy) NSString *lastName;
@property(readonly, atomic, copy) NSString *fullName;
In this case, thread A could be renaming the object by calling setFirstName:
and then calling setLastName:
. In the meantime, thread B may call fullName
in between thread A's two calls and will receive the new first name coupled with the old last name.
To address this, you need a transactional model. I.e. some other kind of synchronization and/or exclusion that allows one to exclude access to fullName
while the dependent properties are being updated.
This question seems to be very popular here on Stack Overflow so I thought I would try and give a better answer to help out people starting in the world of iOS like me.
I hope this answer is clear enough for people to understand and that I have not missed anything.
Passing Data Forward
Passing data forward to a view controller from another view controller. You would use this method if you wanted to pass an object/value from one view controller to another view controller that you may be pushing on to a navigation stack.
For this example, we will have ViewControllerA
and ViewControllerB
To pass a BOOL
value from ViewControllerA
to ViewControllerB
we would do the following.
in ViewControllerB.h
create a property for the BOOL
@property (nonatomic, assign) BOOL isSomethingEnabled;
in ViewControllerA
you need to tell it about ViewControllerB
so use an
#import "ViewControllerB.h"
Then where you want to load the view, for example, didSelectRowAtIndex
or some IBAction
, you need to set the property in ViewControllerB
before you push it onto the navigation stack.
ViewControllerB *viewControllerB = [[ViewControllerB alloc] initWithNib:@"ViewControllerB" bundle:nil];
viewControllerB.isSomethingEnabled = YES;
[self pushViewController:viewControllerB animated:YES];
This will set isSomethingEnabled
in ViewControllerB
to BOOL
value YES
.
Passing Data Forward using Segues
If you are using Storyboards you are most likely using segues and will need this procedure to pass data forward. This is similar to the above but instead of passing the data before you push the view controller, you use a method called
-(void)prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(id)sender
So to pass a BOOL
from ViewControllerA
to ViewControllerB
we would do the following:
in ViewControllerB.h
create a property for the BOOL
@property (nonatomic, assign) BOOL isSomethingEnabled;
in ViewControllerA
you need to tell it about ViewControllerB
, so use an
#import "ViewControllerB.h"
Create the segue from ViewControllerA
to ViewControllerB
on the storyboard and give it an identifier. In this example we'll call it "showDetailSegue"
Next, we need to add the method to ViewControllerA
that is called when any segue is performed. Because of this we need to detect which segue was called and then do something. In our example, we will check for "showDetailSegue"
and if that's performed, we will pass our BOOL
value to ViewControllerB
-(void)prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(id)sender{
if([segue.identifier isEqualToString:@"showDetailSegue"]){
ViewControllerB *controller = (ViewControllerB *)segue.destinationViewController;
controller.isSomethingEnabled = YES;
}
}
If you have your views embedded in a navigation controller, you need to change the method above slightly to the following
-(void)prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(id)sender{
if([segue.identifier isEqualToString:@"showDetailSegue"]){
UINavigationController *navController = (UINavigationController *)segue.destinationViewController;
ViewControllerB *controller = (ViewControllerB *)navController.topViewController;
controller.isSomethingEnabled = YES;
}
}
This will set isSomethingEnabled
in ViewControllerB
to BOOL
value YES
.
Passing Data Back
To pass data back from ViewControllerB
to ViewControllerA
you need to use Protocols and Delegates or Blocks, the latter can be used as a loosely coupled mechanism for callbacks.
To do this we will make ViewControllerA
a delegate of ViewControllerB
. This allows ViewControllerB
to send a message back to ViewControllerA
enabling us to send data back.
For ViewControllerA
to be a delegate of ViewControllerB
it must conform to ViewControllerB
's protocol which we have to specify. This tells ViewControllerA
which methods it must implement.
In ViewControllerB.h
, below the #import
, but above @interface
you specify the protocol.
@class ViewControllerB;
@protocol ViewControllerBDelegate <NSObject>
- (void)addItemViewController:(ViewControllerB *)controller didFinishEnteringItem:(NSString *)item;
@end
Next still in the ViewControllerB.h
, you need to set up a delegate
property and synthesize in ViewControllerB.m
@property (nonatomic, weak) id <ViewControllerBDelegate> delegate;
In ViewControllerB
we call a message on the delegate
when we pop the view controller.
NSString *itemToPassBack = @"Pass this value back to ViewControllerA";
[self.delegate addItemViewController:self didFinishEnteringItem:itemToPassBack];
That's it for ViewControllerB
. Now in ViewControllerA.h
, tell ViewControllerA
to import ViewControllerB
and conform to its protocol.
#import "ViewControllerB.h"
@interface ViewControllerA : UIViewController <ViewControllerBDelegate>
In ViewControllerA.m
implement the following method from our protocol
- (void)addItemViewController:(ViewControllerB *)controller didFinishEnteringItem:(NSString *)item
{
NSLog(@"This was returned from ViewControllerB %@", item);
}
Before pushing viewControllerB
to navigation stack we need to tell ViewControllerB
that ViewControllerA
is its delegate, otherwise we will get an error.
ViewControllerB *viewControllerB = [[ViewControllerB alloc] initWithNib:@"ViewControllerB" bundle:nil];
viewControllerB.delegate = self
[[self navigationController] pushViewController:viewControllerB animated:YES];
References
- Using Delegation to Communicate With Other View Controllers in the View Controller Programming Guide
- Delegate Pattern
NSNotification center
It's another way to pass data.
// Add an observer in controller(s) where you want to receive data
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(handleDeepLinking:) name:@"handleDeepLinking" object:nil];
-(void) handleDeepLinking:(NSNotification *) notification {
id someObject = notification.object // Some custom object that was passed with notification fire.
}
// Post notification
id someObject;
[NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter postNotificationName:@"handleDeepLinking" object:someObject];
Passing Data back from one class to another (A class can be any controller, Network/session manager, UIView subclass or any other class)
Blocks are anonymous functions.
This example passes data from Controller B to Controller A
Define a block
@property void(^selectedVoucherBlock)(NSString *); // in ContollerA.h
Add block handler (listener)
Where you need a value (for example, you need your API response in ControllerA or you need ContorllerB data on A)
// In ContollerA.m
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
__unsafe_unretained typeof(self) weakSelf = self;
self.selectedVoucherBlock = ^(NSString *voucher) {
weakSelf->someLabel.text = voucher;
};
}
Go to Controller B
UIStoryboard *storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"Main" bundle:nil];
ControllerB *vc = [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"ControllerB"];
vc.sourceVC = self;
[self.navigationController pushViewController:vc animated:NO];
Fire block
-(void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:
(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
NSString *voucher = vouchersArray[indexPath.row];
if (sourceVC.selectVoucherBlock) {
sourceVC.selectVoucherBlock(voucher);
}
[self.navigationController popToViewController:sourceVC animated:YES];
}
Another Working Example for Blocks
Best Answer
Starting in iOS7, the view controllers use full-screen layout by default. At the same time, you have more control over how it lays out its views, and that's done with those properties:
edgesForExtendedLayout
Basically, with this property you set which sides of your view can be extended to cover the whole screen. Imagine that you push a
UIViewController
into aUINavigationController
. When the view of that view controller is laid out, it will start where the navigation bar ends, but this property will set which sides of the view (top, left, bottom, right) can be extended to fill the whole screen.Let see it with an example:
Here you are not setting the value of
edgesForExtendedLayout
, therefore the default value is taken (UIRectEdgeAll
), so the view extends its layout to fill the whole screen.This is the result:
As you can see, the red background extends behind the navigation bar and the status bar.
Now, you are going to set that value to
UIRectEdgeNone
, so you are telling the view controller to not extend the view to cover the screen:And the result:
automaticallyAdjustsScrollViewInsets
This property is used when your view is a
UIScrollView
or similar, like aUITableView
. You want your table to start where the navigation bar ends, because you wont see the whole content if not, but at the same time you want your table to cover the whole screen when scrolling. In that case, settingedgesForExtendedLayout
to None won't work because your table will start scrolling where the navigation bar ends and it wont go behind it.Here is where this property comes in handy, if you let the view controller automatically adjust the insets (setting this property to YES, also the default value) it will add insets to the top of the table, so the table will start where the navigation bar ends, but the scroll will cover the whole screen.
This is when is set to NO:
And YES (by default):
In both cases, the table scrolls behind the navigation bar, but in the second case (YES), it will start from below the navigation bar.
extendedLayoutIncludesOpaqueBars
This value is just an addition to the previous ones. By default, this parameter is set to NO. If the status bar is opaque, the views won't be extended to include the status bar, even if you extend your view to cover it (
edgesForExtendedLayout
toUIRectEdgeAll
).If you set the value to YES, this will allow the view to go underneath the status bar again.
If something is not clear, write a comment and I'll answer it.
How does iOS know what UIScrollView to use?
iOS grabs the first subview in your ViewController's view, the one at index 0, and if it's a subclass of
UIScrollView
then applies the explained properties to it.Of course, this means that
UITableViewController
works by default (since theUITableView
is the first view).