A Reusable Date Drill-Down Controller

The other day, I posted a reusable table-based drill-down controller. Today, I'm posting another in my series of re-usable drill-down controllers: a reusable date drill-down.

To use this controller, designed to be used as a drill-down in a Navigation-based App, all you have to do is create an instance of the class, and set that instance's delegate to self, and then set the date to be displayed when it is first shown, like so:

DateViewController *controller = [[DateViewController alloc] init];
controller.delegate = self;
controller.date = theDateToBeEdited;
[delegate.rootController pushViewController:controller animated:YES];
[controller release];

Then, implement this delegate method:

- (void)takeNewDate:(NSDate *)newDate
{
    myObject.date = newDate;
}

Now, when the drill-down controller is dismissed, if the user pressed the Save button, that takeNewDate: method will get called with the new value, and all you have to do is stick the new date back into your data model. The controller class is self-contained, and there's no need to edit the controller class at all (though feel free to expand on it if you want). If you want to customize the appearance of the date picker, you can use the controller's datePicker property, for example, to change the date picker's mode:

controller.datePicker.datePickerMode = UIDatePickerModeDateAndTime;

Here's the date picker class:

DateViewController.h

/*
 DateViewController.h
 */

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "Person.h"

@protocol DateViewDelegate <NSObject>
@required
- (void)takeNewDate:(NSDate *)newDate;
- (UINavigationController *)navController;          // Return the navigation controller
@end

@interface DateViewController : UIViewController {
    UIDatePicker            *datePicker;
    NSDate                  *date;
    
    id <DateViewDelegate>   delegate;   // weak ref
}
@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIDatePicker *datePicker;
@property (nonatomic, retain) NSDate *date;
@property (nonatomic, assign)  id <DateViewDelegate> delegate;
-(IBAction)dateChanged;
@end

DateViewController.m

/*
 DateViewController.m
 */
#import "DateViewController.h"
#import "BirthdaysCategories.h"

@implementation DateViewController
@synthesize datePicker;
@synthesize date;
@synthesize delegate;

-(IBAction)dateChanged
{
    self.date = [datePicker date];
}
-(IBAction)cancel
{
    [[self.delegate navController] popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}
-(IBAction)save
{
    [self.delegate takeNewDate:date];
    [[self.delegate navController] popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}
- (void)loadView
{
    UIView *theView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:[[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]];
    self.view = theView;
    [theView release];
    
        
    UIDatePicker *theDatePicker = [[UIDatePicker alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0.0, 206.0, 320.0, 216.0)];
    self.datePicker = theDatePicker;
    [theDatePicker release];
    [datePicker addTarget:self action:@selector(dateChanged) forControlEvents:UIControlEventValueChanged];
    [self.view addSubview:datePicker];
    
    
    UIBarButtonItem *cancelButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
                                     initWithTitle:@"Cancel"
                                     style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain
                                     target:self
                                     action:@selector(cancel)];
    self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = cancelButton;
    [cancelButton release];
    UIBarButtonItem *saveButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc]
                                   initWithTitle:@"Save"
                                   style:UIBarButtonItemStylePlain
                                   target:self
                                   action:@selector(save)];
    self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = saveButton;
    [saveButton release];
    
    self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor groupTableViewBackgroundColor];

}

- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
    if (self.date != nil)
        [self.datePicker setDate:date animated:YES];
    else 
        [self.datePicker setDate:[NSDate date] animated:YES];
    
    [super viewWillAppear:animated];
}
- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation {
    // Return YES for supported orientations
    return (interfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait);
}

- (void)dealloc {
    [datePicker release];
    [date release];
    [super dealloc];
}
@end