Programmatically set the initial view controller using Storyboards

Question

How do I programmatically set the InitialViewController for a Storyboard  I want to open my storyboard to a different view depending on some condition which may vary from launch to launch

User · Answer

Select the view controller which you want to open first and go to attribute inspector. Go to initial scene and check is initial view controller option.

Now this will be your initial view controller that will open first when application launch.

User · Answer

You can set initial view controller using Interface Builder as well as programmatically   Below is approach used for programmatically   Objective-C            self window     UIWindow alloc  initWithFrame UIScreen mainScreen bounds           UIStoryboard  storyboard    UIStoryboard storyboardWithName   MainStoryboard  bundle nil            UIViewController  viewController    storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier   HomeViewController        lt storyboard id gt           self window rootViewController   viewController           self window makeKeyAndVisible            return YES    Swift            self window   UIWindow frame  UIScreen mainScreen   bounds          let mainStoryboard  UIStoryboard   UIStoryboard name   Main   bundle  nil           var objMainViewController  MainViewController   mainStoryboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier  MainController   as  MainViewController          self window  rootViewController   objMainViewController          self window  makeKeyAndVisible            return true

User · Answer

I created a routing class to handle dynamic navigation and keep clean AppDelegate class, I hope it will help other too.

//
//  Routing.swift
// 
//
//  Created by Varun Naharia on 02/02/17.
//  Copyright © 2017 TechNaharia. All rights reserved.
//

import Foundation
import UIKit
import CoreLocation

class Routing {

    class func decideInitialViewController(window:UIWindow){
        let userDefaults = UserDefaults.standard
        if((Routing.getUserDefault("isFirstRun")) == nil)
        {
            Routing.setAnimatedAsInitialViewContoller(window: window)
        }
        else if((userDefaults.object(forKey: "User")) != nil)
        {
            Routing.setHomeAsInitialViewContoller(window: window)
        }
        else
        {
            Routing.setLoginAsInitialViewContoller(window: window)
        }

    }

    class func setAnimatedAsInitialViewContoller(window:UIWindow) {
        Routing.setUserDefault("Yes", KeyToSave: "isFirstRun")
        let mainStoryboard: UIStoryboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
        let animatedViewController: AnimatedViewController = mainStoryboard.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "AnimatedViewController") as! AnimatedViewController

        window.rootViewController = animatedViewController
        window.makeKeyAndVisible()
    }

    class func setHomeAsInitialViewContoller(window:UIWindow) {
        let userDefaults = UserDefaults.standard
        let decoded  = userDefaults.object(forKey: "User") as! Data
        User.currentUser = NSKeyedUnarchiver.unarchiveObject(with: decoded) as! User

        if(User.currentUser.userId != nil && User.currentUser.userId != "")
        {
            let mainStoryboard: UIStoryboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
            let homeViewController: HomeViewController = mainStoryboard.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "HomeViewController") as! HomeViewController
            let loginViewController: UINavigationController = mainStoryboard.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "LoginNavigationViewController") as! UINavigationController
            loginViewController.viewControllers.append(homeViewController)
            window.rootViewController = loginViewController
        }
        window.makeKeyAndVisible()
    }

    class func setLoginAsInitialViewContoller(window:UIWindow) {
        let mainStoryboard: UIStoryboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
        let loginViewController: UINavigationController = mainStoryboard.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "LoginNavigationViewController") as! UINavigationController

        window.rootViewController = loginViewController
        window.makeKeyAndVisible()
    }

  class func setUserDefault(_ ObjectToSave : Any?  , KeyToSave : String)
    {
        let defaults = UserDefaults.standard

        if (ObjectToSave != nil)
        {

            defaults.set(ObjectToSave, forKey: KeyToSave)
        }

        UserDefaults.standard.synchronize()
    }

    class func getUserDefault(_ KeyToReturnValye : String) -> Any?
    {
        let defaults = UserDefaults.standard

        if let name = defaults.value(forKey: KeyToReturnValye)
        {
            return name as Any
        }
        return nil
    }

    class func removetUserDefault(_ KeyToRemove : String)
    {
        let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
        defaults.removeObject(forKey: KeyToRemove)
        UserDefaults.standard.synchronize()
    }

}

And in your AppDelegate call this

 self.window = UIWindow(frame: UIScreen.main.bounds)
 Routing.decideInitialViewController(window: self.window!)

User · Answer

Another solution with using Swift 3 and Swift 4 with avoiding force casting is like this  func application   application  UIApplication  didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions   UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey  Any    - gt  Bool       self window   UIWindow frame  UIScreen main bounds      let storyboard   UIStoryboard name   Main   bundle  nil      guard let viewController   storyboard instantiateViewController withIdentifier   YourViewController   as  YourViewController else           return false           self window  rootViewController   viewController     self window  makeKeyAndVisible       return true     And below is using with UINavigationController  func application   application  UIApplication  didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions   UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey  Any    - gt  Bool       self window   UIWindow frame  UIScreen main bounds      let storyboard   UIStoryboard name   Main   bundle  nil      guard let viewController   storyboard instantiateViewController withIdentifier   YourViewController   as  YourViewController else           return false           let navigationController   UINavigationController rootViewController  viewController      self window  rootViewController   navigationController     self window  makeKeyAndVisible       return true

User · Answer

How to without a dummy initial view controller  Ensure all initial view controllers have a Storyboard ID   In the storyboard  uncheck the  Is initial View Controller  attribute from the first view controller   If you run your app at this point you ll read   Failed to instantiate the default view controller for UIMainStoryboardFile  MainStoryboard  - perhaps the designated entry point is not set    And you ll notice that your window property in the app delegate is now nil   In the app s setting  go to your target and the Info tab  There clear the value of Main storyboard file base name  On the General tab  clear the value for Main Interface  This will remove the warning   Create the window and desired initial view controller in the app delegate s application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions  method   -  BOOL application  UIApplication   application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions  NSDictionary   launchOptions       self window     UIWindow alloc  initWithFrame UIScreen mainScreen bounds        UIStoryboard  storyboard    UIStoryboard storyboardWithName   MainStoryboard  bundle nil        UIViewController  viewController      determine the initial view controller here and instantiate it with  storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier  lt storyboard id gt         self window rootViewController   viewController       self window makeKeyAndVisible        return YES

User · Answer

func application   application  UIApplication  didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions   UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey  Any    - gt  Bool           self window   UIWindow frame  UIScreen main bounds          let storyboard   UIStoryboard name   Main   bundle  nil          if  PreferenceHelper getAccessToken                        let initialViewController   storyboard instantiateViewController withIdentifier   your View Controller Identifier               self window  rootViewController   initialViewController           else               let initialViewController   storyboard instantiateViewController withIdentifier   your View Controller identifier               self window  rootViewController   initialViewController                   self window  makeKeyAndVisible           return true           use your view Controller identifier must use it doubles quotes  strong text

User · Answer

Swift 4  Xcode 9  in file AppDelegate swift   func application   application  UIApplication  didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions   UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey  Any    - gt  Bool       let storyboard   UIStoryboard name   Main   bundle  nil      let firstVC   storyboard instantiateViewController withIdentifier   firstViewController   as  firstViewController     self window  rootViewController   firstVC

User · Answer

Found simple solution - no need to remove "initial view controller check" from storyboard and editing project Info tab and use makeKeyAndVisible, just place

self.window.rootViewController = rootVC;

in

- (BOOL) application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:

User · Answer

Open mainstoryboard  select the view that you want start first  then open Utilities--  Attributes  Below the  View Controller  you see the  Is initial View Controller  radio button  Just select it   --- To the revised question   May be you can try this  write a method in ViewDidLoad section of your inital view and when the method runs on application launch  method triggers a segue to another view

User · Answer

Thanks modified this as follows in AppDelegate   func application application  UIApplication  didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions   NSObject  AnyObject    - gt      Bool     Some code to check value of pins  if pins      Verified           print pins          self window   UIWindow frame  UIScreen mainScreen   bounds          let mainStoryboard  UIStoryboard   UIStoryboard name   HomePage   bundle  nil          let exampleViewController  UINavigationController   mainStoryboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier  SBHP   as  UINavigationController          self window  rootViewController   exampleViewController          self window  makeKeyAndVisible        else          print pins          self window   UIWindow frame  UIScreen mainScreen   bounds          let mainStoryboard  UIStoryboard   UIStoryboard name   Main   bundle  nil          let exampleViewController  UINavigationController   mainStoryboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier  SBUser   as  UINavigationController          self window  rootViewController   exampleViewController          self window  makeKeyAndVisible

User · Answer

let mainStoryboard   UIStoryboard name   Main   bundle  nil  let vc   mainStoryboard instantiateViewController withIdentifier   storyBoardid   as  ViewController let navigationController   UINavigationController rootViewController  vc  UIApplication shared delegate window  rootViewController   navigationController   Another way is to present viewController   let mainStoryboard   UIStoryboard name   Main   bundle  nil  let vc   mainStoryboard instantiateViewController withIdentifier   storyBoardid   as  ViewController self present vc animated true completion nil    First you need to create object of your storyboard then change root if required  then you take reference of particular view controller which is pushed current view controller if you change root  else it s just present new view controller which may you

User · Answer

SWIFT 5  If you don t have a ViewController set as the initial ViewController in storyboard  you need to do 2 things    Go to your project TARGETS  select your project -  General -  Clear the Main Interface field  Always inside project TARGETS  now go to Info -  Application Scene Manifest -  Scene Configuration -  Application Session Role -  Item0  Default Configuration  -  delete the storyboard name field    Finally  you can now add your code in SceneDelegate   func scene   scene  UIScene  willConnectTo session  UISceneSession  options connectionOptions  UIScene ConnectionOptions           Use this method to optionally configure and attach the UIWindow  window  to the provided UIWindowScene  scene          If using a storyboard  the  window  property will automatically be initialized and attached to the scene         This delegate does not imply the connecting scene or session are new  see  application configurationForConnectingSceneSession  instead       guard let windowScene    scene as  UIWindowScene  else   return        window   UIWindow windowScene  windowScene        let storyboard   UIStoryboard name   Main   bundle  nil         Make sure you set an Storyboard ID for the view controller you want to instantiate     window  rootViewController   storyboard instantiateViewController withIdentifier  identifier      window  makeKeyAndVisible

User · Answer

I don t think it s possible  Instead you can have one initial controller which will have segues to different view controllers  On startup  you can decide which segue to perform programmatically

User · Answer

Swift 5 or above  make route view controller by this simple code  If you are using xcode 11 or above first initialise var window  UIWindow  in AppDelegate  let rootVC   mainStoryboard instantiateViewController withIdentifier   YOURCONTROLLER   as  YOURCONTROLLER          navigationController setNavigationBarHidden true  animated  true          UIApplication shared windows first  rootViewController   UINavigationController init rootViewController  rootVC          UIApplication shared windows first  makeKeyAndVisible

User · Answer

Swift 3  Update to  victor-sigler s code  func application   application  UIApplication  didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions   UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey  Any    - gt  Bool       self window   UIWindow frame  UIScreen main bounds          Assuming your storyboard is named  Main      let mainStoryboard  UIStoryboard   UIStoryboard name   Main   bundle  nil          Add code here  e g  if else  to determine which view controller class  chooseViewControllerA or chooseViewControllerB  and storyboard ID  chooseStoryboardA or chooseStoryboardB  to send the user to      if condition           let initialViewController  chooseViewControllerA   mainStoryboard instantiateViewController withIdentifier   chooseStoryboardA   as  chooseViewControllerA         self window  rootViewController   initialViewController            else          let initialViewController  chooseViewControllerB   mainStoryboard instantiateViewController withIdentifier   chooseStoryboardB   as  chooseViewControllerB         self window  rootViewController   initialViewController            self window  makeKeyAndVisible       return true

User · Answer

For all the Swift lovers out there  here is the answer by  Travis translated into SWIFT   Do what  Travis explained before the Objective C code  Then   func application application  UIApplication  didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions   NSObject  AnyObject    - gt  Bool        self window   UIWindow frame  UIScreen mainScreen   bounds      let mainStoryboard  UIStoryboard   UIStoryboard name   Main   bundle  nil      var exampleViewController  ExampleViewController   mainStoryboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier  ExampleController   as  ExampleViewController      self window  rootViewController   exampleViewController      self window  makeKeyAndVisible        return true     The ExampleViewController would be the new initial view controller you would like to show   The steps explained    Create a new window with the size of the current window and set it as our main window Instantiate a storyboard that we can use to create our new initial view controller Instantiate our new initial view controller based on it s Storyboard ID Set our new window s root view controller as our the new controller we just initiated Make our new window visible   Enjoy and happy programming

User · Answer

You can set Navigation rootviewcontroller as a main view controller. This idea can use for auto login as per application requirement.

UIStoryboard *mainStoryboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"Main" bundle: nil];

UIViewController viewController = (HomeController*)[mainStoryboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier: @"HomeController"];

UINavigationController navController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:viewController];

 self.window.rootViewController = navController;

if (NSFoundationVersionNumber > NSFoundationVersionNumber_iOS_6_1) {

    // do stuff for iOS 7 and newer

    navController.navigationBar.barTintColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:88/255.0 green:164/255.0 blue:73/255.0 alpha:1.0];

    navController.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem.tintColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:88/255.0 green:164/255.0 blue:73/255.0 alpha:1.0];

    navController.navigationBar.tintColor = [UIColor whiteColor];

    navController.navigationItem.titleView.tintColor = [UIColor whiteColor];

    NSDictionary *titleAttributes =@{

                                     NSFontAttributeName :[UIFont fontWithName:@"Helvetica-Bold" size:14.0],

                                     NSForegroundColorAttributeName : [UIColor whiteColor]

                                     };

    navController.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = titleAttributes;

    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarStyle:UIStatusBarStyleLightContent];

}

else {

    // do stuff for older versions than iOS 7

    navController.navigationBar.tintColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:88/255.0 green:164/255.0 blue:73/255.0 alpha:1.0];



    navController.navigationItem.titleView.tintColor = [UIColor whiteColor];

}

[self.window makeKeyAndVisible];

For StoryboardSegue Users

UIStoryboard *mainStoryboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"Main" bundle: nil];

// Go to Login Screen of story board with Identifier name : LoginViewController_Identifier

LoginViewController *loginViewController = (LoginViewController*)[mainStoryboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@“LoginViewController_Identifier”];

navigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:testViewController];

self.window.rootViewController = navigationController;

[self.window makeKeyAndVisible];

// Go To Main screen if you are already Logged In Just check your saving credential here

if([SavedpreferenceForLogin] > 0){
    [loginViewController performSegueWithIdentifier:@"mainview_action" sender:nil];
}

Thanks

User · Answer

If you prefer not to change applicationDidFinish, you can do the following trick:

Set Navigation controller as an initial view controller and assign to it a custom class 'MyNavigationController'. Then you can tweak its root view controller during viewDidLoad - it will override the root view controller that you set in your storyboard.

class MyNavigationController: UINavigationController {
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        if !isLoggedIn() {
            viewControllers = [R.storyboard.authentication.loginView()!]
        }
    }

    private func isLoggedIn() -> Bool {
        return false
    }

}

User · Answer

A few days ago I ve encountered to same situation  A very simple trick solved this problem   I set hidden my initial view controller before launch2  If initial view controller is the right controller it s set to visible in viewDidLoad  Else  a segue is performed to desired view controller  It works perfectly in iOS 6 1 and above  I m sure it works on earlier versions of iOS

User · Answer

UPDATED ANSWER for iOS 13 and scene delegate:

make sure in your info.plist file you go into Application Scene Manifest -> Scene Configuration -> Application Session Role -> Item 0 and delete the reference to the main storyboard there as well. Otherwise you'll get the same warning about failing to instantiate from storyboard.

Also, move the code from the app delegate to the scene delegate method scene(_:willConnectTo:options:), since this is where life cycle events are handled now.

User · Answer

You can programmatically set the key window's rootViewController in (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application willFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions

for example:

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application willFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
    if (shouldShowAnotherViewControllerAsRoot) {
        UIStoryboard *storyboard = self.window.rootViewController.storyboard;
        UIViewController *rootViewController = [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"rootNavigationController"];
        self.window.rootViewController = rootViewController;
        [self.window makeKeyAndVisible];
    }

    return YES;
}

User · Answer

In AppDelegate swift you can add the following code   let sb   UIStoryboard name   Main   bundle  nil  let vc   sb instantiateViewController withIdentifier   YourViewController StorboardID   self window  rootViewController   vc self window  makeKeyAndVisible     Of course  you need to implement your logic  based on which criteria you ll choose an appropriate view controller    Also  don t forget to add an identity  select storyboard -  Controller Scene -  Show the identity inspector -  assign StorboardID

[ios] Programmatically set the initial view controller using Storyboards

The answer is

Examples related to ios

Examples related to objective-c

Examples related to swift

Examples related to uiviewcontroller

Examples related to uistoryboard

Tags