difference between presentViewController and UINavigationController?

Please tell the difference between presentViewController and UiNavigationController? Could I use presentViewController instead of UINavigationController to navigate different views in the app? Whats the scenario to use either?

Solution 1:

presentViewController offers a mechanism to display a so-called modal view controller; i.e., a view controller that will take full control of your UI by being superimposed on top of a presenting controller.

UINavigationController offers a much more flexible mechanism where you can push a new controller, and later pop it, so to go back to the previous one, in a ordered way. Imagine that controllers in a navigation controller will just build a sequence from left to right.

I think that presentViewController is most suitable for use with just one view controller being presented at a time. You can surely use it to stack more view controllers one on top of the other (and thus sort of "mimic" a poor-man's navigation controller), but my bet is you will quickly find something not working as you expected.

Specifically, an example of such limitation is the following: when you dismiss a modal view controller (in order to "close" it), all of your modally presented view controllers (from the same presenting controller) will also be dismissed at once. So you simply will not be able to implement a "go back"/navigation like functionality.

So, it depends on what you are trying to do.

Solution 2:

A UINavigationController is a subclass of UIViewController that manages a stack of view controllers and adds a back button etc.

presentViewController is a method of the UIViewController class you use to present a modal view controller.

Solution 3:

The UINavigationController maintains a navigation stack for you. You are then able to navigate through hierarchical content.

http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/uikit/reference/UINavigationController_Class/Reference/Reference.html

If you use UIViewControllers presentViewController method you are basically just replacing the view controller. no navigation stack is maintained for you.

Solution 4:

UINavigationController is a class, presentViewController is an instance method of UIViewController (iOS 5 + ), of which UINavigationController is a subclass.

pushViewController is a comparable method to presentViewController. It is an instance method of UINavigationController, for iOS 2 +