Execute action when back bar button of UINavigationController is pressed

I need to execute an action (emptying an array), when the back button of a UINavigationController is pressed, while the button still causes the previous ViewController on the stack to appear. How could I accomplish this using swift?

Solution 1:

Replacing the button to a custom one as suggested on another answer is possibly not a great idea as you will lose the default behavior and style.

One other option you have is to implement the viewWillDisappear method on the View Controller and check for a property named isMovingFromParentViewController. If that property is true, it means the View Controller is disappearing because it's being removed (popped).

Should look something like:

override func viewWillDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewWillDisappear(animated)

    if self.isMovingFromParentViewController {
        // Your code...
    }
}

In swift 4.2

override func viewWillDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewWillDisappear(animated)

    if self.isMovingFromParent {
        // Your code...
    }
}

Solution 2:

One option would be implementing your own custom back button. You would need to add the following code to your viewDidLoad method:

- (void) viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    self.navigationItem.hidesBackButton = YES;
    UIBarButtonItem *newBackButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"Back" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered target:self action:@selector(back:)];
    self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = newBackButton;
}

- (void) back:(UIBarButtonItem *)sender {
    // Perform your custom actions
    // ...
    // Go back to the previous ViewController
    [self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}

UPDATE:

Here is the version for Swift:

    override func viewDidLoad {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        self.navigationItem.hidesBackButton = true
        let newBackButton = UIBarButtonItem(title: "Back", style: UIBarButtonItemStyle.Bordered, target: self, action: "back:")
        self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = newBackButton
    }

    func back(sender: UIBarButtonItem) {
        // Perform your custom actions
        // ...
        // Go back to the previous ViewController
        self.navigationController?.popViewControllerAnimated(true)
    }

UPDATE 2:

Here is the version for Swift 3:

    override func viewDidLoad {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        self.navigationItem.hidesBackButton = true
        let newBackButton = UIBarButtonItem(title: "Back", style: UIBarButtonItemStyle.plain, target: self, action: #selector(YourViewController.back(sender:)))
        self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = newBackButton
    }

    func back(sender: UIBarButtonItem) {
        // Perform your custom actions
        // ...
        // Go back to the previous ViewController
        _ = navigationController?.popViewController(animated: true)
    }

Solution 3:

override func willMove(toParent parent: UIViewController?)
{
    super.willMove(toParent: parent)
    if parent == nil
    {
        print("This VC is 'will' be popped. i.e. the back button was pressed.")
    }
}