Update UIview with new objects

Question

I have a method makeButtons (posted here), which is removing all buttons in the screen and adding them again. This works fine in viewDidLoad and viewDidAppear. I am accessing information from a webservice which is telling me I need a new button. When I am calling [self makebuttons] from that method, nothing happends, until I move forth and back with my NavigationController forcing viewDidAppear to do the work again. My question is why? I am doing exactly the same, unless it's not called from viewDidAppear, but from doneGettingInformation.

- (void) viewDidAppear:(bool) animated {
    [self makebuttons]; // Works great!
}

- (void) doneGettingInformation : (ASIFormDataRequest *) request {
    NSString *response = [request responseString];
    [[self.temp.userInfo objectForKey:@"spillider"] addObject:response];
    [self makebuttons]; // This gets called, but nothing changes in the view itself.
}

- (void) makeButtons {
    NSLog(@"kjort");
    int newAntall = [[self.temp.userInfo objectForKey:@"spillider"] count];
    for (UIButton * button in gameButtons) {
        NSString *tag = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%i",button.tag];
        [button removeFromSuperview];
        if ([webviews objectForKey:tag]) {
            [[webviews objectForKey:tag] removeFromSuperview];
            [webviews removeObjectForKey:tag];
        }
    }
    [gameButtons removeAllObjects];
    scroller.contentSize = CGSizeMake(320, 480);
    if (newAntall > 3) {
        CGSize scrollContent = self.scroller.contentSize;
        scrollContent.height = scrollContent.height+((newAntall-3)*BUTTON_HEIGTH);
        self.scroller.contentSize = scrollContent;
    }
    int y = 163;
    self.nyttSpillKnapp.frame = CGRectMake(BUTTON_X, y, BUTTON_WIDTH, 65);
    for (int i=0; i<newAntall; i++) {
        UIButton *button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
        [button setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"knapp_midt"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
        [button setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"knapp_midt"] forState:UIControlStateHighlighted];
        [button setTitleColor:[UIColor blackColor] forState:UIControlStateNormal];
        [button.titleLabel setFont:[UIFont systemFontOfSize:15]];
        button.frame = CGRectMake(BUTTON_X, y, BUTTON_WIDTH, BUTTON_HEIGTH);
        button.enabled = YES;
        UISwipeGestureRecognizer *swipe = [[UISwipeGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self
                                                                                    action:@selector(deleteButton:)];
        swipe.direction = UISwipeGestureRecognizerDirectionRight;
        [button addGestureRecognizer:swipe];
        button.tag = [[[self.temp.userInfo objectForKey:@"spillider"] objectAtIndex:i] intValue];
        NSString * tittel = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"spill %@",[[self.temp.userInfo objectForKey:@"spillider"] objectAtIndex:i]];
        [button setTitle:tittel forState:UIControlStateNormal];
        UIButton *subButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeDetailDisclosure];
        subButton.transform = CGAffineTransformMakeRotation(M_PI_2);
        subButton.tag = i;
        CGRect subframe = CGRectMake(230, 5, subButton.frame.size.width, subButton.frame.size.height);
        subButton.frame = subframe;
        CGRect myframe = self.nyttSpillKnapp.frame;
        myframe.origin.y = myframe.origin.y+BUTTON_HEIGTH;
        self.nyttSpillKnapp.frame = myframe;
        [subButton addTarget:self action:@selector(clickGameButton:) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
        [button addSubview:subButton];
        [gameButtons addObject:button];
        [self.scroller addSubview:button];
        y += BUTTON_HEIGTH;
    }
}

To sum up, it only works if I am changing viewcontrollers back and forth causing viewWillAppear to get called. Why is that?

I am sorry for my messy methods.

Thanks

Answer 1

If you change the contents of the view outside of the initial view appearing process or layout changes, it's your responsibility to call setNeedsDisplay and inform the run loop that it needs to be redrawn.

The system will ask the view to draw it's contents initially or during layout changes which is why it works as part of the process to first show the view. During that initial process, the viewWill/DidAppear delegates will get called.

From the UIView class reference:

The View Drawing Cycle

View drawing occurs on an as-needed basis. When a view is first shown, or when all or part of it becomes visible due to layout changes, the system asks the view to draw its contents. For views that contain custom content using UIKit or Core Graphics, the system calls the view’s drawRect: method. Your implementation of this method is responsible for drawing the view’s content into the current graphics context, which is set up by the system automatically prior to calling this method. This creates a static visual representation of your view’s content that can then be displayed on the screen.

When the actual content of your view changes, it is your responsibility to notify the system that your view needs to be redrawn. You do this by calling your view’s setNeedsDisplay or setNeedsDisplayInRect: method of the view. These methods let the system know that it should update the view during the next drawing cycle. Because it waits until the next drawing cycle to update the view, you can call these methods on multiple views to update them at the same time.

EDIT:

Also, make sure done getting images is not called on a background thread. You can't edit views on a background thread. If it is you can prepare all the data on a bg thread but then call makeButtons on on the main thread (performSelectorOnMainThread or use blocks.

See GCD, Threads, Program Flow and UI Updating