C4 navigating back and forth between subviews

Question

I feel silly again but I don't manage to navigate back and forth between the subviews of my project. I can add as many subviews as I want as long as it just goes forward, but as soon as I want to come back to one of the views previously visited I have a problem... here is my simplified code:

C4Workspace.h

#import "C4CanvasController.h"
#import "FirstView.h"
@interface C4WorkSpace : C4CanvasController{
    FirstView *firstView;
}
@end

C4Workspace.m

#import "C4Workspace.h"

@implementation C4WorkSpace

-(void)setup {
    firstView=[FirstView new];
    firstView.canvas.frame=CGRectMake(0, 0, self.canvas.width, self.canvas.height);
    firstView.canvas.userInteractionEnabled=YES;
    [firstView setup];
    firstView.mainCanvas=self.canvas;
    [self.canvas addSubview:firstView.canvas];
}

@end

FirstView.h

#import "C4CanvasController.h"
#import "SecondView.h"

@interface FirstView : C4CanvasController{
    C4Label *goToSecondView;
    SecondView *secondView;

}
@property (readwrite, strong) C4Window *mainCanvas;

@end

FirstView.m

#import "FirstView.h"
@implementation FirstView
-(void)setup{
    goToSecondView=[C4Label labelWithText:@"go to second View"];
    goToSecondView.origin=CGPointMake(20, 50);
    [self.canvas addLabel:goToSecondView];
    [self listenFor:@"touchesBegan" fromObject:goToSecondView andRunMethod:@"goToSecondView"];
}
-(void)goToSecondView{
    [goToSecondView removeFromSuperview];
    C4Log(@"second view");
    secondView=[SecondView new];
    secondView.canvas.frame=CGRectMake(0, 0, self.canvas.width, self.canvas.height);
    secondView.canvas.userInteractionEnabled=YES;
    [secondView setup];
    secondView.mainCanvas=self.canvas;
    [self.canvas addSubview:secondView.canvas];  
}
@end

SecondView.h

#import "C4CanvasController.h"
#import "FirstView.h"
@interface SecondView : C4CanvasController{
    C4Label *goToFirstView;
    FirstView *firstView;
}
@property (readwrite, strong) C4Window *mainCanvas;
@end

SecondView.m

#import "SecondView.h"
@implementation SecondView
-(void)setup{
    goToFirstView=[C4Label labelWithText:@"go to First View"];
    goToFirstView.origin=CGPointMake(20, 50);
    [self.canvas addLabel:goToFirstView];
    [self listenFor:@"touchesBegan" fromObject:goToFirstView andRunMethod:@"goToFirstView"];
}

-(void)goToFirstView{
    [goToFirstView removeFromSuperview];
    C4Log(@"first view");
    firstview=[FirstView new];
    firstview.canvas.frame=CGRectMake(0, 0, self.canvas.width, self.canvas.height);
    firstView.canvas.userInteractionEnabled=YES;
    [firstView setup];
    firstView.mainCanvas=self.canvas;
    [self.canvas addSubview:firstView.canvas];   
}
@end

Answer 1

I think you're over complicating the procedure.

The "control" of which subview should be done by the containing view controller, so, if the two views are on the canvas then it should be the canvas that deals with the switching instead of the objects themselves.

Thing to help improve your approach:

1. Get rid of references to the canvas from the subclasses.
2. The views of your subclassed controllers all post touchesBegan notifications... Use these in the workspace i.e. [self listenFor:@"touchesBegan" fromObject:firstOrSecondView.canvas and runMethod:@"switch:"];
3. Switch by either changing the zPosition or hiding / revealing the appropriate view...

I reduced your implementations to the following:

FirstView.m

#import "FirstView.h"
@implementation FirstView
-(void)setup{
    goToSecondView=[C4Label labelWithText:@"go to second View"];
    goToSecondView.origin=CGPointMake(20, 50);
    [self.canvas addLabel:goToSecondView];
    goToSecondView.userInteractionEnabled = NO;
}
@end

SecondView.m

#import "SecondView.h"
@implementation SecondView
-(void)setup{
    goToFirstView=[C4Label labelWithText:@"go to First View"];
    goToFirstView.origin=CGPointMake(20, 50);
    [self.canvas addLabel:goToFirstView];
    goToFirstView.userInteractionEnabled = NO;
}
@end

C4WorkSpace.m

#import "C4Workspace.h"
#import "FirstView.h"
#import "SecondView.h"

@implementation C4WorkSpace {
    FirstView *firstView;
    SecondView *secondView;
}

-(void)setup {
    firstView=[FirstView new];
    firstView.canvas.frame = self.canvas.frame;
    [firstView setup];
    firstView.canvas.userInteractionEnabled = YES;
    [self.canvas addSubview:firstView.canvas];

    secondView=[SecondView new];
    secondView.canvas.frame = self.canvas.frame;
    [secondView setup];
    secondView.canvas.userInteractionEnabled = YES;
    [self.canvas addSubview:secondView.canvas];

    secondView.canvas.hidden = YES;

    [self listenFor:@"touchesBegan"
        fromObjects:@[firstView.canvas, secondView.canvas]
       andRunMethod:@"switchView:"];
}

-(void)switchView:(NSNotification *)aNotification {
    C4View *v = (C4View *)aNotification.object;

    if([v isEqual:firstView.canvas]) {
        firstView.canvas.hidden = YES;
        secondView.canvas.hidden = NO;
    } else {
        firstView.canvas.hidden = NO;
        secondView.canvas.hidden = YES;
    }
}

@end

This should work for you in the case that your views need differing functionality, like FirstView will have significantly different internal functionality than SecondView... If they are the same then you should think about collapsing them into the same subclass.