Is it possible to NOT dismiss a UIAlertView

Question

The UIAlertviewDelegate protocol has several optional methods including:

- (void)alertView:(UIAlertView *)alertView clickedButtonAtIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex;

This would seem to suggest that not all button clicks actually dismiss the alert view. However I see no way of configuring the alert view to NOT automatically dismiss with any button press.

Do I have to create a subclass to accomplish this?

Why would the UIAlertViewDelegate Protocol have:

- (void)alertView:(UIAlertView *)alertView didDismissWithButtonIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex;
- (void)alertView:(UIAlertView *)alertView willDismissWithButtonIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex

AND

- (void)alertView:(UIAlertView *)alertView clickedButtonAtIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex;

If it didn't optionally support not dismissing the alert view with each button click?

Brief Aside: I realize what UIAlertView was designed for. But my purpose is to allow the user to copy some text to the paste board before the app exits (which happens automatically when the alert view is dismissed.

Answer 1

Yes. Subclass UIAlertView and then overload -dismissWithClickedButtonIndex:animated:, e.g.

@implementation MyAlertView 
-(void)dismissWithClickedButtonIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex animated:(BOOL)animated {
   if (buttonIndex should not dismiss the alert)
      return;
   [super dismissWithClickedButtonIndex:buttonIndex animated:animated];
}
@end

---

Unofficially you can define a

-(void)alertSheet:(UIAlertSheet*)sheet buttonClicked:(id)button;

method to the delegate which will make it bypass -dismissWithClickedButtonIndex:animated:, but it's undocumented, so I don't know whether it's suitable for you.

Answer 2

willPresentAlertView:, didPresentAlertView:, alertView:willDismissWithButtonIndex:, and alertView:didDismissWithButtonIndex: are for tracking the start and end of UIAlertView's animations.

Applications that don't need to track UIAlertView's animations can simply use alertView:clickedButtonAtIndex:. The docs for that method say "the receiver is automatically dismissed after this method is invoked."

Answer 3

In my opinion: There's no reason to keep alertView. Even if you wanna keep it, just think about "re-show" it, by keeping a reference, then call [alertView show] ==> NO NEED TO SUBCLASS ANYTHING. Good news, huh?

Answer 4

WARNING

From some sources I have heard that few app have got rejected following this process. I was lucky in my case during iOS6 so I am showing code here. Use on your own risk :-/

Subclassing is the best way. Create a bool flag for alert should stay or not.

This is the Subclass of UIAlertView

//
//  UICustomAlertView.h
//

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UICustomAlertView : UIAlertView
{

}
@property(nonatomic, assign) BOOL dontDisppear;
@end

//
//  UICustomAlertView.m
//

#import "UICustomAlertView.h"

@implementation UICustomAlertView

- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame
{
    self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
    if (self) {
        // Initialization code
    }
    return self;
}

-(void)dismissWithClickedButtonIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex animated:(BOOL)animated {

    if(self.dontDisppear)
        return;
    [super dismissWithClickedButtonIndex:buttonIndex animated:animated];
}
@end

And this is how I used it into my code

if(![txtUsername.text isEqualToString:@"admin"] && ![txtPassword.text isEqualToString:@"admin"])
{
     alertLogin.dontDisppear = YES;
     alertLogin.message = NSLocalizedString(@"my_alert", nil);
}
else
{
     alertLogin.dontDisppear = NO;
     // proceed
}

Answer 5

#import "MLAlertView.h"

@implementation MLAlertView


-(void)dismissWithClickedButtonIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex animated:(BOOL)animated {
}

-(void)dismissNow:(NSInteger)buttonIndex  {
     [super dismissWithClickedButtonIndex:buttonIndex animated:YES];
}