UIMenuController sharedMenuController - custom menuitem for uicollectionview do not show in ios 7

Question

I'm using a UIMenuItem to perform a custom action in UICollectionView cell long press. this worked perfectly with iOS 6, but now I am converting my application to iOS 7 and Xcode 5 and it don't work. The custom item do not shown.

UIMenuItem *menuItem = [[UIMenuItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"Unfavorite"
                                                  action:@selector(unFavorite:)];
[[UIMenuController sharedMenuController] setMenuItems:[NSArray arrayWithObject:menuItem]];
[UIMenuController sharedMenuController].menuVisible = YES;

- (BOOL)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView canPerformAction:(SEL)action forItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath withSender:(id)sender;
{
    //do not show default itens like copy, paste....
    [self becomeFirstResponder];
    return NO;
}


- (BOOL)canPerformAction:(SEL)action withSender:(id)sender {
// The selector(s) should match your UIMenuItem selector
    if (action == @selector(unFavorite:)) {
         return YES;
    }
    return NO;
}

- (void)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView
     performAction:(SEL)action
forItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
        withSender:(id)sender {

}

 - (BOOL)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView
 shouldShowMenuForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

    myIndexPath = indexPath;
    return YES;
}

Answer 1

I don't know about iOS 6, but in iOS 7 it's very simple. You just need the three standard collection view delegate menu-handling methods, plus an action method in the cell subclass. There is no need to play with first responder or anything like that. So, for example (in this example, Copy is a standard item but Capital is something I've added to the menu):

// collection view delegate:

- (BOOL)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView 
        shouldShowMenuForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
    UIMenuItem* mi = [[UIMenuItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"Capital" 
                      action:NSSelectorFromString(@"capital:")];
    [[UIMenuController sharedMenuController] setMenuItems:@[mi]];
    return YES;
}

- (BOOL)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView 
        canPerformAction:(SEL)action 
        forItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath withSender:(id)sender {
    return (action == NSSelectorFromString(@"copy:") || 
            action == NSSelectorFromString(@"capital:"));
}

- (void)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView 
        performAction:(SEL)action forItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath 
        withSender:(id)sender {
    // in real life, would do something here
    NSString* state = (self.sectionData)[indexPath.section][indexPath.row];
    if (action == NSSelectorFromString(@"copy:"))
        NSLog(@"copying %@", state);
    else if (action == NSSelectorFromString(@"capital:"))
        NSLog(@"fetching the capital of %@", state);
}

// cell subclass:

-(void)capital:(id)sender {
    // find my collection view
    UIView* v = self;
    do {
        v = v.superview;
    } while (![v isKindOfClass:[UICollectionView class]]);
    UICollectionView* cv = (UICollectionView*) v;
    // ask it what index path we are
    NSIndexPath* ip = [cv indexPathForCell:self];
    // talk to its delegate
    if (cv.delegate && 
        [cv.delegate respondsToSelector:
             @selector(collectionView:performAction:forItemAtIndexPath:withSender:)])
        [cv.delegate collectionView:cv performAction:_cmd
             forItemAtIndexPath:ip withSender:sender];
}

Answer 2

I updated my solution for iOS 7.0 with images and examples in a similar StackOverflow issue.

I use ARC and weak references for the delegate. Seems to work on both iOS 6.0 and iOS 7.0

https://stackoverflow.com/a/13618212/276626

Answer 3

I had added a searchBar on my UICollectionView with the result of the UIMenuController going MIA. After two days trial & error I think finally found a way to make it work.

The Problem (running on iOS7):

1. UILongPressGestureRecognizer on UICollectionViewController is called
2. The MenuController shows
3. Added a UISearchBar and as soon as the collectionView reloads its data: No more menu controller

I think the trick to make it work is to explicitly remove the first responder status from the searchBar:

- (void)longPressGestureDetected:(UILongPressGestureRecognizer *)gesture {
if(gesture.state == UIGestureRecognizerStateBegan) {
    CGPoint touchPoint = [gesture locationInView:gesture.view];
    NSInteger index = [self.collectionView indexPathForItemAtPoint:touchPoint].item;
    if(index >= 0 && index < self.documents.count) {
        // dismiss searchBar
        [self.searchBar resignFirstResponder];
        [self becomeFirstResponder];
        // select the right document
        //[self.documentManager selectDocumentWithIndex:index];
        // show menu
        UIMenuController *menu = [UIMenuController sharedMenuController];
        menu.menuItems = [self defaultMenuItems];
        [menu setTargetRect:CGRectMake(touchPoint.x, touchPoint.y, 0, 0) inView:gesture.view];
        [gesture.view becomeFirstResponder];
        [menu update];
        [menu setMenuVisible:YES animated:YES];
    }
}

of course there are also these responder status methods in the controller:

- (BOOL)canBecomeFirstResponder { return YES; }
- (BOOL)canPerformAction:(SEL)action withSender:(id)sender {
    if(action == @selector(renameDocument:)) {
        return YES;
    } else {
        return NO;
    }
}

- (NSArray*)defaultMenuItems {
    // add menu items
    UIMenuItem *renameItem      = [[UIMenuItem alloc] initWithTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"Rename", @"Rename Menu Item")           action:@selector(renameDocument:)];
    return @[renameItem];
}

Answer 4

as metioned by nicolas, the relevant code follows. Note: This causes the collection VC to never release (meaning the dealloc is never called). We need to find better solution in the long run or until Apple fixes this iOS 7.x bug.

in NibCell.h

@protocol CellToVCDelegate <NSObject>

@optional

- (void)deleteActivity:(id)sender ;
- (void)shareActivity:(id)sender;

@end

@interface NibCell : UICollectionViewCell{

    id <CellToVCDelegate> delegate;
  }

@property (nonatomic, retain) id <CellToVCDelegate> delegate;

in NibCell.m

#pragma mark - Custom Action(s)
- (void)deleteActivity:(id)sender {
    NSLog(@"delete action! %@", sender);

    [self.delegate deleteActivity:sender];


}

- (void)shareActivity:(id)sender {
    NSLog(@"shareActivity action! %@", sender);
    [self.delegate shareActivity:sender];



}

in the collection VC.h

@interface VC : UIViewController <

                        CellToVCDelegate>

in VC.m:

- (UICollectionViewCell *)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView cellForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    NibCell *cell = [collectionView dequeueReusableCellWithReuseIdentifier:cvCellIdentifier
                                                              forIndexPath:indexPath];

cell.delegate = self;
return cell;
}