How do I get the RootViewController from a pushed controller?

Question

So, I push a view controller from RootViewController like:

[self.navigationController pushViewController:anotherViewController animated:YES] ;

BUT, FRO

Answer 1

This worked for me:

When my root view controller is embedded in a navigation controller:

UINavigationController * navigationController = (UINavigationController *)[[[[UIApplication sharedApplication] windows] firstObject] rootViewController];
RootViewController * rootVC = (RootViewController *)[[navigationController viewControllers] firstObject];

Remember that keyWindow is deprecated.

Answer 2

For all who are interested in a swift extension, this is what I'm using now:

extension UINavigationController {
    var rootViewController : UIViewController? {
        return self.viewControllers.first
    }
}

Answer 3

I encounter a strange condition.

self.viewControllers.first is not root viewController always.

Generally, self.viewControllers.first is root viewController indeed. But sometimes it's not.

class MyCustomMainNavigationController: UINavigationController {

    function configureForView(_ v: UIViewController, animated: Bool) {
        let root = self.viewControllers.first
        let isRoot = (v == root)
    
        // Update UI based on isRoot
        // ....
    }
}

extension MyCustomMainNavigationController: UINavigationControllerDelegate {
    func navigationController(_ navigationController: UINavigationController, 
        willShow viewController: UIViewController, 
        animated: Bool) {

        self.configureForView(viewController, animated: animated)
    }
}

My issue:

Generally, self.viewControllers.first is root viewController. But, when I call popToRootViewController(animated:), and then it triggers navigationController(_:willShow:animated:). At this moment, self.viewControllers.first is NOT root viewController, it's the last viewController which will disappear.

Summary

• self.viewControllers.first is not always root viewController. Sometime, it will be the last viewController.

So, I suggest to keep rootViewController by property when self.viewControllers have ONLY one viewController. I get root viewController in viewDidLoad() of custom UINavigationController.

class MyCustomMainNavigationController: UINavigationController {
    fileprivate var myRoot: UIViewController!
    override func viewDidLoad() {

        super.viewDidLoad()

        // My UINavigationController is defined in storyboard. 
        // So at this moment, 
        // I can get root viewController by `self.topViewController!`
        let v = self.topViewController!
        self.myRoot = v
    }

}

Enviroments:

• iPhone 7 with iOS 14.0.1
• Xcode 12.0.1 (12A7300)