Xamarin iOS tab bar - Selecting an item in the More menu

Question

Hi,

I'm having an issue with a Xamarin iOS app and the UITabBar in a TabBarController, specifically with selecting a tab bar item that is in the More section.

I have 10 tab bar items in the tab bar (including the More button). When the app starts up, I cycle through and remove one or more items depending upon the user's permissions. I use the Title of the tab bar item to find it and remove it, thus:

private void RemoveTab(string title)
{
    if (TabBar.Items != null)
    {
        System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("****** removing tab title = {0}, total tabs = {1}", title, TabBar.Items.Count()));

        for (int i = 0; i < TabBar.Items.Length; i++)
        {
            System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("****** title = {0}, title in toolbar is {1}", title, TabBar.Items[i].Title));

            if (TabBar.Items[i].Title == title)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("****** FOUND {0}", title, TabBar.Items[i].Title));

                List<UIViewController> viewControllers = ViewControllers.ToList();

                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("****** before remove total tabs = {0}", TabBar.Items.Count()));
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("****** before remove list count = {0}", viewControllers.Count()));

                viewControllers.RemoveAt(i);

                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("****** after remove total tabs = {0}", TabBar.Items.Count()));
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("****** after remove list count = {0}", viewControllers.Count()));
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("****** after remove array count = {0}", viewControllers.ToArray().Count()));

                ViewControllers = viewControllers.ToArray();

                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("****** after assignment array count = {0}", ViewControllers.Count()));
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("****** after assignment title = {0}, total tabs = {1}", title, TabBar.Items.Count()));

                break;
            }
        }
    }
}

The output oof the above method is as follows:

[0:] ****** removing tab title = Routes, total tabs = 10 [0:] ****** title = Routes, title in toolbar is Quick Quotes [0:] ****** title = Routes, title in toolbar is Charters [0:] ****** title = Routes, title in toolbar is Parent [0:] ****** title = Routes, title in toolbar is Routes [0:] ****** FOUND Routes [0:] ****** before remove total tabs = 10 [0:] ****** before remove list count = 10 [0:] ****** after remove total tabs = 10 [0:] ****** after remove list count = 9 [0:] ****** after remove array count = 9 [0:] ****** after assignment array count = 9 [0:] ****** after assignment title = Routes, total tabs = 5

As you can see, the total number of tabs prior to removing a tab is 10, however, after assigning of the updated ViewControllers, the number of tabs drops to 5 (I assume those visible, including More).

Further attempts to iterate through the tabs and find a tab by Title that is in the More section results in it not being found.

So, I'm wondering why the number of tabs suddenly drops to 5 after removing a ViewController and reassigning.

FWIW, I can also override ViewWillAppear(), print the number of tabs which is 10, and call base.ViewWillAppear(), then print the number of tabs again, and it is 5:

Any thoughts?

Answer 1

Hello,

total tabs = 5

This is in line with expectations.

In iOS, if there are more than 5 viewControllers, the extra TabItems are encapsulated in the More tab. When you click on the More tab, a table view will pop up to show the rest of the TabItems.

Therefore, when you call TabBar.Items.Count(), the value returned is 5.

Best Regards,

Alec Liu.

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