Execute action when back bar button of UINavigationController is pressed

ios, swift, uinavigationcontroller, xcode

Solution

One option would be implementing your own custom back button. You would need to add the following code to your viewDidLoad method:

    - (void) viewDidLoad {
        [super viewDidLoad];
        self.navigationItem.hidesBackButton = YES;
        UIBarButtonItem *newBackButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"Back" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered target:self action:@selector(back:)];
        self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = newBackButton;
    }

    - (void) back:(UIBarButtonItem *)sender {
        // Perform your custom actions
        // ...
        // Go back to the previous ViewController
        [self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
    }

UPDATE:

Here is the version for Swift:

        override func viewDidLoad {
            super.viewDidLoad()
            self.navigationItem.hidesBackButton = true
            let newBackButton = UIBarButtonItem(title: "Back", style: UIBarButtonItemStyle.Bordered, target: self, action: "back:")
            self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = newBackButton
        }

       @objc func back(sender: UIBarButtonItem) {
            // Perform your custom actions
            // ...
            // Go back to the previous ViewController
            self.navigationController?.popViewControllerAnimated(true)
        }

UPDATE 2:

Here is the version for Swift 3:

        override func viewDidLoad {
            super.viewDidLoad()
            self.navigationItem.hidesBackButton = true
            let newBackButton = UIBarButtonItem(title: "Back", style: UIBarButtonItemStyle.plain, target: self, action: #selector(YourViewController.back(sender:)))
            self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = newBackButton
        }

       @objc func back(sender: UIBarButtonItem) {
            // Perform your custom actions
            // ...
            // Go back to the previous ViewController
            _ = navigationController?.popViewController(animated: true)
        }

Problem

I need to execute an action (emptying an array), when the back button of a `UINavigationController` is pressed, while the button still causes the previous `ViewController` on the stack to appear. How could I accomplish this using swift?

Original source

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