UINavigationController() - Embed the view controller in a navigation controller programmatically

Update: July 8, 2017 (Swift 3.1 + Xcode 8.3.3)
Original Post: September 15, 2015

This post shows how to embed the view controller in a navigation controller.

Update: July 8, 2017 (Swift 3.1 + Xcode 8.3.3)

1. Modify func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions...) in AppDelegate.swift:

import UIKit

@UIApplicationMain

class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {

    var window: UIWindow?

    func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {

        

        let nav = UINavigationController()

        let mainWiew = ViewController(nibName: nil, bundle: nil)

        nav.viewControllers = [mainWiew]

        nav.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.white]

        

        UINavigationBar.appearance().barTintColor = UIColor.blue

        UINavigationBar.appearance().tintColor = UIColor.white

        

        //White status font

        UINavigationBar.appearance().barStyle = UIBarStyle.blackTranslucent

        

        self.window!.rootViewController = nav

        self.window?.makeKeyAndVisible()

        

        //Black status background

        let statusBar = UIView()

        statusBar.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 320, height: 20)

        statusBar.backgroundColor = UIColor.black

        self.window?.rootViewController?.view.addSubview(statusBar)

        

        return true

    }

2. Modify ViewController.swift:

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    

    override func viewDidLoad() {

        super.viewDidLoad()

        

        self.title = "My Title"

        

        let statusView = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: view.bounds.width, height: 20))

        statusView.backgroundColor = UIColor.black

        view.addSubview(statusView)

        

        let myView = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: view.bounds.width, height: view.bounds.height))

        myView.backgroundColor = UIColor.white

        view.addSubview(myView)

        

        let barBtn = UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: UIBarButtonSystemItem.compose, target: self, action: #selector(pressed))

        self.navigationItem.setRightBarButton(barBtn, animated: true)

        

    }

    

    func pressed() {

        print("Pressed")

        

        let newVC = SecondViewController()

        self.navigationController?.pushViewController(newVC, animated: true)

    }

    

    override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {

        super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()

    }

}

3. Create a new file called SecondViewController.swift by right-clicking and choosing New File -> iOS -> Cocoa Touch.

Choose the new class as a subclass of UIViewController and name it as . 

import UIKit

class SecondViewController: UIViewController {

    

    override func viewDidLoad() {

        super.viewDidLoad()

        

        let myView = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: view.bounds.width, height: view.bounds.height))

        myView.backgroundColor = UIColor.white

        view.addSubview(myView)

        

        let myLabel = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 50, y: 100, width: 150, height: 20))

        myLabel.text = "Hello"

        view.addSubview(myLabel)

        

        navigationItem.title = "123"

    }

    

    override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {

        super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()

    }

}

The result:

//End of Update: July 8, 2017(Swift 3.1 + Xcode 8.3.3)

Original Post: September 15, 2015

1. Modify AppDelegate.swift:

import UIKit

@UIApplicationMain

class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {

    var window: UIWindow?

    func application(application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [NSObject: AnyObject]?) -> Bool {

        

        var nav = UINavigationController()

        var mainWiew = ViewController(nibName: nil, bundle: nil)

        nav.viewControllers = [mainWiew]

        nav.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = [NSForegroundColorAttributeName: UIColor.whiteColor()]

        UINavigationBar.appearance().barTintColor = UIColor.blueColor()

        UINavigationBar.appearance().tintColor = UIColor.whiteColor()

        

        //White status font

        UINavigationBar.appearance().barStyle = UIBarStyle.BlackTranslucent

        self.window!.rootViewController = nav

        self.window?.makeKeyAndVisible()

        

        //Black status background

        var statusBar = UIView()

        statusBar.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 320, 20)

        statusBar.backgroundColor = UIColor.blackColor()

        self.window?.rootViewController?.view.addSubview(statusBar)

        return true

    }

2. Modify ViewController.swift:

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    override func viewDidLoad() {

        super.viewDidLoad()

        

        self.title = "My Title"

        

        let statusView = UIView(frame: CGRectMake(0, 0, view.bounds.width, 20))

        statusView.backgroundColor = UIColor.blackColor()

        view.addSubview(statusView)

        

        var myView = UIView()

        myView.backgroundColor = UIColor.whiteColor()

        myView.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, view.bounds.width, view.bounds.height)

        view.addSubview(myView)

        var barBtn = UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: UIBarButtonSystemItem.Compose, target: self, action: "pressed:")

        self.navigationItem.setRightBarButtonItem(barBtn, animated: true)

        

    }

    

    func pressed(sender: UIButton) {

        println("Pressed")

        

        let newVC = SecondViewController()

        self.navigationController?.pushViewController(newVC, animated: true)

    }

    override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {

        super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()

    }

}

3. Create a new file called SecondViewController.swift 

import UIKit

class SecondViewController: UIViewController {

    override func viewDidLoad() {

        super.viewDidLoad()

        

        var myView = UIView()

        myView.backgroundColor = UIColor.whiteColor()

        myView.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, view.bounds.width, view.bounds.height)

        view.addSubview(myView)

        var myLabel = UILabel()

        myLabel.text = "Hello"

        myLabel.frame = CGRectMake(50, 100, 150, 20)

        view.addSubview(myLabel)

        

        navigationItem.title = "123"

    }

    override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {

        super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()

        // Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.

    }

}

The result:

After clicking the 'Compose' button: