UIView Category for locating the UIViewController container for a UIView AND also getting the property name for a UIView....VERY VERY Useful

UIView+FindUIViewController.h

//
//  UIView+FindUIViewController.h
//
//  Created by Jonathan Lott on 6/30/15.
//  Copyright (c) 2015 A Lott Of Ideas. All rights reserved.
//

@interface ClassProperty : NSObject
@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString* name;
@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString* type;
+ (instancetype)propertyWithName:(NSString*)name type:(NSString*)type;
@end

@interface PropertyUtils : NSObject
+ (NSDictionary *)classPropsDictionaryFor:(Class)klass;
+ (NSArray*)classPropsFor:(Class)klass;
@end

@interface NSObject (ClassProps)
+ (NSArray *)classProps;
+ (NSArray *)classPropsOfType:(Class)klass;
@end

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
@interface UIView (FindUIViewController)
- (UIViewController *) firstAvailableUIViewController;
- (id) traverseResponderChainForUIViewController;
- (NSString*)propertyName;
@end

UIView+FindUIViewController.m

//
//  UIView+FindUIViewController.m
//
//  Created by Jonathan Lott on 6/30/15.
//  Copyright (c) 2015 A Lott Of Ideas. All rights reserved.
//

#import "NSObject+ClassProps.h"
#import "UIView+FindUIViewController.h"
#import "objc/runtime.h"

@implementation ClassProperty
+ (instancetype)propertyWithName:(NSString*)name type:(NSString*)type
{
    ClassProperty* prop = [[[self class] alloc] init];
    prop.name = name;
    prop.type = type;
    return prop;
}
@end

@implementation PropertyUtils

static const char *getPropertyType(objc_property_t property) {
    const char *attributes = property_getAttributes(property);
    //printf("attributes=%s\n", attributes);
    char buffer[1 + strlen(attributes)];
    strcpy(buffer, attributes);
    char *state = buffer, *attribute;
    while ((attribute = strsep(&state, ",")) != NULL) {
        if (attribute[0] == 'T' && attribute[1] != '@') {
            // it's a C primitive type:
            /*
             if you want a list of what will be returned for these primitives, search online for
             "objective-c" "Property Attribute Description Examples"
             apple docs list plenty of examples of what you get for int "i", long "l", unsigned "I", struct, etc.
             */
            NSString *name = [[NSString alloc] initWithBytes:attribute + 1 length:strlen(attribute) - 1 encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding];
            return (const char *)[name cStringUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding];
        }
        else if (attribute[0] == 'T' && attribute[1] == '@' && strlen(attribute) == 2) {
            // it's an ObjC id type:
            return "id";
        }
        else if (attribute[0] == 'T' && attribute[1] == '@') {
            // it's another ObjC object type:
            NSString *name = [[NSString alloc] initWithBytes:attribute + 3 length:strlen(attribute) - 4 encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding];
            return (const char *)[name cStringUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding];
        }
    }
    return "";
}


+ (NSDictionary *)classPropsDictionaryFor:(Class)klass
{
    if (klass == NULL) {
        return nil;
    }

    NSMutableDictionary *results = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];

    unsigned int outCount, i;
    objc_property_t *properties = class_copyPropertyList(klass, &outCount);
    for (i = 0; i < outCount; i++) {
        objc_property_t property = properties[i];
        const char *propName = property_getName(property);
        if(propName) {
            const char *propType = getPropertyType(property);
            NSString *propertyName = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:propName];
            NSString *propertyType = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:propType];
            [results setObject:propertyType forKey:propertyName];
        }
    }
    free(properties);

    // returning a copy here to make sure the dictionary is immutable
    return [NSDictionary dictionaryWithDictionary:results];
}

+ (NSArray*)classPropsFor:(Class)klass
{
    if (klass == NULL) {
        return nil;
    }

    NSMutableArray *results = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

    unsigned int outCount, i;
    objc_property_t *properties = class_copyPropertyList(klass, &outCount);
    for (i = 0; i < outCount; i++) {
        objc_property_t property = properties[i];
        const char *propName = property_getName(property);
        if(propName) {
            const char *propType = getPropertyType(property);
            NSString *propertyName = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:propName];
            NSString *propertyType = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:propType];
            ClassProperty* prop = [ClassProperty propertyWithName:propertyName type:propertyType];
            [results addObject:prop];
        }
    }
    free(properties);

    // returning a copy here to make sure it is immutable
    return [NSArray arrayWithArray:results];
}
@end



@implementation NSObject (ClassProps)

+ (NSArray *)classProps
{
    return [PropertyUtils classPropsFor:[self class]];
}

+ (NSArray *)classPropsOfType:(Class)klass
{
    NSArray* props = [self classProps];

    props = [props filteredArrayUsingPredicate:[NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"type == %@", [klass description]]];

    return props;
}

@end




@implementation UIView (FindUIViewController)
- (UIViewController *) firstAvailableUIViewController {
    // convenience function for casting and to "mask" the recursive function
    return (UIViewController *)[self traverseResponderChainForUIViewController];
}

- (id) traverseResponderChainForUIViewController {
    id nextResponder = [self nextResponder];
    if ([nextResponder isKindOfClass:[UIViewController class]]) {
        return nextResponder;
    } else if ([nextResponder isKindOfClass:[UIView class]]) {
        return [nextResponder traverseResponderChainForUIViewController];
    } else {
        return nil;
    }
}

- (NSString*)propertyName
{
    NSString* outletName = self.description;
    UIViewController* viewController = self.firstAvailableUIViewController;
    NSArray* outletViews = [[viewController class] classPropsOfType:[self class]];
    NSArray* outletNames = [outletViews valueForKey:@"name"];

    for(NSString* name in outletNames)
    {
        // grab values for each prop name
        id value = [viewController valueForKey:name];
        if(value == self)
        {
            outletName = name;
        }
    }

    return outletName;
}
@end

@implementation UIViewController (ViewAccess)
- (UIViewController*)viewControllerContainingView:(UIView*)view
{
    return view.firstAvailableUIViewController;
}
@end