How to present UIAlertController when not in a view controller?

Question

Scenario: The user taps on a button on a view controller. The view controller is the topmost (obviously) in the navigation stack. The tap invokes a utility class method call

Answer 1

Pretty generic UIAlertController extension for all cases of UINavigationController and/or UITabBarController. Also works if there's a modal VC on screen at the moment.

Usage:

//option 1:
myAlertController.show()
//option 2:
myAlertController.present(animated: true) {
    //completion code...
}

This is the extension:

//Uses Swift1.2 syntax with the new if-let
// so it won't compile on a lower version.
extension UIAlertController {

    func show() {
        present(animated: true, completion: nil)
    }

    func present(#animated: Bool, completion: (() -> Void)?) {
        if let rootVC = UIApplication.sharedApplication().keyWindow?.rootViewController {
            presentFromController(rootVC, animated: animated, completion: completion)
        }
    }

    private func presentFromController(controller: UIViewController, animated: Bool, completion: (() -> Void)?) {
        if  let navVC = controller as? UINavigationController,
            let visibleVC = navVC.visibleViewController {
                presentFromController(visibleVC, animated: animated, completion: completion)
        } else {
          if  let tabVC = controller as? UITabBarController,
              let selectedVC = tabVC.selectedViewController {
                presentFromController(selectedVC, animated: animated, completion: completion)
          } else {
              controller.presentViewController(self, animated: animated, completion: completion)
          }
        }
    }
}