Custom UILabel not loading from xib - ios

I have a CustomLabel view which is a sub-class of UILabel it self.
Is there any possibility to set properties from Xcode Interface builder for this custom view. I have tried different things specified in this link:
Reuse a uiview xib in storyboard
But nothing is working for me. Will this kind of thing work ?

Sorry, i think its not possible. if you want like this, first we need to add UILabel in interface builder and take outlet connection then we can set properties.
example: self.myLabel.text="hi welcome"

Related

Hide Outlets from Connections Inspector for Custom View

I have created a custom view (Quantity View) with nib file in Swift. I have created some IBOutlets & IBActions (for buttons, labels etc.) in my custom view.
I tried to use this custom view (Quantity View) by assigning class name to a UIView in my storyboard.
It's showing me all the IBOutlets & IBActions in the Connections Inspector, as shown in this screenshot: .
I just want to show only delegate for the Custom view.
Possible Answer:
I thought I can use the -viewWithTag to get the views instead of Outlets.
But, I want to know if it's possible with having Outlets also or if there is much better way to do this?
What are the other possible ways (optimum) to handle this situation?
You can also consider the following solution:
You can take the subviews of your QuantityViews(custom view) and you can identify the specific views by its frame origin.
Note : you should know the customview subviews frame
Its not possible to hide IBOutlets from storyboard if you declare the class members as IBs (IBOutlets or IBActions).
The IBOutlets or the IBActions are just indicators to the interface builder so that it can show the names on it when you try to bind them it actually calls the setValue: forKey: method to set the view's reference to the IBOutlet property.
Now if you try to access an subview from the file's owner class without any IBoutlets you need to have a pointer to point it, so for that either you can get the reference using ObjectID which is assigned to the subview by the interface builder or you can get it using the viewWithTag: method.
The ObjectID you need to find all time when you add or replace a subview from the view, so better and convenient approach is to use tag property of UIView class.
So my conclusion to this problem is to access the views using the viewWithTag method you mentioned earlier.
I think your way is correct. But sometimes Xcode doesn't work correctly.
The following makes the IBOutlets and IBActions reappear and work properly:
Clean project your project in Xcode.
Quit Xcode completely.
Delete all contents of ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/.
Restart MacOS just in case.
I hope you will resolve that :)

How to apply the same configuration to some UILabel in iOS?

I am tired of setting property values to each UILabel in the IB. Is extending the UILabel the only possible way? or there exists some other way to do it?
You could create an IBOuletCollection for the labels and set the properties programmatically (in viewDidLoad for example) using:
[self.outletCollection setValue:whatever forKey:something];
You can also call makeObjectsPerformSelector on the collection in order to send messages to each label.
Assign all the properties to one UILabel
Copy paste the label as many times you want in storyboard or xib
New labels will also get the same properties, you just require to arrange their positions
Then you can go ahead with IBOutlets and manipulate with those
This applies to all the widgets in storyboard/xib.
Also as #dehlen metioned,
If you are using codebase for UI then, Custom Button Class
Inherit UIButton and create a subclass CustomButton
In its init method, assign all the properties which you require, like font, color etc
And assign frame value at use-time, through initWithFrame method.
Or
Add button in storyboard/xib, but in its class property change class name to CustomButton
Thanks #dehlen, You are right, I forgot to mention code side implementation.
After setting the property of a UILabel make copy of it by
Press and hold alt and drag and drop UILabel to another place it will create new copy of that UILabel with same properties.

Where to customise IBOutlets

Where should I customise my IBOutlets?
Say I have created a button with interface builder, created an IBOutlet for it and I would want to change a property during runtime (ex: background color or localized title).
I would think of adding it to the viewDidLoad method, but outlets aren't yet created.
I remember having nil outlets in viewDidLoad, but I might be wrong.
If I move it viewWillAppear, the code will be executed every time the view controller's view appears.
Is there any better place for my IBOutlet related code, so it's only executed once?
Obviously I can do just about any customization using only the interface builder and making use of the User defined runtime attributes or localized stroryboards, but I don't like that since it's much more tedious to change later.
From the Doc
Its clearly says about the Views loaded into the memory in the -viewDidLoad() delegate itself.
I would think of adding it to the viewDidLoad method, but outlets
aren't yet created.
It is a false statement, Because you only get the viewDidLoad: message after IBOutlets are created. So you can safely do any customization in viewDidLoad:
Let’s say you have a Button you want to customise. You put the button at the place where you want it to be and then open the “Identity Inspector” on the right.
There is a textfield for “Custom Class”:
I usually create a subclass of UIButton / NSButton (depending on iOS or OSX) and edit the behaviour, drawing methods and functionality in this class file. Then just add the name of this class in this textfield. Voila!

How to create a custom UIButton in code and use it in a xib?

I have a class MyButton : UIButton which inherits from UIButton. I do a bunch of things in the initWithFrame (the only constructor)of MyButton say like setting the backgroundcolor.
Now I want to use this MyButton in my xib. so that I dont keep setting these properties again and again for all my buttons. I have also set the Custom Class to MyButton in the Identity Inspector for the button in the xib.
Nothing still reflects the properties I set in the xib. This could have been easily done if it was in the code.
My question is,
1) What gets called when you create button thru a xib (like you call initWithFrame when you programmatically create a button) ?
2) How do I get it to see the properties I set in the MyButton ? Is moving out of xib and doing it programatically the only way ?
thanks in advance !
Typically with initWithCoder:
You can use the identity inspector in Interface Builder to set values using the keypath of the attributes. In this example, you can change the CALayer properties of the view:
You can simply set it in your xib file. For that:
Select the button in the xib file.
Click the Identity Inspector button.
Type the name of your custom class(MyButton for your case) in the Class field.
Now your button will be with the Type MyButton class.
EDIT
Check Apple's documentation on Adding a Custom Object. This will give you more idea.

monotouch - reusable iOS custom view

OK, so this one is probably a bit challenging, as it is monotouch...
I have a reusable custom toolbar that that I plan to reuse on multiple screens.
I want to create the toolbar in Interface Builder
I want to be able to update labels on the toolbar from ANY view controller. So I might have five different view controllers that all have this toolbar, and can update labels on it.
So my question is:
How do I even begin to subclass UIView in MonoTouch? If I create a new "iPhone View", all it gives me is a nib. I have no place to hook up outlets or actions.
Given that you are able to tell me how to set up MonoTouch to have C# code files for subclassing UIView so I can handle events and access properties, how do I hook it up to the nib? I see a lot of people saying to use initWithFrame to call loadNibNamed in Objective-C, but this doesn't correctly translate to MonoTouch. How would I do that in MonoTouch?
Given that #1 and #2 are fulfilled, how do I load this custom toolbar into any viewcontroller, and add it at specific coordinates on the screen? Doing the initWithFrame CGRect stuff doesn't seem to have a simple path in MonoTouch
If anyone is able to figure this out, you are amazing!!!!
Thanks you in advance!
So after a lot of digging, I finally found the answer.
The most informative tutorial was here:
http://sgmunn.com/blog/2012/03/using-loadnib-to-load-a-view/
Essentially, you need to create custom subviews, set them up in the interface builder, then do some simple mapping on the MonoTouch side. But the key point that was throwing me off from the example was this:
You must, when subclassing UIView, implement the base constructor for IntPtr
When you do that, everything falls into place. You have your Outlets and Actions hooked up, and can manipulate them at will.
EDIT: To be more descriptive than just linking...
How do I even begin to subclass UIView in MonoTouch? If I create a new
"iPhone View", all it gives me is a nib. I have no place to hook up
outlets or actions.
Create a new iPhone view, it'll create a nib. Open the nib, set the "custom class" to your custom class. MonoTouch should generate it automatically. If it doesn't, create a new C# class and subclass UIView, but make sure you create the constructor for IntPtr. If you use Storyboards, when you call Storyboard.InstantiateViewController() it'll fill in the IntPtr value for you. Note that if you DO use Storyboard.InstantiateViewController, you need to set the identifier as well to your custom class' name.
Once you create that iPhone view, you should be able to open up "code view" in IB and hook up your outlets and actions.
Given that you are able to tell me how to set up MonoTouch to have C#
code files for subclassing UIView so I can handle events and access
properties, how do I hook it up to the nib? I see a lot of people
saying to use initWithFrame to call loadNibNamed in Objective-C, but
this doesn't correctly translate to MonoTouch. How would I do that in
MonoTouch?
There is no initWithFrame: or CGRect in MonoTouch, you use RectangleF. If you load the nib programmatically, you can use the constructor that takes in a RectangleF and use that to set x, y, width, height.
Given that #1 and #2 are fulfilled, how do I load this custom toolbar
into any viewcontroller, and add it at specific coordinates on the
screen? Doing the initWithFrame CGRect stuff doesn't seem to have a
simple path in MonoTouch
For Storyboards use Storyboard.InstantiateViewController (make sure you set the identifier in IB). For everything else, use:
var nibObjects = NSBundle.MainBundle.LoadNib("YourViewName", theController, null);
var instantiatedView = (YourClassName)Runtime.GetNSObject(nibObjects.ValueAt(0));
as depicted in the above link.
Enjoy! - Allison.
Instead of loading Nib files from iOS 9 onwards you can use container views and storyboard reference to achieve the same.
You can check here

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