Where should i define all my view objects? - ios

Question

Ok, so till now i have been declaring all my view objects in .h file. For e.g:
UIButton *btnCustomFacebookLogin;
And define in my .m file like:
btnCustomFacebookLogin = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
btnCustomFacebookLogin.backgroundColor = [UIColor darkGrayColor];
btnCustomFacebookLogin.frame = CGRectMake(0,0,180,40);
btnCustomFacebookLogin.center = CGPointMake(self.view.center.x, 200);
[btnCustomFacebookLogin setTitle: #"Facebook Login" forState: UIControlStateNormal];
[btnCustomFacebookLogin addTarget:self action:#selector(facebookLoginButtonClicked) forControlEvents: UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
[self.view addSubview:btnCustomFacebookLogin];
And i have a few more buttons in my app which are all defined in my
- (void)viewDidLoad
I got this checked from my mentor and he told me that all these buttons should be in a separate method and not in viewDidLoad, i have no idea where they should be, i went through some sample codes on the internet and could not find a clue. What is the proper place where all the buttons are defined ? Since i work for a company now i have to follow what conventions are told to me.

Answer 1

Keep your IBOutlets properties outside of header file (*.h) and declare them inside implementation file (*.m) in interface extension of your View Controller.
In your implementation file (*.m) :
#interface MyViewController ()
#property (nonatomic, weak) IBOutlet UIButton *myButton;
#end
Remember to set your property behaviour nonatomic as by default each property gets atomic behaviour and when using UI objects there is no need to make them thread safe. Set it to weakas you are not a direct owner of the object, its lifecycle belongs to your storyboard (assuming you use storyboard).
Meet Doshi is correct about using viewDidLoad and performing selector from inside it, to make an initial setup for your UI elements. It makes your code clear and readable.
I would possibly call it:
- (void)styleUI {
//insert your code here
}
If you find yourself to set specific UIButton styling in different View Controllers in this same way, then to avoid boilerplate code you could create own Class Category for UIButton and specify this same style in one place.
Create a new file selecting Objective-C File.
In File type prefix for your project with name for class (example:
MAPStyling).
Select Category for File Type.
Select Class that you want to create a category for (for UIButton select UIButton).
Inside you category class in implementation file (*.m) add method for your styling:
- (void)map_applyFacebookStyle
// insert your code here but instead to name of your button refer to self.
self.title = #"Facebook Login";
}
Expose method in header file of your category by adding method signature into #interface section.
#interface UIButton (MAPStylig)
- (void)map_applyFacebookStyle;
#end
In your View Controller implementation file (*.m) import your Class Category and modify your method:
- (void)styleUI {
[btnCustomFacebookLogin map_applyFacebookStyle];
}
This will call #selector of your styling method from your Class Category on your UIButton. As you can imagine in this way you can remove a lot of boilerplate code from every View Controller in your application.

Answer 2

Your mentor says, "All these buttons should be in a separate method and not in viewDidLoad". Means you are setting frames and properties to all buttons into viewDidLoad method. He didn't said that you can't define all objects into .h file. So he says, you have do that into other method. Just use following code.
I think, right now you did this:-
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
btnCustomFacebookLogin = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
btnCustomFacebookLogin.backgroundColor = [UIColor darkGrayColor];
btnCustomFacebookLogin.frame = CGRectMake(0,0,180,40);
btnCustomFacebookLogin.center = CGPointMake(self.view.center.x, 200);
[btnCustomFacebookLogin setTitle: #"Facebook Login" forState: UIControlStateNormal];
[btnCustomFacebookLogin addTarget:self action:#selector(facebookLoginButtonClicked) forControlEvents: UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
[self.view addSubview:btnCustomFacebookLogin];
}
So, just put this code into one method and call this method from viewDidLoad like this:-
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[self settingPropertiesOfButtons];
}
- (void)settingPropertiesOfButtons
{
//insert your code here..
btnCustomFacebookLogin = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
btnCustomFacebookLogin.backgroundColor = [UIColor darkGrayColor];
btnCustomFacebookLogin.frame = CGRectMake(0,0,180,40);
btnCustomFacebookLogin.center = CGPointMake(self.view.center.x, 200);
[btnCustomFacebookLogin setTitle: #"Facebook Login" forState: UIControlStateNormal];
[btnCustomFacebookLogin addTarget:self action:#selector(facebookLoginButtonClicked) forControlEvents: UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
[self.view addSubview:btnCustomFacebookLogin];
}
That's it. If you could framing those buttons in .storyboard file or in .xib, then its better.