Creating GUI in IOS without using storyboard - ios

Question

Is there a way I could create gui for ios using like xml in android. Storyboard is so heavy and make my computer unresponsive. I can't find any decent tutorial for creating gui through coding it

Answer 1

Well storyboard is an XML file only. As you can see by right clicking on it and opening it as a source file.
You can create a storyboard and open it as a source file and it will open as an XML file. But mind it, its not a single Scene, its the whole scene of your application as a single XML file.
So you can configure it like that.

Answer 2

first try with .XIB. it gives you amazing features of auto-layout functionality.
or you can create any view with code. eg. if you are using swift you can create your view like this.
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
self.view.backgroundColor = UIColor.whiteColor()
self.navigationController?.navigationBarHidden = true
/////creating navigation bar//////////
var _customNavView = UIView(frame: CGRectMake(0, 0, self.view.frame.size.width, 64))
_customNavView.backgroundColor = headerColor
self.view.addSubview(_customNavView)
var _lblMapTitle = UILabel(frame: CGRectMake(_customNavView.center.x-75,self.view.frame.origin.y+30,150,30))
_lblMapTitle.text = "SETTINGS"
_lblMapTitle.textColor = UIColor.whiteColor()
_lblMapTitle.font = UIFont(name: "ErasITC-Demi", size: 18)
_lblMapTitle.textAlignment = .Center
_customNavView.addSubview(_lblMapTitle)
_imgCoverPic.frame = CGRectMake(0, _customNavView.frame.origin.y+_customNavView.frame.height, self.view.frame.size.width,160)
_imgCoverPic.contentMode = .ScaleAspectFill
_imgCoverPic.alpha = 0.5
_imgCoverPic.clipsToBounds = true
self.view.addSubview(_imgCoverPic)
_imgPicturePic.frame = CGRectMake(self.view.frame.width/2-50, _imgCoverPic.frame.origin.y+30, 110 ,110)
_imgPicturePic.clipsToBounds = true
_imgPicturePic.layer.borderColor = UIColor.whiteColor().CGColor
_imgPicturePic.layer.borderWidth = 3
_imgPicturePic.layer.cornerRadius = _imgPicturePic.frame.width/2
self.view.addSubview(_imgPicturePic)
////////creating table view///////////
var heightForTab :CGFloat = AppDelegate.sharedInstance.heightForTabBar as! CGFloat
//println(heightForTab)
get_all_status_value_for_user()
_tblSettings.frame = CGRectMake(0,_imgCoverPic.frame.origin.y+_imgCoverPic.frame.size.height+15, self.view.frame.size.width, self.view.frame.size.height-heightForTab-64)
_tblSettings.separatorStyle = UITableViewCellSeparatorStyle.None
_tblSettings.showsVerticalScrollIndicator = false
// _tblSettings.rowHeight = UITableViewAutomaticDimension
// _tblEvent.backgroundColor = UIColor.redColor()
self.view.addSubview(_tblSettings)
}

Answer 3

As Mohit tomar answer states, i would suggest using just xibs instead, they are a bit more light weight to edit. But what I would personally do, because storyboards give more functionality than xibs, is to break up your storyboard into very small storyboards, no more than 3 viewcontrollers on one. Then in code, if you need to segue to a viewcontroller on another storyboard, you can just load the storyboard manually and then segue to a particular viewcontroller on it programatically.
Its even possible to make your own custom segue that will segue to a view controller on another storyboard without having to write much code
#interface StoryboardLinkSegue () {
NSString *segueType;
}
#end
#implementation StoryboardLinkSegue
+ (UIViewController *)viewControllerNamed:(NSString *)identifier
{
NSArray *info = [identifier componentsSeparatedByString:#"#"];
NSString *storyboardName = info[1];
NSString *viewControllerName = info[0];
UIStoryboard *storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:storyboardName
bundle:nil];
UIViewController *scene = nil;
if (viewControllerName.length == 0 || [viewControllerName isEqualToString:#"default"]) {
scene = [storyboard instantiateInitialViewController];
}
else {
scene = [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:viewControllerName];
}
return scene;
}
- (id)initWithIdentifier:(NSString *)identifier
source:(UIViewController *)source
destination:(UIViewController *)destination
{
NSArray *info = [identifier componentsSeparatedByString:#"#"];
if(info.count > 2){
segueType = [info[2] lowercaseString];
}
else {
segueType = #"push";
}
return [super initWithIdentifier:identifier
source:source
destination:[StoryboardLinkSegue viewControllerNamed:identifier]];
}
- (void)perform
{
if([segueType isEqualToString:#"push"]){
[[self.sourceViewController navigationController] pushViewController:self.destinationViewController animated:YES];
}
else if ([segueType isEqualToString:#"modal"]) {
[self.sourceViewController presentViewController:self.destinationViewController animated:YES completion:nil];
}
}
now if you make a segue to an empty viewcontroller in your storyboard, just put the segue identifier as <storyboardName>#<viewControllerName> and to be technical you can use <storyboardName>#<viewControllerName>#modal or <storyboardName>#<viewControllerName>#push to make it a modal or push segue. This will make it segue from one storyboard to another without having to write any code (besides copy pasting the code ive given you)
example: mainStoryboard#loginViewController
will go to the viewcontroller named loginViewController that is in the mainStoryboard
you just need to give all your viewcontrollers names in your storyboards under the identity inspector -> Storyboard ID