I can't seem even to copy my views from storyboard into an XIB layout, as is the answer to most threads with this title. I think XCode has disabled this feature.
I've looked into manually moving the XML, but it seems that Storyboard uses a completely different (though similar) structure for views.
Is it possible, alternatively, to split up the storyboard files so that they work like XIB files?
Try using the Assistant Editor and having the files open side by side, you can then drag from one to another.
(self answered) I had created an XIB with the OS X setting instead of iOS. Additionally, after figuring this out, I disconnected the storyboard connections and used the layouts with [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"..."].
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I'm new to programming, and I'm trying to understand this concept in Swift IOS. What are the benefits of HAVING to use IBaction and IBoutlet to connect things like UIButtons and UILabels to my code?
Why don't they just let us set UI objects equal to a name like button1 or label1 so we can use those names to call and mutate them in my code?
You don't. IBAction and IBOutlet is how storyboard and xib files created with Interface Builder (IB) link to the implementation files when unarchiving the XML dictionaries of the nibs. However, creating views and controllers with layouts in code is entirely permitted and even a common pattern for project management in teams.
Personally, I do like using Interface Builder for the visual aspect of laying out my views, and it helps reduce the size of my controller files because it allows me to put my layout and color settings into Storyboards and xibs. But, some developers will argue this is actually a drawback, since it obfuscates some of the functionality of your controllers from the uninitiated. There are strong arguments for avoiding the use of Interface Builder when working in teams, but it really boils down to strategy and preference.
They're just tags Xcode uses to link the code and the storyboard / XIB. Functionally they do nothing. They help you as the developer to know what is / isn't / can / can't be connected between the visual representation of your UI and the code driving it.
I just started learning XCode, objective-c, iOS, and all that. This is my first foray into app development. I'm not new to development, just iOS development and XCode.
So I'm going through a Udemy course that has me working with storyboards and I have some concern because every professional iOS developer I know uses something called Interface Builder which apparently removes the need for storyboards.
I've only just started, so I still have only a rough idea of what a storyboard even is....it seems to just be a graphical representation of a single page view. I don't know how it relates to this so-called Interface Builder and what their relationship is.
By going through this course learning with storyboards, am I being put on the wrong track? Or is this a useful beginning step before transitioning to the Interface Builder? Will using storyboards help me to work with that later? Am I wasting my time?
The Interface Builder refers to the part of Xcode that lets you view and edit Storyboards and .xib files (it automatically opens when you click on such a file).
A .xib (or 'nib') file is a representation of a single logical view in you application (on iOS, typically a UIViewController with a number of views, such as a UIScrollView and a UINavigationBar).
A storyboard is a collection of such views, and can be used to build transitions from views to other views, among other things.
I recommend reading Apple's Documentation on storyboards to get an idea of what they can do for you.
...
Interface Builder which apparently removes the need for storyboards.
...
Actually, storyboard is a concept within Interface Builder.
It's a visual representation of the entire app flow.
I think all you need is a quick-read through the Apple Interface Builder Doc.
In basic understanding, IB is a drag-drop area to visually create your views.
To quote:
You create your app’s user interface in Interface Builder. Select a
user interface file in the project navigator, and the file’s contents
open in Interface Builder in the editor area of the workspace window.
A user interface file has the filename extension .storyboard or .xib.
Logical Example: Instead of programmatically coding a UIButton and setting it's frame or constraints, you go to the Interface Builder, select a UIButton object and place it where you would want it to go. You will also specify what the object name and what method it responds to. (but this will need the object name and method name to be defined in the respective class's .m or .h file that the view is associated with)
Interface Builder can be either XIB/nib or Storyboard. Latter of which is the more recent (and recommended) method provided by Apple.
Using a storyboard, you have one single file, a .storyboard file that will represent the entire app flow.
An app can have multiple screens/views and so a storyboard will basically represent multiple UIViewControllers, each of which will be tied to a particular class.
For example, in this storyboard, you can visually see (assumptions from here on) that you have, say, 5 screens in the entire app:
Screen 1 begins with maybe a UINavigationController
Screen 2 is the root view of this UINavigationController, say, LoginVC (tied to LoginVC.m and LoginVC.h).
A button on LoginVC takes you to, say, SignUpVC (tied to SignUpVC.m and SignUpVC.h)
Another button on LoginVC takes you to, say, ProfileVC (tied to ProfileVC.m and ProfileVC.h)
Screen 3 is SignUpVC
A button takes you back to LoginVC
Screen 4 is ProfileVC
A button takes you to SettingsVC (tied to SettingsVC.m and SettingsVC.h)
A button logs you out and takes you back to LoginVC
Screen 5 is SettingsVC
Q.
By going through this course learning with storyboards, am I being put on the wrong track?
A.
No, absolutely not. You're going in the right direction.
However, i think knowing the former XIB/nib method is worth your time as well.
Plus, programmatically creating UIViews is highly recommended.
Q.
...is this a useful beginning step before transitioning to the Interface Builder?
A.
It's already getting you acquainted with the Interface Builder so there won't really be much "transitioning" required.
Q.
Will using storyboards help me to work with that later? Am I wasting my time?
A.
Yes, unless you work in a team under version control, in which case, XIB still looks good.
So what's XIB?
It's still within the Interface Builder scope...
Break a storyboard into it's individual views and you have multiple files (.xib files) that represent a UIView or UIViewController for a single class. (hence helps when you work in a team under version control)
So now... instead of having one .storyboard, you will have multiple .xib files that will be associated to all those classes that (you deem) needed a visual representation.
Links:
Storyboard
XIB
Storyboard :
Has a nice UI designer , WYSIWYG , drag, resize design editor, that generates code and sync with manual code changes.
SwiftUI:
Code is the single source of truth. No Designer. Lots of hard coding
I've got a class and xib that are fairly generic. The xib has a base UI that I've included in a framework. Is it possible for me to add the framework to a project, and create a custom xib to customize my framework xib based on the new project UI needs?
|------------------------|
| MyFrameworkClass | MyCustomXib
| MyFrameworkXib |
|------------------------|
In MyCustomXib i've set the custom class of the files owner to MyFrameworkClass. I notice that I can wire up all my IBOutlets by right clicking on file's owner and dragging to the subviews to make the connections, however I cannot click on the view and drag to file's owner. Also When I go into split view mode I'm not seeing MyFrameworkClass as the code side of the split view?
Right now i'm trying to initialize it with:
MyFrameworkClass *mfc = [MyFrameworkClass alloc] initWithNibName:#"MyCustomXib" bundle:nil];
I'm confused because I'm seeing labels that are created dynamically in MyFramework class showing up in the custom UI, also newly modified button images are replacing old ones, however the buttons are not responding to touches, and the xib resizing is not working correctly.
Edit:
I just went through and compared the xib in the framework and my custom one and found that I could connect all my Outlets to the proper UI elements, however I could not connect any received actions using interface builder. By that I mean when I ctrl+click on a button and drag the connector up to File's Owner, I do not get the glow around File's Owner or a prompt to connect to any methods.
Yes. As long as the class is loaded into the runtime when the XIB file is read, it will work perfectly fine.
It will work. :-) Post additional details of what you mean by "framework" if it doesn't.
I have lots of Views in old projects that I have layed out in code, using absolute positioning. That code is really hard to maintain. I'd like to port the code to using interface builder, but I'd have to layout every view again by hand.
Is it possible to programmatically create a XIB file from an existing UIView (which has been created programmatically)? I have searched the docs but can't find anything.
XIBs are essentially XML files, I guess that if you inspect a few you'd understand the format for different controls, but that would need a lot of manual reading, writing & testing to complete for all views. Probably a better plan would be to start slowly migrating to IB-made views.
Yes, it's possible; however, the thing is, you need to set all essential controls and properties of your xib. You won't be able to see its actual look and feel unless you have executed the project in your simulator or on an actual device (that means hard code everything).
You would use loadview in initializing your xib. Here's a bit of it:
- (void)loadview{
// set your view, screen size, and other properties of your xib
}
{Xcode 4.2, deployment target iOS4.3, not storyboard, using ARC}
I started with a tabbed application template & chose the universal platform, which nicely gives me view controller classes & NIB files for an iPhone (ClassName_iPhone.xib) & an iPad (ClassName_iPad.xib) for 2 tabs, with an if statement in the AppDelegate to determine which to run - exactly how I wanted it set up.
I wanted to add a 3rd & 4th tabs, so starting with the 3rd tab (doing 1 at a time) I created a new UIViewController subclass. As it doesn't give the option to create both NIBs at once, I selected "Targeted for iPad", & had intended to create the iPhone NIB manually. I added a "_iPad" suffix to the created NIB file, then I created a user interface view NIB file to which I added the "_iPhone" suffix. I then set up the code for the new view controller in the AppDelegate implementation file to include the 3rd view controller & tab, & I used the other view controller classes as a guide to set up the new class's code.
For the 3rd _iPhone NIB, I dragged a view object from the objects library onto the canvas, & set it up as per the other 2 _iPhone NIBs. But when I went to connect the outlets, there is no view outlet in the referencing outlets of the connections panel to connect with, which I thought there should be. At this point I suspected something was wrong.
I tried running it in the simulator, in iPad mode it works fine (all 3 tabs are clickable). But in iPhone mode clicking the 3rd tab crashes it with a "SIGABRT" on thread 1. It's obvious what I did didn't work. I don't see anything in the output window that gives me any clues.
Being a newbie to obj-c, so not being too sure of the problem, I would have thought that I either:
have used the wrong user interface template (view)
should have used a view controller object from the object library
(not a view)
or that I should have declared some outlets in my view controller
class files.
But if I should have done either of the latter 2, then my question would be why does the iPad NIB work then, when it clearly has a view object in the NIB & no outlets declared in the class files (same with the other 2 view controllers for both devices)?
Does the UITabView class somehow have outlets pre-declared within it for the first 2 tabs? But that still doesn't explain why the _iPad NIB works.
As usual, any help & advice much appreciated, & if there's a link to an explanation somewhere that I've missed, please show me, because I'm happy to do the research.
If what I've done wrong here is not determinable, then I guess ultimately what I'm asking is a clue to how best to create the second NIB file for iPhone to mesh with the class created with iPad NIB.
Sorry to answer my own question but with further searching I found this answer that was the solution, although not quite the whole story. So I thought to put what I did in an asnwer so others can refer to it.
As Piotr Czapla explains in the linked answer, for some reason Xcode doesn't populate the connectionRecords data, as you can see by my first red arrow. Having a look at the view controller that works (where second red arrow is), that's what the data should look like. So the answer is to cut the data & paste it into the NIB file, or type it. You can do this in Xcode by right-clicking the NIB file in the project navigatior & then Open As > Source Code, which is what you see in my screenshots.
The bit I want to add to Piotr Czapla's explanation though is the destination reference pointed to by the second red arrow might not be correct for the NIB file you're pasting into (mine wasn't) & Xcode might not let you go back into IB mode. If so, you need to get the correct reference from the IBUIView class within your NIB file, as pointed to by the third red arrow. Once I copied that reference to my destination reference ref=, as shown by the fourth red arrow, all was ok & the problem was solved. I could then go back into IB mode (right click, Open As > Interface Builder - iOS) & the view works in the simulator.