Using custom NSView/UIView subclass from XIB? - ios

OK, this may sound very basic (especially for someone who has written tens of thousands of Objective-C code), but I've always tried to avoid all this... or just tweak existing solutions. The result? I've never learnt how to do something simple like that.
So, here's my ultra-simple scenario:
I want to create a custom NSView (let's say a simple view with an image and a text in it), which I'll be able to assign in the Interface Builder (take an NSView element and set its class to MYCustomView - that's all - nothing more complicated)
I know I can write an NSView subclass and have it draw all my elements programmatically in drawRect: and all this - but I most definitely don't find any point in that.
What I do want is to simply draw the view in the Interface Builder (in our example, with a "placeholder" image and textfield), be able to use it as the "basis" of our NSView subclass, and also maintain pointers to the two elements in the view so that I can programmatically access them.
I know it's doable - I'm not asking about that. What I need is an ultra-simple walkthrough. Is there anything you can point me to?
Rephrasing the question in a... one-liner:
How can I replace the programmatic approach (seen in like 99.9% of NSView subclasses) in drawRect:, with a layout taken from a XIB?
P.S.
(A) Trust me, it must have been the 100th time I've been reading about NSViewControllers and all these, but not having used them, probably means that I still haven't found the point in using them...
(B) Please, don't shoot me with "what have you tried" questions. In the course of time, I've tried loads of things and at times I've somehow made it. However, it always feels like a crappy, messed up thing I just managed to get working. Nothing more, nothing less. All I want is to know if there is a simple tutorial on the above simple scenario.
(C) If I get an actual explanatory answer to this one, I guarantee I'll re-post it myself. You simply can't believe how many seasoned Cocoa developers have serious trouble dealing with this...

I've always wanted "custom" Storyboard classes as well!
This may not totally answer your question but this is just how we do it now, in iOS: just use container views.
Full extremely long tutorial: https://stackoverflow.com/a/23403979/294884
Everything's a container view in iOS now.
What we do is just have a scene, and then duplicate it: then change the colors or whatever as you describe.
Here's a literal example from the storyboard that was open behind this browser window!
Notice the small class/scene thing, we just copy it. Notice in the example it is slightly customised, just as you say. They are all the same class (it happens to be caled "BookBist") {"bist" == "bouncy list" btw}
Then as I say container views are the secret because, well, it's for exactly this purpose, it's why apple finally introduced "container views".
(BTW on that long container view tutorial. Search down to What if you want (say) a table controller or a page view controller instead of a UIViewController? it's a critical trick when making container views! Ridiculously Apple gives you a "default" VC when you drag in a container view; of course you never want that; in the example at hand I put the small BookBist scenes connected to the container views wherever they are needed.) Example...
Now, I 10000% understand what you are asking and have always wanted to know the answer myself!
For use HALF the answer, is, as I say, "copy the scene" so that works perfectly in modern storyboard. I appreciate that sucks, because what you want is a prefab, like in any game engine such as Unity3D, right? Me too!
But do note that THE OTHER HALF of your answer is certainly "container view magic" - "everything's" a container view now in iOS, indeed Apple finally put them in to make a rational way to do exactly the sort of thing you describe.

Related

Where to put programatic constraints for MVC

I want to practice creating simple apps using no storyboard. I am able to do the constraints programmatically (slowly) but I want to also practice separating my code into MVC. Is there a particular place/method that I am supposed to write the programatic constraints? Or does it not matter?
Good discussion in the comments. My thoughts, based on that discussion?
With an understanding that the question is subjective, you place your constraints:
The earliest in a view controller's life cycle where they work.
As "close" to the view as possible.
If it's something common, make it as universal as possible.
Understand how your specifics fit into everything.
(Understand, the question isn't limited to constraints. It could apply to hierarchies, UI, even database tables when you get down to it!)
Sticking to constraints, and my answer....
(1) Use the UIViewController and UIView lifecycles.
Generally the view life cycle is loadView, viewDidLoad, viewWillAppear, viewWillLayoutSubviews, viewDidLayoutSubviews, and viewDidAppear. great SO answer detailing this.
I believe that loadView is too early for constraints, but not viewDidLoad - **provided you aren't expecting to know the frame size. While many say viewDidLayoutSubviews is the right place for that, I've found that viewWillLayoutSubviews most times works just as well. Either way, get your constraints set as soon as possible!
(2) Do it as close to the view as possible.
If you have subviews - I have a "ToolBar" class of objects - you want the constraints, at least as much as possible, to be coded inside the class. For instance, in my tool bar, it slides out, has buttons, and even rotates upon orientation. The only constraints not inside these classes is for orientation - that owner is (and I believe should be) the view controller instantiating it.
(3) Make it universal.
I plan to use this tool bar across a few apps. So the first thing I did was add it to a framework. This framework was needed because I had an app that I delivered a photo editing exension - and the "edit" screen is as much the same as possible. In the end I move all my constraints there. (At least as much as possible.) Anything that I believe is reusable.
(4) Understand the specific requirements of your app.
This should be obvious. If you need to code for various orientations, use arrays and activate/deactivate them. (YES, a common mistake is replacing them! That's setting yourself up for some major headaches.)
If you can keep things active, declare the constraint, set `isActive = true1, and forget about it. If you need to adjust that constraint's constant or multiplier, in the declaration name it and then where you need to alter it, do it.
My conclusion? Auto layout is a very useful tool - more so in code. But the placement of code is like asking "how does one code an OOP app for auto rentals" or " how does one design a database for auto rentals". It not just an art, there are many answers. These are the "rules" I try to follow - YMMV.
To get started with this style of development I recommend checking out Let's Build That App as he goes through very in-depth examples of setting up complex apps entirely in code, without storyboards.
The way he structures the constraints is using a custom implementation of UIView, that way your view code is separated from the ViewController. Then, in the viewDidLoad method you can instantiate your implementation of UIView with something like self.view = MyView().
I wrote a few apps like this. The major drawbacks are that it can become very difficult to make quick adjustments, and you really need to learn about all the different types of constraints you can use.
Here's a pastebin of some extensions I used when doing this. I hope this helps.

how to detect interface changes on iOS application

Is there any possible way to detect every change on User Interface during runtime??
I'm trying to find all objects in the current app interface.
I'm trying to to get all nodes inspecting recursively the main Window, but, for example, how to know if the top viewcontroller changes or if it's added a uiview dynamically, or is presented a modalview??
The main objective is to have a library to do this..
Any idea, help?
Thanks!
You could write your own library based on this, using advanced Objective-C techniques. I do not recommend you to do this, since it mostly breaks MVC patterns on iOS. Depends on what do you want to use it for, maybe analytics?
So these are the options I believe, if you want to actively inspect UIView hierarchy. All options are pretty complicated though.
Swizzle methods such as addSubview and removeFromSuperview of UIView, so you could know when changes like that happens. Including the getters of frame and bounds, if you wish to know the position.
You could use KVO to watch properties such as: subviews, frame, bounds, superview to notice any changes. But at one point you would have to add the same object as the observer (could be singleton).
Decide for an interval that is fired by a NSTimer and go through the hierarchy recursively beginning at keyWindow on UIApplication. This would have a big performance impact though.
There may be other options, but these are the ones I believe to be the best choices.

PROPER way of creating Custom Segue

Now, yes, there are hundreds of questions (and answers) of how to perform custom segues. However, and I'm no exaggerating, ALL of these answers are wrong (all 50+ I've seen)! Sorry, this might sound harsh, but the truth is, NONE of the suggested answers gives the same (correct) result as Apples built in transitions do (vertical cover etc.).
To be more specific, this is the result that's expected (confirmed with logs):
Segue begins (adds view to hierarchy, invokes viewWillAppear on destinationVC and viewWillDisappear on sourceVC and starts animation).
animation is performed for the whole duration
Segue ends (animation finished, sets the destinationVC as the current VC, either on stack or modally presented. Invokes viewDidAppear on destinationVC and viewDidDisappear on sourceVC).
In short: invoke viewWillAppear/Disappear -> animate transition -> invoke viewDidAppear/Disappear
Using apples built-in segues, this is the expected behavior but somehow not a single soul except me have had issues with this. A lot of versions even add the destination-view as subview first, animates it then removes it again and calls
[srcVC presentModalViewController:destVC animated:NO];
or
[srcVC.navigationController pushViewController:destVC animated:NO];
causing the view-events to be sent in all kinds of random order (same issue with CoreAnimations).
In my case, all I really want is the "Vertical Cover"-transition reverted (top to bottom), with all other events sent EXACTLY as expected (shown above).
So, am I just supposed to live with all kinds of ugly workarounds (doing my "tasks" in hard-coded methods called whenever I need them to etc.), or is there some hidden proper way of doing this in a reusable manner?
Funny thing: Even apple suggest that you do it the "wrong" way, making it seem like the right way but with inconsistent outcome compared to their own ways… So my best guess is that apple do this under the hood, and forgot to give enough flexibility for clients to perform the same operations (big flaw in other words), or that I'm just on some bad trip and see some issue that doesn't exist…
Okay, this might not be a true answer of how to solve it for custom segues (subclassing UIStoryboardSegue), but it does solve the general issue!
After some casual reading about new features, I stumbled upon a new way to do custom transitions between ViewControllers introduced in iOS7 called nothing more than "Custom Transitions" i guess!
Read about it here and here, or video from WWDC here.
I've just dipped my toes, but basically it is a new, closer to the system way of doing transitions and allows for better control = better looking transitions. After glancing at the example provided by the blog I referenced (git found here) I can confirm that FINALLY, we are able to do transitions which behave as ONE EXPECTS THEM TO with events fired at the expected occasions!
Since I'm just reading about it I can't give a thorough explanation yet, but check out the links :)
Note: This is maybe not supposed to completely replace custom segues, but can be used in a similar fashion (check examples) so if you need that little extra fancy transition, this is definitely the way to go by the looks of it! Basically you setup segues in the storyboard, and hook up the correct transition-delegates in the prepareForSegue:-method.

UIViewController's initWithNibName: a reason behind this design?

I tend to agree with Joe Conway’s and Aaron Hillegass’s analysis, as reported today by Ole Begemann in http://oleb.net/blog/2012/01/initWithNibName-bundle-breaks-encapsulation/
Basically, they state that the NIB's filename is an implementation detail of the corresponding UIViewController class, and that it is not the business of the calling class to pass in the NIB's filename in the init method.
I was wondering if there was any particular reason for this design choice from the creators of AppKit/UIKit, or if it is merely a mistake — and, in the latter case, why it wasn't corrected when UIKit came out, which would have been a good opportunity.
If any Objective-C old-timer could provide the historical background to this, that would be nice to get a better understanding of the framework we use every day.
I suspect it was done this way so that a UIViewController could have basic functionality as a controller without requiring any subclassing. For example, if you're just pushing a "Credits" view on a navigation controller, and the view has nothing but static text, you could get away with not creating a UIViewController subclass. You could simply create a UIViewController directly and pass it the nib that contains your static text.
Most of the time, of course, you're going to want some level of interaction with the presented content, in which case a custom controller is necessary. But in theory, it's not always required.
It has come to my mind today that maybe Storyboards are precisely a response to that issue. Because Storyboards are defined at application-level, there is no more violation of encapsulation, merely a change of level. UIViewController subclasses become the detail implementation of the Storyboard as a whole.
It still doesn't explain the historical reasons behind the original design, but at least they have done something to address the issue — and, as often with Apple, in a very elegant way.

Managing View Controllers in iPad port

I've got an app that I've developed for the iPhone, but now want to port to the iPad. The iPhone app is navigation style and based on discrete table view controllers managed by a nav controller. The larger screen real estate of the iPad means that I can comfortably fit a couple of these table view controllers on to the screen at the same time.
The question is how? Should I
a) have the main view load two table view controllers from separate NIBs and then position them on screen (I'm not sure how I set they x and y of subviews loaded from nibs).
b) create sub-views in my main nib and populate these with data from my existing classes (if so how do I hook up the IBOutlets)?
c) do something completely different
One thing I should point out is that I don't want to use the split screen option.
Alert! This QA is now of historic value only.
It is now trivial to do this sort of thing with container views in iOS, which is why Apple edited them:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/25910881/294884
How to add a subview that has its own UIViewController in Objective-C?
Historic answer...
".. how I set they x and y of subviews loaded from nibs?"
I'm not sure if I fully understand your question Phil, but here's an easy and clear way:
Fire up interface builder and in the new larger iPad view, simply add new smaller views (UIViews)... Put them exactly where and how you want them. We are going to call these "basket" views.
Let's say one of your complicated views from the other app is your fatDogs view. Call the new basket view fatDogsBasket. Then in the code, in viewDidLoad, just do the following with all these "baskets"...
[fatDogsBasket addSubview:fatDogs.view];
[clientsBasket addSubview:clients.view];
[namesBasket addSubview:names.view];
[flashingLightsBasket addSubview:flashingLights.view];
// etc
You're done! (Obviously, make sure that the relevant view controllers, fatDogs, flashingLights and so on, are all ready to go and instantiated.)
The "basket" system is handy since each one will hold your previous work in one place; usefully you can (say) set overall invisibility or whatever just by touching the baskets. Obviously, if you want to set, or maybe move, the position of a basket in the code, just go
happyBasket.frame = CGRectMake(509,413,
happyBasket.frame.size.width,
happyBasket.frame.size.height);
UIViews in iOS are very lightweight, so it's no problem at all adding another layer of UIViews.
I hope this is what you were getting at!
------Later...
You went on to ask: "Just to make sure I'm clear on the right way to implement this. The main view controller has IBOutlets for each of the 'baskets' and its this IBOutlet connection to the subview that I'm calling. Each of the view controllers that I'm going to show in each basket has it's own nib and associated IBOutlets. Right? –"
So, "The main view controller has IBOutlets for each of the 'baskets'"...
Right, the main view in the new app, would have lines like this in the .h file:
IBOutlet UIView *fatDogsBasket;
Note that you are simply declaring "fastDogsBasket" to be a UIView. You shouldn't worry too much about the "IBOutlet" word. All that means is "I need to be able to look this item up, over in the interface controller." It's important to realise IT DOES NOTHING.
So yes all the "baskets" will be UIViews and hence of course you must delare them as such in the .h file of your main view controller. Personally is would not use the phrase "a view controller has IBOutlets." It sort of confuses things and gives the wrong idea. Just say "don't forget to mark the UIViews as iboutlets in the header file."
So anyway yes that's exactly what you do, declare all the "basket" UIViews in the .h file of the main controller, and indeed mark them all as IBOutlets so that interface builder will work more easily. Next ..
"its this IBOutlet connection to the subview that I'm calling" -- that's wrong.
The basket such as fatDogsBasket IS SIMPLY A UIVIEW and that's that. It's just a UIView.
Now, as you know you can put UIViews inside other UIViews. (Obviously, this is commonplace, every UIView has scores of UIViews inside it and so on and on - it's the most basic part of building up an interface.)
So, what are you going to put inside your fatDogsBasket uiview? You're going to put in ALL YOUR PREVIOUS WORK on fatDogs! Previously (for the iFone) you wrote a wonderful class - a view controller - called fatDogs. (It may well have even had many subclasses and so on.)
We're now going to take the view from fatDogs (of course, that is fatDogs.view) and literally put it inside fatDogsBasket. (Recall that fatDogsBasket is a UIView.)
So firstly you would have to completely include your amazing class fatDogs (from the old project) in your new project. Click "add existing flies/classes" or something like that...you'll figure it out. Yes, add all the class files, xibs, any subclasses and so on.
Then, simply do this .. in your new super-powerful uber-controller, in viewDidLoad, just do the following with all the "baskets"...
[fatDogsBasket addSubview:fatDogs.view];
[clientsBasket addSubview:clients.view];
[namesBasket addSubview:names.view];
[flashingLightsBasket addSubview:flashingLights.view];
// etc
You're done! Note that the view from fatDogs (ie, fatDogs.view) is now displaying inside of the UIView fatDogsBasket. The class fatDogs will now work completely normally, just as it did in the old days! And incredibly, you can easily (here in your new controller) do things like simply move fatDogsBasket, and it will move the fatDogs view easily all at once, without worrying about the details of fatDogs and it's views.
Finally you ask..
"Each of the view controllers that I'm going to show in each basket has it's own nib and associated IBOutlets."
Exactly correct. When you add your old system "fatDogs" to the new project, you will be adding all of it's xib files and so on. Anyting that happens or doesn't happen inside those classes, to do with perhaps buttons or anything else marked as iboutlets, or anything else, will just still be the same within those classes. I'm pretty sure absolutely NOTHING will change when you use those old classes in your new project.
Just for the record .. "Each of the view controllers that I'm going to show in each basket.." Just to be accurate, you don't really show as such a viewcontroller, you show the view of the viewcontroller (!!). In other words, for fatDogs (a view controller) you will be showing it's view, which is, simply enough, referred to as fatDogs.view. ("view" is, of course, a property of any UIViewController, so you can just say vcName.view and you're done.)
Hope it helps!
And finally you ask .................................
"I've got it compiling OK, but my baskets are showing up empty, i.e. they're not showing the views of the view controllers that I've imported."
Tell is the name of one of your UIViewController classes from the old project, so we can be specific
Let's say you have an old UIViewController called HappyThing. So you will very likely have a file HappyThing.h and a file HappyThing.m and a file HappyThing.xib.
put all those in the new project, you must do so using Add->Existing Files. (Control on one of your current filenames in the list on the left in XCode.)
You will have to do this #import "HappyThing.h" somewhere or other in your new project - either in your Prefix.pch file or at the top of your new UIControllerView
To be clear in HappyThing.h you will have a line of code
#interface HappyThing : UIViewController
In your new UIViewController.h file, you will have to add a new variable, we'll call it xxx,
HappyThing *xxx;
Note that the type of xxx is HappyThing. (Note that as a rule, you would use the naming convention "happyThing" (note the lowercase "h") rather than "xxx", but it's just a variable and I want it to be clear to you that it's just a variable.)
Next! At the moment it's just a variable that is not pointing to anything, it's nothing. (Just as if you said "int x", but then did not actually say "x = 3" or whatever.) So! In your code you have to actually instantiate xxx.
xxx = [[HappyThing alloc] init];
[xxxBasket addSubview:xxx.view];
Note that the first line is what makes an instance of HappyThing come in to existence. And of course, you want to use "xxx" to point to that instance.
The second line puts the view in to the relevant basket! Note that of course what you want is the view associated with xxx (ie, xxx.view) ... remember that xxx is a UIViewController, it is not itself a UIView. The associated UIView is "xxx.view". (The view is literally just a property of xxx.)
Memory management! Note that you used "alloc" to bring xxx in to existence. This means you DO own it, and of course that means YOU DO NOT need to send a retain there. Furthermore, since you do own it, that means You eventually have to RELEASE it. (easy ... [xxx release];)
So simply add the line [xxx release]; to the dealloc routine in your new UIViewController. (Really it won't cause any harm if you forget to do this, but do it anyway.) Conceivably you may want to release it earlier for some reason once you are more comfortable with the process.
(I was just working on a project with a huge number of huge tables, popovers and the like, so I only made them on the fly and got rid of them as soon as possible, to use less memory. But all of that is irrelevant to you at this stage.)
So now you should SEE IT ON THE SCREEN!
Don't forget if you previously had some routine in HappyThing, which you had to call to start it working (perhaps "beginProcessing" or something), you'll have to call that yourself from the new UIViewController. Hence perhaps something like:
xxx = [[HappyThing alloc] init];
[xxxBasket addSubview:xxx.view];
[xxx beginProcessing];
[xxx showAmazingRedFlashingLights]; // or whatever
Finally you asked ...
"When you've use this technique, do you simply include the headers of the imported files in your main view controller, or do you forward class them in some way?"
That was not your problem, your problem was that you were not instantiating it with the line xxx = [[HappyThing alloc] init];. So, good luck!
Regarding the line of code "#class HapyyThing", if you want to simply put it just above the start of the definition of your new UIControllerView. Generally you don't have to if you have your include line in the best place. Anyway it is an unrelated issue. It simply won't compile if your new UIViewController, can't find HappyThing. Enjoy!

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