viewDidLoad is not called for rootViewController - ios

Question

This is my first iOS project. I'm just following the tutorial from Try iOS over at codeschool in my XCode Application.
I've added a button in my viewDidLoad method. I don't think this is where it would be added normally, but it should still work. The problem is, the method is never called. Here's my code so far:
AppDelegate.m:
#import "AppDelegate.h"
#import "ViewController.h"
#implementation AppDelegate
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
//Set window size & background color
CGRect viewRect = [[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds];
self.window = [[UIWindow alloc] initWithFrame:viewRect];
self.viewController = [[ViewController alloc] init];
UIView *view = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:viewRect];
view.backgroundColor = [UIColor yellowColor];
self.viewController.view = view;
self.window.rootViewController = self.viewController;
[self.window makeKeyAndVisible];
NSLog(#"Screen is %f tall and %f wide", viewRect.size.height, viewRect.size.width);
return YES;
}...
AppDelegate.h:
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#class ViewController;
#interface AppDelegate : UIResponder <UIApplicationDelegate>
#property (strong, nonatomic) UIWindow *window;
#property (strong, nonatomic) ViewController *viewController;
#end
ViewController.m:
#import "ViewController.h"
#interface ViewController ()
#end
#implementation ViewController
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor blueColor];
UIButton *firstButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
firstButton.frame = CGRectMake(100, 100, 100, 44);
[firstButton setTitle:#"Don't Click!" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
[self.view addSubview:firstButton];
}...
When the app is up and running, my background remains yellow, and there is no button visible.
Stepping through the application, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: hits as I expected. When the view is initializes, I expect the viewDidLoad to run. I may just be misunderstanding the way C "sends messages".
If any additional information might help please let me know. Thanks for any help :)
EDIT
Does this have something to do with storyboarding? I'm in storyboard mode but I never added any button using the GUI

Answer 1

viewDidLoad is not being called because of the non-standard way that you're creating its view. Usually, the view is loaded from a xib or storyboard, or created in code in the loadView method of the view controller -- in all these cases, viewDidLoad will be called. If you move your view creation to loadView in the controller's .m file, it will work, and viewDidLoad will be called.
After Edit:
If you're using a storyboard, your view should be created there, and you shouldn't be doing what you're doing in the app delegate. In fact, when you use a storyboard, you don't normally have any code in the application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: method.

Answer 2

...
self.viewController.view = view;
...
You shouldn't set viewController's view before viewDidLoad, which cause viewDidLoad not called. View should be set in viewDidLoad, and the viewController's will manage its view automatically for you.

Answer 3

Looking at the code, this is exactly what should be happening. When you create a viewController, it automatically creates a view so you do not want to create a new one for it. Your button is not showing up because it is on the original view created with the viewController but you overwrote it with your yellow view.
Instead what you want to do is go into ViewController.m's viewDidLoad:(BOOL)animated and add:
[self.view setBackgroundColor:[UIColor yellowColor]];
Also, make sure that you do not set viewController.view in appDelegate. If you do not set that, a view is automatically created and you can add your button or any other views to it in the viewDidLoad.

Answer 4

I had this issue, and the initWithCoder function was called when I added some code in the AppDelegate's didFinishLaunchingWithOptions function.
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:
self.window = [[[UIWindow alloc] initWithFrame:[[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]] autorelease];
// Override point for customization after application launch.
self.window.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
[self.window makeKeyAndVisible];(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
UIStoryboard* storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:#"MyStoryboardName" bundle:nil];
UIViewController *initViewController = [storyboard instantiateInitialViewController];
[self.window setRootViewController:initViewController];