Custom view's IBOutlet is nil - swift

Question

So I have a main viewController that has a stack view to which I want to add multiple instances of custom views I have created.
So my thought process was to create a custom view that inherits from UIView. I want the view to always be 40x40 so I created a new init to take care of this? (not sure if this is correct):
class QuickAddView: UIView {
#IBOutlet weak var iconLabel: UILabel!
var task: Task = Task()
public init(task: Task) {
self.task = task
super.init(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 40, height: 40))
configureView()
}
private func configureView() {
self.layer.cornerRadius = self.frame.size.width / 2
self.backgroundColor = task.color
configureViewElements()
}
private func configureViewElements() {
configureIconLabel()
}
private func configureIconLabel() {
// CRASH: - iconLabel is nil here
self.iconLabel.text = task.icon
}
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
}
}
I then have a QuickAddView nib that sets its custom class to QuickAddView.swift
Lastly, I create the custom views in my viewController:
override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewDidAppear(animated)
configureViewElements()
}
private func configureViewElements() {
configureQuickAddStackView()
}
private func configureQuickAddStackView() {
let quickAddView = QuickAddView(task: Task(name: "Go to the store", icon: "🍐", color: .purple))
quickAddStackView.addArrangedSubview(quickAddView)
}
The problem I'm having is that my iconLabel is nil when I try to set up my QuickAddView. I also don't know if I'm doing this process of creating a custom view correct.

Answer 1

Since you are connecting the IBOutlet from xibFile you have to use
required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
super.init(coder: aDecoder)
self.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 40, height: 40)
configureView()
}
Also in your class you have to instantiate it with
if let quickAddView = Bundle.mainBundle().loadNibNamed("QuickAddView", owner: self, options: nil).first as? QuickAddView {
quickAddView.task = task
}

Answer 2

The problem is that you're creating a custom view in code, but using an IBOutlet for the iconLabel. An IBOutlet is for something you've built in Interface Builder, not in code. If you want to create the QuickAddView in code, you need to also create the iconLabel in code, in the QuickAddView class. You need to make these modifications:
weak var iconLabel: UILabel?
private func configureIconLabel() {
iconLabel = UILabel(frame: CGRect())
if let iconLabel = iconLabel {
iconLabel.text = task.icon
addSubview(iconLabel)
}
}
Note that I passed in a zeroed out CGRect, but you'll want to use whatever you want the UILabels origin and size to be, or use autolayout to configure where the iconLabel is displayed.