I'm just starting with iOS development. Currently focused on iPad.
I would like to persist a few UI elements across (and on top of) several scenes in a storyboard.
What is the best way to do this? Put the persistent elements in a separate view/xib and load that in each of the ViewControllers for each scene? Or is there a way I can just have one instance of the persistent elements?
Happy to elaborate if needed...
Cheers
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Been trying to find some tips on suggested approach for this and not having much luck.
All I'm looking for is to know what is the best approach to handle custom layouts for portrait/landscape modes.
I've seen some posts say in the storyboard add 2 views to the same ViewController and show/hide based on orientation change while some people suggest to use a totally separate ViewController for each orientation.
Which of this is the preferred method. I'm just starting my application, So I'd rather go for the widely accepted method than have to deal with complications later on.
Apple documentation still keeps talking about nib files and not storyboards in this aspect, so not being of much help.
My main focus is performance (I'm fine with having to code stuff instead of depend on the graphical interface for it). separate ViewControllers seem to keep the code in a clean way however if that involves populating views / clearing them every time orientation changes, seems kind of expensive(not sure if it is relevant).
Also if each scene in the application has 2 layouts then managing them I'm not sure how much of a pain it's going to be when the application grows big.
Please point me in a suitable approach for my case,
am not concerned about backwards compatibility. Just worried about the latest Xcode and ios6 if it matters for the decision
Thanks
I would say this really depends on the level of customization of the UI in portrait vs landscape. A large number of implementations I have done can be handled by either autoresizing/autolayout when switching orientation, or simply moving the elements yourself when the UI is rotated and the callbacks are fired. Moving the elements around should not be an expensive operation at all as it is a very common occurrence (again this depends on the complexity of your UI though).
This is going to be a bit difficult to explain. I'm usually fine with code on the micro level, but need some guidance on the macro end. Anything would help.
I'm trying to basically create a notecard application, where the user is presented with a screen with a stack of flashcards. There are multiple subjects, each managed by a different .plist. To switch between subject areas, you swipe left and right. I don't know how to most efficiently achieve this using storyboards, which is my primary issue. Could you do this using one view, or do I have to create a different view for every stack of flashcards and create a transition between them?
Thank you very much, in advance.
If you are looking to switch between different views by either swiping left of right, the most logical choice would be to use a UIScrollView with paging enabled. You could then initialize an NSArray and have it store the names of your different PList files and use it to manage your data between views. Obviously this is just one of many solutions to this problems, but when you talk about wanting a swiping action to switch, UIScrollViews would be the iOS default way of doing it.
Here is a tutorial on how to use UIScrollViews with paging:
http://www.iosdevnotes.com/2011/03/uiscrollview-paging/
Hope that helps!
If i wanted to create a system whereby you could display a little rectangle ON TOP of an app already running, in which I could put any number of things, what would be the best, most apple standard way of doing it?
I'm thinking of something similar to iAdd. basically layers of views I suppose. I know that microsoft has a standard war of coding game menus for example. they're layered - each one has various event handlers for when things start and finish and they're own little update / load / draw methods etc that get called when appropriate. is there something similar for apps?
The most important thing really is just the starting point. what should I be doing in order to create another view over the existing one?
All UI elements in iOS inherit from class UIView. To add one view inside another use [view addSubview:subview]
For detailed information about how to use the UIView class, see View Programming Guide for iOS
Can someone explain in simple words the difference between .xib and .storyboard?
Apple introduced the concept of "storyboarding" in iOS5 SDK to simplify and better manage screens in your app. You can still use the .xib way of development.
Pre-storyboard, each UIViewController had an associated .xib with it. Storyboard achieves two things:
.storyboard is essentially one single file for all your screens in the app and it shows the flow of the screens. You can add segues/transitions between screens, this way. So, this minimizes the boilerplate code required to manage multiple screens.
Minimizes the overall number of files in an app.
You can avoid using Storyboard while creating a new project by leaving the "Use Storyboard" option unchecked.
You could refer this tutorial to get started.
Yes, you can still create a Window-based application for iOS 5. If you use the "empty project" template, you will see that a window is created for you in the app delegate. From there you can add XIB files as normal, or a new storyboard.
I'm assuming you mean "storyboards" rather than "timeline". Storyboards allow you to map out, visually, all of the views in your applications and how they interrelate. If you are just starting out with storyboards, there's an introduction to storyboards in the WWDC 2011 videos here. The 2011 Stanford iOS course on iTunes-U is also iOS 5-specific and covers storyboards and more.
A storyboard is like a canvas where you put all your .xib files. You no longer have any .xibs, you just have View Controllers directly on your canvas.
storyboard is a new feature available since the release of Xcode 4.2.
It offers a complete new way for iOS developer to create and design
user interface. Before the introduction of Storyboard, it’s especially
hard for beginner to create navigation (and tab) interface. Every
interface is stored in a separate xib file. On top of it, you have to
write code to link all interfaces together and describe how the
navigation works.
With Storyboards, all screens are stored in a single file. This gives
you a conceptual overview of the visual representation for the app and
shows you how the screens are connected. Xcode provides a built-in
editor to layout the Storyboards. You can define the transition (known
as segues) between various screens simply using point and click. This
doesn’t mean you do not need to write code for the user interface. But
Storyboards significantly reduce the amount of code you need to write.
Source: http://www.appcoda.com/use-storyboards-to-build-navigation-controller-and-table-view/
XIB:
Xib files are used with a single UIView.
2)It's very difficult to implement complex auto-layouts in xib.
3)It's utilizes more memory as compared to storyboard and quiet slow.
It is compatible from iOS5 and onwards
You can do localizations for different languages and countries using
different XIBs .
It's difficult to use same Xib to support multiple devices.
Storyboard
1)You can layout all your Scenes like View Controllers, Nav Controllers, TabBar Controllers, etc in a single storyboard.
2)You can use Auto Layout easily that defines mathematical relationships between elements defining their position and sizing.
3)Usually fast and allocates less memory.
4)It's not compatible prior to iOS 5 .
5)"Dynamic" and "Prototype" cells can be used easily.
6)Storyboards best to use for the apps with a small to medium amount of screens.
The best Answer I have seen : Xib Vs Storyboard in iOS
XIB and Storyboard are used for creating interfaces for users.
One important point is,xibs are used for creating a single view(it has single file owner at the top of the xib file), but in-case for viewcontroller, multiple screens can be added and its flow can also be monitored(it has separate file owners).
This is Cocoa Touch (et al), iPhone, XCode only.
After completing my first commercial iPhone app, I'm struggling a bit to find a way to start and expand an app from scratch which gives the most linear development (i.e., the least scrapping, re-write or re-organization of code, classes and resources) as app specs change and I learn more (mostly about what Cocoa Touch and other classes and components are designed to be capable of and the limitation of their customization).
So. File, New Project. Blank window based app? Create the controllers I need, with .xib if necessary, so I can localize them and do changes requested by the customer in IB? And then always subclass each class except those extremely unlikely to be customized? (I mean framework classes such as UIButton, CLLocation etc here.)
The question is a generic 'approach' type question, so I'll be happy to listen to handy dev practices you've found paid off. Do you have any tips for which 're-usable components' you've found have become very useful in subsequent projects?
Clients often describe programs in terms of 'first, this screen appears, and then you can click this button and on the new screen you can select... (and so on)' terms. Are there any good guides to go from there to vital early-stage app construction choices, i.e. 'functions-features-visuals description to open-ended-app-architecture'?
For example, in my app I went from NavBar, to Toolbar with items, to Toolbar with two custom subviews in order to accommodate the functions-features-visuals description. Maybe you have also done such a thing and have some advice to offer?
I'm also looking for open-ended approaches to sharing large ("loaded data") objects, or even simple booleans, between controllers and invoking methods in another controller, specifically starting processes such as animation and loading (example: trigger a load from a URL in the second tab viewcontroller after making sure an animation has been started in the first tab viewcontroller), as these two features apply to the app architecture building approach you advocate.
Any handy pointers appreciated. Thanks guys.
Closing this up as there's no single correct answer and was more suitable for the other forum, had I known it existed when I asked :)
If you want to know the method I ended up with, it's basically this:
Window-based blank app
Navigation Controller controls all, whether I need to or not (hide when not used)
Tab Bar Controller if necessary
Connect everything <-- unhelpful, I know.
Set up and check autorotation, it might get added to some view later.
Add one viewcontroller with xib for each view, you never know when they want an extra button somewhere. It's easier to copy code than make the max ultra superdynamic adjustable tableviewcontroller that does all list-navigation, etc.
Re-use a viewcontroller only when just the content differs in it, such as a detail viewcontroller.
Minimize code in each viewcontroller by writing functions and methods and shove them in a shared .m
Everything that's shared ends up in the App delegate, except subclassed stuff.
Modal viewcontrollers are always dynamically created and never have an xib.