How can I view an XIB from an app store app? - iphone

I downloaded an app with nice design and unpacked it's contents. I'd like to look at the NIBs to see how the app is put together. I renamed the NIBs to XIB, but Interface Builder won't open them ("Interface Builder was unable to determine the type of PageView.xib"). Is there any way to force it to open the file. Would I be able to see anything without the original project?

Short answer: No.
You can't just rename nib to xib, they are different formats. A nib is a package containing serialized objects in binary form, a xib is an xml representation of the serialized objects.
Longer answer:
Once upon a time binary nibs contained the information necessary in order for Interface Builder to display them (specifically, designable.nib), but since they are now primarily used for distribution (as opposed to development) that information is stripped by Xcode during application build when a xib is compiled into a nib.
Technically it is possible to instantiated a nib and introspect much of the information out of it, but it is non-trivial and wouldn't result in anything like using Interface builder.

Related

Unknown class <MyViewController> in Interface Builder file + Localization issue

I have an app with two localizations.
Usually I use 'NSLocalizedString' and keep the same source code for both localizations, but one of my ViewControllers has to look and function different for each locale.
So I pressed 'Localize..' and created two localized versions of it. Normal stuff.
Since then - on runtime I get:
Unknown class MyViewController in Interface Builder file.
and the viewcontroller is not displayed (it's a UITableViewController if it matters).
I checked in my storyboard and the custom class is still listed & linked to the view controller display. I didn't change the class name in each locale - it's still the same.
what gives here?
thanks
i experimented this kind of problem in my project and my problem was my viewcontrollers .m file was not included in the compile sources in Build Phases->Compile Sources i manually add it to the Compile Sources and problem solved for me.
i hope it will help you.

Why does resource bundle copy .png as .tiff images?

I've created a static library and a resource bundle for reusing code and assets across several projects.
Within the static library, I have a manager class whose sole purpose is to create other UIViewControllers, whose views are created from .xib files (using the common initWithNibName:bundle: method).
When I create the view in Interface Builder, the images show correctly. However, when I run the app on the simulator, I get this error:
Could not load the "<image_name.png>" image referenced from a nib in the
bundle with identifier "com.<my_company>.<app_identifer>"
After hours of grinding, I finally inspected the resources bundle, and I found that the .png files weren't in it! Instead, .tiff files of the same name (excluding #2x versions) were there instead.
All of the images are included within the bundle's build phase under copy bundle resources , and I've used the images on other iOS projects (so they're not corrupted).
Has anyone else experienced this? Is it safe to assume that the images will always be added to the bundle as .tiff? (And if so, is it safe to just change the image name in interface builder to .tiff?) Or am I doing something incorrect here?
Thanks for your help in advance.
For the issue of resource bundles , refer to this link as it has a couple of similar faced queries.
Conversion Resource bundle
Tell me which answer really helped you solve this issue. Thanks.
This Solved my problem
In your bundle target Go to,
Build Settings > COMBINE_HIDPI_IMAGES and set to NO

iPhone UI internationalization

When I do translation for web apps, usually I have a script that extracts the strings from the code to a .po file that then I give to the translator, and he has a neat tool that allows him to easily translate all the strings.
On iPhone, is kind of the same thing with the Localizable.strings when it comes to strings in the .m files.
My question is: for translating the UI (the XIB files), my translator will have to have a Mac in order to edit the XIBs or is there a way to extract all the string neatly out of the XIB into a more friendly file format ?
I'm thinking on re-initializing all the XIB elements that have string in viewDidLoad but looks to me like overkill ...
I have seen ppl use ibtool. This might help you.

Localized XIB not showing all IBActions, outlet & images

i m getting a problem with my localized xib.
I have created english version xib first, then made them localized, & added other localization.
it works fine in app also.
But when i open other language xib with IB, i m unable to get all outlets & IBActions.
It seems like it is taking only those one that were present when i created the localized file, & not showing newly added one.
Does file not getting updated?
Note : My other team member done the same thing & they don't have problem.
i also tried to removed & created all new localized file then also no change.
I m unable to identify the problem, i m stuck on this problem & cannot proceed with further development.
Please help .. :(
If you have Xibs in different languages, they don't get updated automatically when you change the English one.
Instead, you should either merge the new changes using ibtool (type man ibtool in Terminal to learn its options), or use a dedicated application like iLocalize.
In general, it can be quite an issue to update all the localizations all the time and sometimes large changes can't be merged well automatically. You need to be careful about that.

Packaging a Bundle with a static library

I have a static library that includes some xibs. These will basically be the same across projects. I'd like to include the xibs as part of the library. I can include their veiwcontrollers, reference these controllers in the calling project but then there isn't a xib to load. When I right click the xib in the library project, it can't be part of the target.
I thought about creating a CFPluginBundle but that creates a new project. I'd loose all of my IBOutlet and IBAction references. What is the best way to reuse xibs that also have outlets and actions to specific controllers?
Here more discussion about it: Can you reference Xib files from static libraries on the iPhone?
I had the same problem when I wanted to export my project as a library for other developers to use.
I found the perfect solution to my view and it seems it will answer yours too.
There is an xcode plugin that allows you to build your project as a library which includes the resources as well.
https://github.com/kstenerud/iOS-Universal-Framework
I do not know the guys that built this plugin, but it works like a charm
I'm not sure what you mean by "include the xibs as part of the library", since static libraries can't have resources--but they also aren't shipped stand-alone, so they don't need to. If you just want code re-use for your own projects, you could keep the xibs where-ever you keep the static library, and just include the xibs in any project that uses the library.
If you go the CFPluginBundle route, you can make new bundle targets in an existing project; there's nothing magic about the templates, they just take care of making dummy files and turning on the right build settings. You can copy those into a new target in your existing project and it will work just fine. That said, I'm not sure what you mean about losing IBOutlet and IBAction references, since that information is part of the xib (and the class you are using in the xib), not the project.