I'm trying to get started with an iPhone application, I had a look around at other questions but i'm still sorta stuck so hopefully someone can help...
First thing is I'm totally confused with the whole view concept, I'm more used to visual studio so I'm going to use the term 'form' to describe what I have in my head.
I want to achieve a home screen in an application with say 9 icons (much like the iphone home screen) which each lead to a different 'form'. Each form may have a different function so say one might be a simple calculator, one might play a video etc.
How do I do this, its destroying my soul trying to do something so simple... If you guys even have any links to get me on the right track it would be greatly appreciated
I suggest you take a look at the Stanford iPhone Programming Course. If you don't have the time to look through it all, I reccommend at least Lectures 5 and 6 about Views and ViewControllers. The slides are quite instructive and they come with video presentations that should help you get on your way in about an hour.
Apple's samples are a great place to start. There are some simple ones that can show you how views and view controllers work.
Also, in Xcode, when you create a new iPhone app template, that template usually has enough code to display a view, and sometimes a flip-side view or more. Sometimes, you should stop reading, and do.
I had the same weird learning curve as you, as things don't initially seem to make sense but they do - and once you've got your head round them they make perfect sense trust me!
Your 'forms' are viewControllers in this M-V-C land, they control all the 'view' (which are controls or any object which can be seen) within them. Normally they are loaded from a Nib (design from the interface builder), but don't have to be.
The way I would go about your problem is to use a navigationController as the base to handle all of your view controllers.
A navigation controller needs a rootviewcontroller to start so this will be your desktop Viewcontroller. I'm not sure how you are planning to populate this but all the icons will need to be stored in some kind of array. I suggest you use a simple UIButton. When then button is pressed you then alloc and init and push the required view controller.
Related
I'm new to programming apps, trying to realize a project for iOs using xCode and swift.
As far as I've learned most people seem to work with the storyboard feature, but I've come across people that suggest to deactivate the storyboard and work with code only.
I'd like to know your opinion on what method fits my needs best for the intended project. As I am just getting started, I'd like to stick with the appropriate method right away for I'm probably going to invest a lot of time.
This is about what the app is going to look like:
myApp Layout
Now this is what it' basically supposed to do:
The "settings"-button (blue area, top left) is going to take you to a different view to set preferences. The "search"-button (blue area, top right) is going to change the title into a search field.
You can browse through 3 categories. Each of them contains a couple of questions. Those are stored in a database and are supposed to be displayed list style within the red area. The order of the questions is going to depend on the users preferences.
Clicking any of the questions is going to take you to another view that displays the answer. When viewing the answer the "settings"-button (blue area, top left) is changing to a "go back"-button.
Now as far as I've learned the blue area might be realized with a navigation controller, navigation bar.
The white section works pretty much like a toolbar. However I've read it's close to impossible to move the standard toolbar from the bottom to the top.
I've seen tutorials of people realizing this type of layout with (to me) complex code but without using the storyboard. Am I wasting time on figuring out how to manipulate storyboard objects? Coming from coding and programming websites the project looks so unbelievably simple. Is a project like this in fact rather complex to do as an app?
In any big project you will have to use all approaches, it is all about experience. For example, I am using StoryBoards to make 95% of my UIViewControllers elements, using XIB for static screens like error messages, some loadings etc. and using code to append some gradient views, shadows etc. It is possible that in future I will be doing all in a different way. But if you are a beginner - better use Storyboard, it makes getting into all of it much easier, understanding UIKit and iOS development overall.
I hope you can help me with my actual problems with designing an iPhone-App in the latest xCode version.
Here´s what I find a bit strange:
I designed a new project with a Storyboard and a Navigation Controller. Then I placed Objects like UILabels, ImageViews and so on. No when I run the Project in the simulator (as well on the iPhone) I noticed the following: When the App loads all the in the View placed objects fall down from the top to take their defined place. It takes maybe the quarter of a second, but its clearly to see. It also happens on all other views initiated from the root view controller
So, what do I have to change that everything is at it´s fixed place without to fall down from the top at the start of the app?
I hope I described it good enough. Actually I have no idea what´s going on there. I hope you can help me to fix this "problem". I´ve written some small Apps before, but I´ve never noticed a behavior like this.
Got the solution: I´ve had to remove the animations on the main view... now it works proper! :-)
Thank you for reading this.
These are my first steps in the iPhone Ipad app programming.
In order to learn from scratch (and because I know my app would need dynamic views), I decided not to use Interface Builder.
My question is(regarding the fact that I don't use IB): how would one use Views and Controllers?
I think I understand the MVC concept as it is repeated over and over again in the tutorials I follow, but after the "MVC explanation" part, nothing is made to make it clear "on the field" and closer to the real world (Earth being Xcode here).
Worse, sometimes it seems that some tutorials mix these two concepts up and use one word to say the other.
I read around here a lot of questions (and answers of course) based on the matter but I still don't get it. Sometimes it's too generic, sometimes it's too specific (for me at least).
For what I think I understood, the UIView is the static View when the View Controller is the logic which links the View to the data and those 3 concepts must be separated.
This separation, while a bit clearer with the use of Interface Builder seems to get quite blurry when you code everything as it becomes a virtual soup.
Technically, should I create a specific ".h" and ".m" file for each View AND ALSO for each associated Controller?
If I understand the MVC pattern, it's seems that I should but when I follow tutorials (without IB) it is never the case, view and controllers are created and manipulated within the same implementation files.
Any high level (I'm a noob, don't forget) but still applicable explanation of the use and best practices?
Let's say I want to create a simple app with a green view I can swipe to get to a red view.
I know for sure that I would need at least an:
xxxappDelegate.h
xxxappDelegate.m
xxxView.h
xxxView.m
What else?
1)Where should I put the the second view (along with the first one in "xxxView" or should I create another class h and m file?)?
2) What would the controller(s) do, for that kind of application? In which files would they be created and in which files would they be invoked and how would they "control" the related view?
3) Mainly, regarding to MVC pattern and the fact that there would be no IB, how would you organize that app?
I know it's a lot if you go into the details and code but that's not the point here.
Thank you. This - as simple as it seems - would be of a great help and is not as easily found in tutorials as you might think.
I understand the tutorials I read but they are so particular. As soon as I try to create something on my own which is not a "Hello World" screen, I realize that something is missing, logic wise.
Thank you very much for your help.
Sorry, but I can't get past your first paragraph. If you don't use Interface Builder, you are not going to be a successful iOS programmer. It's that simple. The best advice I've ever read about this is in this Aaron Hillegass interview:
Experienced Cocoa programmers put a lot of the smarts of their application in the NIB file. As a result, their project has a lot less code. Programmers who have spent a few years working in Visual Studio get freaked out. They ask me stuff like, "Can I write Cocoa apps without using Interface Builder? I like to see the code. Maybe I can just explicitly create my windows and the views that go on it?"
It is difficult to explain how the NIB file (and a few other scary ideas) create leverage. It is that leverage that enables one guy in his basement to compete with a team of engineers at Microsoft or Adobe. It is like I showed a chain saw to a early American colonist, and he said, "Can I cut down the tree without starting the engine? I don't like the noise. Maybe I can just bang it against the tree?"
Yes, it's hard to generalize after reading specific tutorials, but you will learn. I thought the learning curve was insurmountable when I first started, but if I can become a programmer that gets paid to write Cocoa software, you can too. Just keep reading and practicing. Don't fight the tools--use them.
Early:
In order to learn from scratch (and because I know my app would need
dynamic views), I decided not to use Interface Builder.
Later:
As soon as I try to create something on my own which is not a "Hello
World" screen, I realize that something is missing, logic wise.
I think what is missing logic wise is that you have accepted your assumption that Interface Builder was a crutch and that to learn "from scratch" you had to avoid using it. You are trying to learn the MVC design pattern but you are not willing to use the tools that have been designed to support it.
In Apple's own documentation they discuss the fact that sometimes there is value in having combined roles—Model Controllers and View Controllers—and that is worth reading, as it may explain some of the code examples you're reviewing. But my primary advice would be: before assuming you know better than the people who built the tools, trying using them the way they recommend. It might be an eye-opener.
Additions later:
OK, so to try and actually answer your questions...
1)Where should I put the the second view (along with the first one in
"xxxView" or should I create another class h and m file?)?
If I am understanding correctly and the two views you are thinking of here are the red and the blue displays to the user, you wouldn't have a second view—what you would do, whether in IB or in code—is to have an element in your view on which you changed a colour property... This would be done programmatically whether you were setting up the parent view in IB or in code.
2) What would the controller(s) do, for that kind of application? In
which files would they be created and in which files would they be
invoked and how would they "control" the related view?
There would be a view controller that would implement the gesture support, and would provide a method for changing the colour of the item in the view between blue and red when that swipe gesture was successfully received. I would have a ViewController.h and and ViewController.m. I think if you were implementing the View entirely in code, it would be implemented in the ViewController.m rather than having a separate View.m. (If you were using IB, you would have a ViewController.h, ViewController.m and ViewController.xib, with the latter providing the basic setup of the view elements and layers.)
You would create a ViewController instance in your AppDelegate.
3) Mainly, regarding to MVC pattern and the fact that there would be
no IB, how would you organize that app?
As above.
If you really insist on going without IB (and I agree 100% with SSteve) then in addition to the files you list you will also want to use a UIViewController. Now, it is important to know that you only need to create header and implementation files when you are adding or changing default behavior.
In you case, the view can probably just be a generic UIView, so you wouldn't need the files. What you would do is subclass UIViewController, and put the swipe logic there. In the swipe logic code you would probably just change the background color of the view.
You would instantiate the view controller in the delegate (in this case anyway) and create the view in the view controller's loadView method. That is required since you won't be using IB.
Personally though, I think that IB does a great job of encouraging proper MVC patterns, and if you are just starting then you should go with IB.
In practice you mostly do not make classes for views, unless they need to do custom drawing or display.
For lightweight configuration of views, that is often done in the viewController's viewDidLoad (or I guess in your case loadView) method.
Yes it's a good idea to keep model and view separated, but that's also balanced with the equally good idea to reduce the amount of code that exists. The less code that is written, the fewer bugs you will have.
Since you are just starting out at this point I would absolutely start by using ARC, and using IB - even though I'm sure you're tired of hearing that from everyone, I'll give you an alternate take. Less code means fewer bugs. And the fact that so many experienced developers are telling you to use it should be a giant clue about what a productive path forward is. I mean, are you doing this to build applications or learn every corner of the UIView class?
To speak to your code example, you do not need the UIView custom class. Just create use a UIViewController's main view as a container view, place a UIView inside with the background set to red. On swipe (using a gesture recognizer attached to the container view) call the UIVew method to swap in a new green-background UIView for the existing red view, you can even define the transition style.
Or create a scroll view in the container view, set up the red and green view inside the scroll view, set the content size and enable paging on the scrollview.
Or create a custom UIView class as you had, listen for touch events and slowly adjust two subview positions to follow the drag action.
Or use an OpenGL backed view, and based on the gesture recognizer pan the scene you are observing with two triangles for a green rectangle and two triangles for a red rectangle.
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.
i m new to iphone development
i want to create a view like this..
1.home screen contains
a. a navigation bar
b.a uiimageview
c.a toolbar(with 4 buttons)
2.new view contains
a.navigation bar with back button which leads to home screen.
b.a UITableView.
3.another table view
with navigation bar leads back to (2nd view)
note i want to load new view with the tool bar button.
That's excellent. Thanks for the update! Keep us informed on how you're doing with that.
Actually, it would be a disservice to you for us to write your code for you. Why don't you try looking at Apple's sample code on the iPhone Dev Center? It'll answer your question.
You can come back here and post code that you've tried that isn't working.
Probably not the answer you want, but I'm pretty sure you'll benefit more from actually researching the question and trying it out on your own.
Following up on Jordan's answer, the place you want to start is Getting Started w/ iPhone OS. For the type of code you're talking about, you should then investigate the View Controller Programming Guide. When you've gone through the samples and start having trouble with your own code, the Cocoa/iPhone crowd here at Stack Overflow is incredibly helpful. But a statement of program requirements isn't an SO question.