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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-05T07:57:22+00:00

I’m currently thinking of project, which is basically interpreting data from many abstract data

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I’m currently thinking of project, which is basically interpreting data from many abstract data sources.

So the communication within application is like this

[UI] <-> [Controller / Delegate] <-> [Subclass of Abstract Data Source]

which is basically the MVC pattern. What is my problem, that each [Subclass of Abstract Data Source] can use only limited amount of [UI], so the flow is basically this:

  • Create instance of Data Source (DS)
  • Get list of possible UI’s from DS
  • Create UI chooser and instantiate preset UI
  • Let DS modify UI
  • Fill UI from DS by predefined handler method

Example UI’s are NSTableView, NSOutlineView, NSCollectionView, etc.

So I basically need to change column names, order, style of controls, … without possibility of having unique NSWindow designed for each Data Source

Now the question:

If I need dynamic UI creation and custom data handling logic (no bindings to Core Data, or so), should I (and is it even possible to) use InterfaceBuilder or should I implement all view logic programatically?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Use whichever you favor. Any variations/dynamic areas can be represented/handled by the controllers. In a way, that means that I recommend moving the dynamic portions to code to controllers — but you can still use XIBs for common high level design, if you choose.

    Therefore, when a view is not suitable for a singular data representation and is used for multiple, the implementation/variations can be moved to the controller domain. When an implementation/definition applies to all, then you can define that in the XIB or in the program — wherever you prefer to put it. In that case, you can use XIBs (or code) for invariant (skeletal) views.

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