Question

I’m trying to understand the difference between using a UINavigationController inside a Nib (via the library window) and subclassing the UINavigationController. (For the purposes of this question, I’m not just specifically referring to a Navigation Controller; I’m referring to any Controller that is contained in the Library window in Interface Builder.)

To start, I suppose my first question is: Does adding a ‘Controller’ from the library to a nib create an instance of that controller? If not, what is the purpose or the normal end goal in doing that. I’ve had trouble finding any material that truly explains that part of IB. Here is a screen shot to help illustrate my question.

In my screen shot of the nib window, what happens when I add the UITabBarController to the nib? Does that give me an instances of a UITabBarController?

The final part of my question is (assuming my initial assumption is correct), why would I subclass the UITabBarController class (in this case) instead of adding it to the nib?

Answer 1

For your first question: Yes that does create an instance of a UINavigationController. You must then add a UINavigationController to the File’s Owner class and link them with an IBOutlet.

IBOutlet UINavigationController *nav; 

then in Interface Builder cntl+click on File’s Owner, drag to the Nav Controller on the builder, release, and select nav.

For the rest of your question the issue is wether or not you need any control of UITabController.