Question

so far I have done most view programming in code, but it really is cumbersome to position buttons perfectly in code. I searched for some time, maybe I’m using the wrong words for my search? Anyway, I created a UI in a nib file, it has several buttons. I loaded the .nib file into my view like this:

NSArray* nibViews =  [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:@"UCMenuView" owner:self options:nil];
UIView *menuView = [nibViews objectAtIndex:0];
self.delegate = (id<UCMapviewDelegate>)delegate;
// another controller does the view switching, so I'm sending him the view  
[self.delegate pushView:menuView];

This is ‘fine’. But I don’t understand how I get a pointer to my buttons. I know about IBOutlet, but how do I connect them to the elements in the .nib? How would I connect this @property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIButton *calendar;
to a specific button in the .nib?

I tried to ctrl-drag (from that little points on the left side of the @property, but that does not work (from neither side). Excuse me if this is an easy question, but I couldn’t find a clear explanation

thanks for your help

Answer 1

1. Instead of just a UIView *menuView, you need to create a custom
   UIView subclass for that, e.g. UCMenuView. Define your properties on this custom
   class.
2. Open your .xib file in the editor, select the File’s Owner in
   the left column and set its Custom Class in the identity
   inspector to UCMenuView.
3. Right-click the File’s Owner in the left column, and connect
   your IBOutlets.