iPhone App Development - Few beginner questions

Question

I've been tasked with creating an app, but I have zero experience with iOS development. I have general programming knowledge, particularly with Java, JavaScript and PHP (I'm more a web developer than a programmer). I have dabbled with C, Xcode and various other languages and IDEs in the past, but I remember very little.

I've been following Apple's Developer Library tutorials, and I'm at around the Language stage, where I'm come to a grinding halt. While I slowly progress through learning the basics of Objective-C, there are a few things I'm very confused about regarding development in Xcode that various tutorials seem to completely skip over or just imply that you know what to do, or some just stop right before the part I'm having trouble with.

1) Storyboard - yes or no?

Is it better to start with an empty application and work with the files or create a template (in my case a tabbed application) and work with the storyboard?

2) If using a storyboard, do I still need to have a .xib?

Are the User Interfaces more like global templates that the view controllers implement?

If I wanted a different layout for each tab of my app, would I create a .xib for each tab, or just edit the controllers in the storyboard? Am I correct in understanding that the storyboard can have multiple instances/relationships of the same controller, in which case having .xib's would make more sense?

3) If using storyboard, where do the implementation and source files come from?

This is probably a stupid question. I know you can just add them via File -> New, but I don't know how to associate those files with a view controller. Is there a way to have the files created automatically when adding a controller into the storyboard?

Answer 1

To answer on a point-by-point basis:

1. I typically use the "Single View" template. It provides everything you need for your first view and can take it from there. It's a clean slate but it already has that first view which will be exactly the same code in 99% of the applications you make.

2. No, the storyboard file is your xib. You used to have to make a new xib for each new layout, but then Apple introduced storyboards. A storyboard is basically all of your xib's in one file. Rather than make a new xib, drag a new ViewController object onto the document. You typically only have 1 storyboard file or 2 if you want to support both iPhone and iPad layouts.

3. I don't think you can have it create your source files automatically, but its fairly easy to connect them manually.

Select the ViewController that you want to connect to your source files by clicking on that black bar beneath it. Then go to the bar on the side and go to this panel:

There you enter the name of your custom ViewController subclass where I have put "MyViewController". Hope that helps!

Answer 2

Storyboards can be appropriate for small applications, where you have ten or twenty screens. When your app contains more than that, you will just get lost in storyboard schema, where all your view controllers will visually look the same.

I prefer not to use storyboard, just separate xib files for each controller.

If you use storyboard, you can create xib files for other parts of application that is not related to SB, and view controllers that is involved in SB has their interface stored in SB, meaning you will have to design them in there, in this one huge storyboard file. I find this very uncomfortable.

As you are new to IB, I would like recommend you to take a look at Auto layout. There is no magic anymore :)

Answer 3

Since you're just starting, you should use Storyboards because it lets you link different view controllers(pages on your app, essentially) visually and outside of code. For example, you can link your UITabbedViewController (the part that manages the content of the other tabs) to the pages that represent the content of the different tabs. Basically, your storyboard would have the tabbed view controller in a parent-child relationship with the sub-controllers. You would have one instance of each -- the tabbed view controller, managing an instance of each of the tabs' content and controller. This is the same regardless of Storyboard or xib, but you can connect this more easily in the storyboard.

You can still use a .xib(nib) file for stuff like Custom Table cells or in cases where you want to separate a view element or controller from a storyboard where there are other constraints.

In the storyboard, you subclass the controller class on the sidebar in the visual editor by entering your subclass of say UITabbedViewController in 'Custom Class'. In your file associated with 'MyTabbedController', you implement your stuff.

Great book:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beginning-ios-6-development-david-mark/1113216077?ean=9781430245124

Good luck!