CODEWITHSUNDEEP
xcodeiboutlet
rubixibuc
rubixibuc

Reputation: 7397

Significance of IBOutlet Macro and Bindings

When I use bindings I don't need to include the IBOutlet macro. Ex.

@property NSString* stringToBind

Why is this?

When do we use the IBOutlet macro and when do we leave it out? I am confused because I thought we include the IBOutlet macro to when we want to use it as an object with interface builder.

What would happen if linked to an object (like would would normally do with an outlet) but excluded the IBOutlet macro? In other words created an outlet without the IBOutlet macro? It is optional in all cases? Is it just used to make things easier, so that they are detected?

Thanks in advance

Upvotes: 1

Views: 239

Answers (1)

IronMensan
IronMensan

Reputation: 6831

As far as the compiler and linked are concerned, IBOutlet is a no-op. More specifically it is #define'd to nothing. Xcode and Interface Builder use static code analysis to figure out what to do, but it will have no impact on compiling or linking.

The NIB that is generated contains the names of the properties to connect when it is loaded and those names are resolved the same way that all other properties are resolved.

If you remove IBOutlet from a property declaration introduces a risk that the next time the NIB is generated, the link connection won't be made. I am not sure how Interface Builder handles that.

Upvotes: 1

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