Add subview from a xib or another scene with storyboard

Question

I'm new to iOS and Xcode. I can't figure out how to design a separated view and make it be added into the main UIViewController using storyboard.

I did different approaches..

1. Just grab an UI object from right-bottom corner window in the xcode, and then put it onto any space area of storyboard. But I can't drop the UI object like the way with xib.
2. Add a new UIViewController. Add a view into the UIViewController. In the main ViewController.m, I get the new UIViewController instance in the viewDidLoad, and then [self.view addSubview:newUIViewController.view]. But I can't see the added view.
3. I created a new xib file. And add a view into it. I also try to get the instance in the main ViewController. And addSubview with the xib's view. But it also failed.

Is there a correct way or any working solution to do so?

Answer 1

I figured out a way to do it. Described as following:

1. Create a .xib file. For example: MyView.xib
2. Create a objective-c class. For example: MyViewClass.h and MyViewClass.m
3. Set the .xib File's Owner to the class.
4. Add a UIView element on the storyboard and set the custom class to the objective-c class name (MyViewClass).

5. The key-point is to override the initWithCoder method in the object-c class.

   - (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder {
       if ((self = [super initWithCoder:aDecoder])) {
           [self addSubview:[[[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:@"MyView" owner:self options:nil] objectAtIndex:0]];
       }
       return self;
   }
   

The idea is the custom class is loaded by the storyboard and initWithCode will be called. The index 0 is the root view in the .xib interface builder.

It's kind of tricky but it works.