Interface-Builder: "combine" NSView-class with .xib

Question

I'd like to set up a custom NSView in Interface-Builder, but I don't get it to work for OSX. In my ViewController's .xib, I added a custom view and set the Class to MyCustomView. I created MyCustomView.h, MyCustomView.m and MyCustomView.xib. In MyCustomView.xib, I set the Class to MyCustomView as well. In MyCustomView.m, `- (void)awakeFromNib` is called, but `- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder` and `- (id) awakeAfterUsingCoder:(NSCoder*)aDecoder` aren't. What I'd like to achieve is that in my ViewController, the view I added is "filled" with the view I set up in MyCustomView.xib. What's the best way to do that? EDIT: I don't think I was clear enough... I've got my ViewController containing a Custom View called MyCustomView. This view should be of type MyCustomView, where MyCustomView.h MyCustomView.m MyCustomView.xib exists. I already set the File's Owner of MyCustomView.xib to MyCustomView and I already set the CustomView in my ViewController to MyCustomView - but it doesn't wor…

Accepted Answer

EDIT - apologies, my existing answer failed to take into account the need to connect outlets and actions. This way should do it...

Given the files...

```
MyCustomView.h
MyCustomView.m
MyCustomView.xib
```

In MyCustomView.h

declare IBOutlets for your interface elements. You need at least one, to hold a pointer to the top-level view in the xib file

`@property (nonatomic, strong) IBOutlet NSView *view;`

In MyCustomView.xib

- ensure that there is only one top-level view

- set file's owner class to MyCustomView in the Identity Inspector

- ensure that the top-level view is set to the default `NSView` class.

- now you can connect IBOutlets declared in MyCustomView.h to interface objects in the xib file. At very least you need to connect up the top-level view to your `view` outlet.

In MyCustomView.m:

```
- (id)initWithFrame:(NSRect)frame
{
    NSString* nibName = NSStringFromClass([self class]);
    self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
    if (self) {
        if ([[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:nibName 
                                          owner:self 
                                topLevelObjects:nil]) {
            [self.view setFrame:[self bounds]];
            [self addSubview:self.view];
            [self.myCustomButton setTitle:@"test success"];
        }
    }
    return self;
}
```

In your window's xib file, add a custom NSView and change it's class to MyCustomView.

in OSX prior to 10.8 the method `loadNibNamed` was a class method - use it instead if you need backwards compatibility, but it is deprecated now:

```
[NSBundle loadNibNamed:@"NibView" owner:self]
```

Note that MyCustomView.xib's view is NOT MyCustomView's view, but the sole subview of it's view (this is similar to the way a tableViewCell possesses a single contentView).

In the project sample you have posted, you need to make the following changes:

in MyCustomView.h . add an NSView property

in MyCustomView.xib: . change the top-level view from `MyCustomView` custom class to `NSView` (the default) . set the File's Owner to `MyCustomView`. . connect IBOutlets from File's owner's `view` and `myCustomButton` to interface view and button . for testing make the view a lot smaller and push the button up to the top right (you won't see it in your window as it is here)

in MyCustomView.m: . replace all of your implementation code with the `initWithFrame` method here

Interface-Builder: "combine" NSView-class with .xib

Solution

Problem