IB vs coding the UI

Here’s a suggestion for version 2 of this book: It should make a clear distinction between IB and coding in the UI. As it were, it seems as if we are randomly choosing either method to create the user interfaces throughout the examples.

I can see that if you walk through an example using code to create the UI, it’s a lot easier to write down. Writing down IB instructions, and constantly having to say “we are now switching back to IB/XCode” is pretty verbose, and, in keeping with the graphical nature of IB, should come with plenty of images. That adds extra length.

But it’s also what sets this book apart, and what made it so much better than the Apple docs. Leaning IB was the main reason I got interested in this book in the first place, and it did not disappoint. IB is very powerful but it’s also pretty difficult to learn – it’s not exactly intuitive.

So here is my wishlist:
- Explain all examples in the book only using IB wherever possible.
- If coding the UI is better, explain very clearly and upfront why. E.g. “we are manually coding our UI components here because… ”. I am sure there are situations where it’s desirable, and it would be of great value to know who
- Have one whole chapter on IB vs code – in this chapter create a non-trivial user interface in IB, then do the same thing in code. That would be great in order to figure out what kind of black magic IB is doing in the background.

Anyway, wonderful book, just wanted to provide some feedback.

On the point of IB and its ability to do so much for the coder, is there a book that is specific to IB?

Like Nikolaus said, its a very complicated animal and the only real docs come from books like this where IB is describe whilst building a project.

I haven’t seen anything that talks about IB in its own right.

Hi Nikolaus,

Thanks for the post! We have tried to stay consistent on doing as much as possible in IB and then reverting to code only when necessary and fully explaining why.

If you have specific spots in the book where we are not doing that would you mind posting errata for us so we don’t miss it.

http://www.pragprog.com/titles/amiphd/errata

Thanks again!

@Adrian – I have not personally read a book on IB.

I would also love to see more detail on IB. Apple’s documentation doesn’t go into any depth, leaving you to do trial and error to figure out what the various attribute settings do. I end up using Xcode to do a lot of things just because it’s easier to read the documentation for say the UIButton Class and set my buttons attributes in code than it is fussing about figuring out how to do the same thing in undocumented IB.