What is the difference between UITabBar and UITabBarController?

Question

What is the difference between UITabBar and UITabBarController? When is it more beneficial to use one over the other?

Answer 1

A view is an object that knows how to display data to a user and accept user input. A controller is an object that knows what data to display to a user and what to do with user input. A UITabBar is a UIView is a view. It knows how to display a list of tabs to the user, and how to display feedback to the user when the user interacts with the tabs. A UITabBarController is a UIViewController is a controller. It knows what tabs to display to the user, and what to do when the user chooses a tab.

If you have written your own controller object, you can hook a UITabBar up to your controller. If you have not, then a UITabBarController is a convenient base class from which you can derive your controller.