How does one access subviews and handle groups of them?

Question

1. If I want to manipulate a view I get it with [self viewWithTag:5];. Is there a better way to do this?

2. Sometimes I need to manipulate a bunch of view (e.g. move them all out of the way. I do this by adding a UIView (e.g. UIView iHoldViews) and then adding the views, buttons, etc to this view. Then I can move the iHoldViews view and all its subviews move with it. Is there a better way to do this? (I have a feeling there is :) Maybe storing them in a NSArray or NSMutableDictionary ?

Answer 1

1. For views you need frequently, it is recommended to have ivars for them. Wire them up in InterfaceBuilder or in code.

2. Both ways (via a view or a collection) are possible. If they are visually grouped, I'd use a UIView, if they build different units that just happen to be moved together, a collection would make more sense. Non-opaque views have a performance hit, so this might be a consideration if you have evidence that you are too slow.