Cocoa Application Template - MainMenu.xib - Main Window

Question

Hey there,

When you create a new application in Xcode, it automatically creates a AppDelegate and a MainMenu.xib. The latter also contains the application main window, which is linked to the AppDelegate as an IBOutlet.

What I tried to do is, use a MainWindow from a different xib-file. However, there's absolutely nothing I can do to prevent Cocoa from showing the first window it created in the first place, even if I remove the IBOutlet link and comment it out in the source file and what not...

Hope someone can explain this, as it has been bugging me for a while now...

Answer 1

Whether or not a window in a XIB is shown at launch is not controlled by an explicit code, but instead controlled by the state of the window "freeze-dried" in the XIB.

More concretely, in an inspector of an NSWindow in the Interface Builder, you have the option called Visible at launch under the heading Behavior. When the Cocoa system loads a nib and encounters a window with this bit on, it just shows it on the screen. It's independent of whether you have IBOutlet or not. You see, it's also the Cocoa system which sets UI objects to IBOutlets when it loads a nib... it can do whatever it wants.