why wont it recognize the @properties from header file from main file?

Question

UIView.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface UIView : UIResponder {
    IBOutlet UILabel *endLabel;
    IBOutlet UIButton *goButton;
    IBOutlet UITextField *textBox1;
    IBOutlet UITextField *textBox2;

    @property(nonatomic, retain) UILabel *endLabel;
    @property(nonatomic, retain) UIButton *goButton;
    @property(nonatomic, retain) UITextField *textBox1;
    @property(nonatomic, retain) UITextField *textBox2;
}
- (IBAction)goButtonClicked;
@end

UIView.m

#import "UIView.h"

@implementation UIView

@synthesize textBox1, goButton;
@synthesize textBox2, goButton;
@synthesize textBox1, endLabel;
@synthesize textBox2, endLabel;
@synthesize goButton, endLabel;

- (IBAction)goButtonClicked {

}

@end

Answer 1

Going a bit crazy with the @synthesizes, are we? I do believe that your main problem here is that @property declarations need to be after the closing } of @interface.

I'm surprised the compiler didn't throw up a red flag the size of Greenland, tho'.

Additionally, you probably meant to make a custom subclass of UIView; I'll use MyView.

//MyView.m -- correct synthesize declaration
@synthesize textBox1, goButton, textBox2, endLabel;

//MyView.h -- correct interface declaration
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface MyView : UIView {
  IBOutlet UILabel *endLabel;
  IBOutlet UITextField *textBox1;
  IBOutlet UITextField *textBox2;
  IBOutlet UIButton *goButton;
}

@property(nonatomic, retain) UIButton *goButton;
@property(nonatomic, retain) UILabel *endLabel;
@property(nonatomic, retain) UITextField *textBox1;
@property(nonatomic, retain) UITextField *textBox2;

@end

Answer 2

The first problem is that you're naming your class UIView, which already exists in UIKit. See @Williham's advice on resolving this.

You only need one @synthesize per property, and when the property name matches the instance variable name, you should only need to do something like this in your .m file:

@synthesize endLabel;
@synthesize goButton;
@synthesize textBox1;
@synthesize textBox2;

Also, you're likely to run into problems getting your IBAction method to work. To use a method for a target-action linkage, it must have a return type of IBAction (which you have correct) and accept an id parameter representing the sender. The canonical method signature looks like this:

- (IBAction) goButtonClicked:(id)sender;

I'd actually recommend a method name that's not explicitly tied to the button that invokes it, especially since there could be other ways to invoke the same action. (For example, if you were writing a desktop application, a key equivalent or menu command could do the same thing.)