---

Application Interface Basics

You use Interface Builder to assemble the visual objects (such as windows and menus) that you plan to use in your application. Creating these objects graphically (instead of programmatically) lets you make changes quickly and see the results immediately. Before you start trying to build your user interface, however, you should take a minute to understand the basic concepts associated with the Interface Builder application.

In Interface Builder, you assemble your windows and menus by dragging preconfigured components into your Interface Builder document. You can reposition those objects and change their configuration as needed to achieve the desired look for your interface. In the case of Cocoa applications, you can also create explicit relationships between objects in the form of connections, which ultimately define some of your application’s runtime behavior as well.

This chapter provides a high-level overview of Interface Builder and some of its more important workflow features. This chapter also provides some conceptual information about nib files and why they are important. If you are new to the Mac OS X platform or to Interface Builder itself, you should read this chapter at least once to familiarize yourself with these fundamental concepts. While reading this chapter, you may want to have the Interface Builder application open so that you can explore features as you read about them.

Contents:

Nib Files and the Nib Document Window
Interface Builder Workflow Tools
Common Behaviors and Paradigms
Xcode Integration
Scripting Language Support

---