Using nibs and storyboards together

Question

From what I have read on the internet, nibs and storyboards are comparable with each other in the same project. Now I am creating a tabbed application and would like to do the following:

Tab 1: constructed with nibs,

Tab 2: constructed with storyboards,

Tab 3: constructed with nibs

Initially I created everything with nibs so in my delegate I was passing from one tab to the next with this code:

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
    self.window = [[[UIWindow alloc] initWithFrame:[[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]] autorelease];
    // Override point for customization after application launch.
    UIViewController *viewController1, *viewController2, *viewController3;
    if ([[UIDevice currentDevice] userInterfaceIdiom] == UIUserInterfaceIdiomPhone) {
        viewController1 = [[[FirstViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"FirstViewController_iPhone" bundle:nil] autorelease];
        viewController2 = [[[SecondViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"SecondViewController_iPhone" bundle:nil] autorelease];
        viewController3 = [[[ThirdViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"ThirdViewController_iPhone" bundle:nil] autorelease];
    } else {
        viewController1 = [[[FirstViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"FirstViewController_iPad" bundle:nil] autorelease];
        viewController2 = [[[SecondViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"SecondViewController_iPad" bundle:nil] autorelease];
        viewController3 = [[[ThirdViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"ThirdViewController_iPad" bundle:nil] autorelease];

    }
    self.tabBarController = [[[UITabBarController alloc] init] autorelease];
    self.tabBarController.viewControllers = @[viewController1, viewController2, viewController3];
    self.window.rootViewController = self.tabBarController;
    [self.window makeKeyAndVisible];
    return YES;



}

Instead of having the SecondViewController_.xib I need to have the SecondViewController_.storyboard. How do I do this? Can I just change the name "SecondViewController_.nib" to "SecondViewController_.storyboard"? I don't think this would work..

Any help would be very appreciated!!

EDIT: the code i was using :

- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil {
    self = [super initWithNibName:nibNameOrNil bundle:nibBundleOrNil];
    if (self) {
        self.title = NSLocalizedString(@"Events", @"Events");
        self.tabBarItem.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"second"];
    }
    return self; }

Answer 1

You could do what you're suggesting by creating a storyboard and then creating a SecondViewController scene inside it. In code, you would then replace initWithNibName: with calls to storyboardWithName: and instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:.

However, since a major feature in storyboards is the ability to tie multiple controllers together and define relationships between them, it's hard to imagine why doing it for one controller would be a good idea.

Answer 2

As Phillip said, just use instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier.

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
    self.window = [[[UIWindow alloc] initWithFrame:[[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]] autorelease];
    // Override point for customization after application launch.
    UIViewController *viewController1, *viewController2, *viewController3;
    UIStoryboard *storyboard;
    if ([[UIDevice currentDevice] userInterfaceIdiom] == UIUserInterfaceIdiomPhone) {
        viewController1 = [[[FirstViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"FirstViewController_iPhone" bundle:nil] autorelease];
        storyboard      = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"iPhone" bundle:nil];
        viewController2 = [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"Second"];
        viewController3 = [[[ThirdViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"ThirdViewController_iPhone" bundle:nil] autorelease];
    } else {
        viewController1 = [[[FirstViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"FirstViewController_iPad" bundle:nil] autorelease];
        storyboard      = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"iPad" bundle:nil];
        viewController2 = [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"Second"];
        viewController3 = [[[ThirdViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"ThirdViewController_iPad" bundle:nil] autorelease];

    }
    self.tabBarController = [[[UITabBarController alloc] init] autorelease];
    self.tabBarController.viewControllers = @[viewController1, viewController2, viewController3];
    self.window.rootViewController = self.tabBarController;
    [self.window makeKeyAndVisible];
    return YES;
}

This assumes that your storyboards were called iPhone.storyboard and iPad.storyboard, but change the above code to match whatever you call these two storyboards. Furthermore, this again assumes that you defined that scene to bear a "Storyboard ID" of Second (you do that by selecting the view controller in IB and going to the "Identity Inspector") and also that you specified your "custom class" there, too:

---

For SecondViewController, you should replace you initWithNibName:bundle: method with:

- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder
{
    self = [super initWithCoder:aDecoder];

    if (self) {
        self.title = NSLocalizedString(@"Events", @"Events");
        self.tabBarItem.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"second"];
    }

    return self; 
}