05.01.2013 Views

Mac OS X Leopard - ARCAism

Mac OS X Leopard - ARCAism

Mac OS X Leopard - ARCAism

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

The Library<br />

When you tire of playing with the default text field, you’re ready to check out the plethora of<br />

interface elements available in Interface Builder’s Library panel. The Library panel’s Objects tab<br />

is divided into three sections, as shown in Figure 25-12.<br />

Figure 25-12. Interface Builder’s Library window<br />

CHAPTER 25 MAC <strong>OS</strong> X DEVELOPMENT: THE TOOLS 463<br />

The first section is a group list, which contains groups and sometimes subgroups of objects.<br />

The second section is an object list containing the objects available in the selected group. The<br />

third section simply contains a description of any object selected in the object list.<br />

There are some cool tricks you can do with the Library panel. By dragging the divider<br />

between the group list and the object list all the way to the top of panel, the group list will<br />

become a pop-up. You can also group the object list by selecting Show Group Banners from the<br />

customization (Gear) pop-up menu on the bottom of the panel. You can also set up custom<br />

groups from the Gear menu.<br />

The Gear menu will also let you change the display style of the object list. The default is to<br />

simply show representative icons. You can also chose to display the name of the object with<br />

those icons, or to display the icon, its name, and a brief description, making the description section<br />

unnecessary. You can collapse the description section by dragging the divider between it and<br />

the object list all the way to the bottom of the panel.<br />

To use objects in the library, simply drag them from the Library panel to your interface window.<br />

There are a surprising number of objects at your disposal, as shown in Figure 25-13.<br />

In general, objects in the library fall into several general categories:<br />

Menus: This category includes menus and common menu items used in the application’s<br />

menu bar. Custom menu items can also be used in other menu types, such as pop-up<br />

menus.<br />

Toolbars: This category includes toolbars and common toolbar items, as well as a custom<br />

toolbar item.<br />

Windows: This category includes standard, textured, and heads-up display windows,<br />

auxiliary panels, and a special compound item that will create a window with an auxiliary<br />

drawer.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!