Learning Cocoa

Create the Currency Converter Interface

Currency Converter’s interface is really quite simple, consisting of a few text fields and a button. However, the process of creating it will give you an opportunity to explore some of the object layout tools available in Interface Builder that make it a joy to use.

Open the Main Nib File

Begin by creating an application’s user interface in Interface Builder.

1. Locate MainMenu.nib in the Resources group in Project Builder.

2. Double-click to open it. This will open Interface Builder and bring up the nib file.

A default menu bar and window titled Window will appear when the nib file is open.

Resize the Window

In this section you’ll change the size of the application’s main window to accommodate the UI objects to be added.

1. Using Figure 7.4 as a guide, make the window smaller by dragging an edge of the bottom-right corner of the window inward.

   

   Figure 7-4. Currency Converter’s main window

   You can resize the window more precisely by using the Size menu of the Window Info window.

2. Choose Show Info from the Tools menu.

3. Select Size from the pop-up menu.

4. In the Content Rect area, select Width/Height from the righthand pop-up menu. In the text fields under the Width/Height menu, type 400 in the width (w) field and 200 in the height (h) field as shown in Figure 7.5.

   Figure 7-5. The Window Info window

Set the Window’s Title and Attributes

While the Info window is ...