Constructor in a subclass of UIView?

Question

I have generated an application based on the Utility App template for Iphone. In my MainView class I have written som initialisation code that isn't called:
- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
if (self = [super initWithFrame:frame]) {
NSLog(@"MainView instanse initialised");
// Initialization code
NSLog(@"MainView instanse initialised");
return self;
None of the log messages appears, how is UIView being initialised?
Thomas

Answer 1

init will never be called, because the constructor for UIView is initWithFrame. If you create a UIView-subclass object then you will do so by calling alloc on the class and then initWithFrame on the result of alloc.
On the other hand, if you are relying on the object coming into existence because it was specified in Interface Builder, then the object isn't, conceptually, being created at all when your program starts. The idea is that Interface Builder created the object, archived it to the NIB file, and your program is now un-archiving it from there.
Your awakeFromNib method is called after the object has been un-archived from the NIB file. I've tended to use this on the Mac; on the iPhone I've tended to use the UIViewController's viewDidLoad method instead.
Here is what the documentation has to say on the subject of awakeFromNib:
+During the instantiation process, each object in the archive is unarchived and then initialized with the method befitting its type. Objects that conform to the NSCoding protocol (including all subclasses of UIView and UIViewController) are initialized using their initWithCoder: method. All objects that do not conform to the NSCoding protocol are initialized using their init method. After all objects have been instantiated and initialized, the nib-loading code reestablishes the outlet and action connections for all of those objects. It then calls the awakeFromNib method of the objects. For more detailed information about the steps followed during the nib-loading process, see Nib Files and Cocoa in Resource Programming Guide.+
The "Nib Files and Cocoa" article is long and complex and, as far as subclasses of UIView are concerned, untrue.