There are several cases when you are in need of finding out some underlaying stuff, for example what the MKMapView consist of; in order to modify certain labels, etc. I think there is really no need to talk about it more.

Here is what the header of our category (file UIView+printSubviews.h) looks like:

 
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
 
 
@interface UIView (PrintSubviews)
 
- (void)printSubviewsWithIndentation:(int)indentation;
 
@end

The way of declaring a Category in Objective-C is just great and simple, isn’t it? What’s even better is that our method will work with any subclass of UIView (UIScrollView, MKMapView, UITableView, UIButton – to name a few). Now here comes the actual implementation file (UIView+printSubviews.m):

#import "UIView+printSubviews.h"
 
 
@implementation UIView (PrintSubviews)
 
- (void)printSubviewsWithIndentation:(int)indentation {
 
    // Get all the subviews of the current view
    NSArray *subviews = [self subviews];   
 
    // Loop through the whole subviews array. We are using the plain-old C-like for loop,
    // just for its simplicity and also to be provided with the iteration number
    for (int i = 0; i < [subviews count]; i++) {
 
        // Get the subview at current index
        UIView *currentSubview = [subviews objectAtIndex:i];   
 
        // We will create our description using this mutable string
        NSMutableString *currentViewDescription = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
 
        // Indent the actual description to provide visual clue of  how deeply is the current view nested
        for (int j = 0; j <= indentation; j++) {
            [currentViewDescription appendString:@"   "];
        }
 
        // Construct the actual description string. Note that we are using just index of the current view
        // and name of its class, but it's up to you to print anything you are interested in
        // (for example the frame property using the NSStringFromCGRect(currentSubview.frame) )
        [currentViewDescription appendFormat:@"[%d]: class: '%@'", i, NSStringFromClass([currentSubview class])];
 
        // Log the description string to the console
        NSLog(@"%@", currentViewDescription);
 
        // Be good memory citizen
        [currentViewDescription release];
 
        // the 'recursiveness' nature of this method. Call it on the current subview, with greater indentation
        [currentSubview printSubviewsWithIndentation:indentation+1];
    }
}
 
@end

I guess there is nothing more to explain, really. It’s that simple. Now I will show you an example of usage, along with the output that this method produces. I will call it on an instance of MKMapView with some annotations, one of them selected (therefore displaying the callout view).

Just a note for the less experienced of you: You need to import the header file of this category in each class where you are going to use it, like this:

#import "UIView+printSubviews.h"

then call the -printSubviewsWithIndentation: method on the view you wish to inspect:

NSLog(@"*** Printing out all the subviews of MKMapView ***");
[mapView printSubviewsWithIndentation:0];

and that’s what the output looks like (in my case):

Now you can see all the behind-the-scenes views that the mapView consists of. And the numbers in square brackets in front of every line are exactly what they suggest to be – indexes of the subviews in its superview’s subview array.

You can for example retrieve the MKAnnotationContainerView using the following statement:

UIView *annotationContainerView = [[[[[[mapView subviews] objectAtIndex:0] subviews] objectAtIndex:0] subviews] objectAtIndex:1];

This is of course not very safe. It’s generally not a good idea to depend on the particular order of subviews. So you should always test if the [subviews count] > 0, and perhaps use the NSClassFromString() in a similar manner like this:

    for (UIView *subview in subviews) {
        if ([subview isKindOfClass:NSClassFromString(@"NameOfTheClass")]) {
            // We found the subview that we want
        }
    }

The last thing I wanted to do is to warn you: Apple discourages developers from doing this, because subviews of an UIKit class are considered to be private, and therefore they can change in future updates of the framework. So if you decide to modify or alter any of the subview, you should do it only when there is no other choice. And you should retrieve the view as defensively as possible, and be prepared for the scenarios when the code doesn’t get the view it wanted.

I hope this post was helpful to you guys. You are welcome to point out any weaknesses or suggest any improvements using the comment section below.

But hey, I was a kid. I needed someone to encourage me. And as stupid as it might now sound, I was used to be praised by my parents. But this time, it was obvious they were just being polite, and they didn’t understand from my results what should I be proud of. They did, however, supported me (not only) by buying me a MacBook, which enabled me to start developing apps for iPhone (the thing I was secreatly dreaming of ever since I started with programming). And I want to thank them here, really. Dad and mum, I much appreciate it.

After two and a half months of learning Objective-C, Cocoa and developing my first app Quadratic Master, I’ve finished it and released it. What came next was a freezing-cold shower. The sales were way below my expectations, and I was really disappointed and desperate. A part of me wanted to show others that I am good, and I can accomplish something, but this made me think I am a looser. So what should I do? Stop with it? After getting over the initial deep disappointment, I realized that it would be stupid of me to give up. I still loved programming, there was just a question: What to do next?

In June 2010, I attended iDevcamp, a conference for iPhone developers held by Czech iOS development company Tapmates. Apart from my app being showed as an example of bad design during a presentation (without clarifications why they did so), I’ve met there a guy from Czech television who was looking for an iPhone developer for his business projects. This moment started a work partnership between us that lasted for almost a year and led to two iPhone apps and both of us disappointed, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

As I said, we have done two apps together. There were a lot of complications and birth pains, but we managed to complete both projects (the apps were finished and I got paid). We both then agreed that the partnership wasn’t worth preserving. When I look back at it now, with clear mind, there were two major problems. On his side: he did it mostly for money and the projects we were working on were somewhere near bottom of his priority list; and on my side: I was completely new and inexperienced in this kind of “business” (gosh, why do I hate this word so much?), and therefore making a lot of mistakes mostly in communicating what had to be solved and how. There were a lot more things I disliked about it and I could talk about them for hours, but this article is already awfully long and I haven’t got to the point yet.

So here I was, having a decently topped account but still without a clue what project should I start working on. And now I am finally getting to the point: Even though I managed to earn this money, which I think would make most of the same-aged-as-me people quite proud of themselves, I didn’t consider it a big achievement. And although the very few people I told about it seemed to be impressed, I realized that this is not the reason I am doing it, and it didn’t bring me any particular rewarding feeling. I thought of it just as a useful advantage for my future projects. In the summer holiday 2011, I finally got an idea for app which seemed challenging yet achievable, and I started working on it (and still am working on it at the time of writing this). I am giving it months of my free time, and although the resulting effect is very uncertain, I am working on it because I am passionate about it, and because my instincts are telling me that it is the right thing for me to do. And even if it ends up badly, and I won’t become successful of it, I won’t earn money from it and my friends won’t admire me for it, I will still be happy I managed to finish it. My father sometimes says: “The way is the target”, and I can nothing but agree.

To sum it up, I simply believe that the only way to be truly happy with your work is to love what you do. Success, recognition and money are fine, and everyone likes them, but being dependent on them will eventually lead to disappointment. There won’t be ever enough money or success, because we, human beings, tend to be always dissatisfied with what we currently have. On the other hand, if you realize that you love what you do, you will become much happier with your work, because doing what you love is great, isn’t it? And I believe these enjoyable results of your work will eventually come; just stop chasing them, be patient and love what you do.

• What’s the purpose of this blunt design?
I am going to be totally honest with this one. I had been looking for a designer several times over the last year and a half, but my expectations were high and my budget was low. And even after I managed to earn some money by coding an app for local Czech water company, I still was too busy doing other things and therefore still putting off the actual searching for a talented designer. Another problem is that great designers often don’t choose clients based on offered money, but based on their interest in the particular project. Now if you think that these ‘reasons’ are nothing but plain excuses for my laziness, you are probably right. I’ve decided for this simple ‘design’ mostly because I couldn’t wait to start writing any longer.

• What’s next?
I have plenty of interesting ideas I want to share with you guys, so don’t forget to add this blog to your RSS reader. On the other hand, I don’t want to make any promises regarding the frequency, length or topics of the upcoming posts. I’ve learned over the time that making promises often leads to breaking them, so it’s usually better to not promise at all. I do, however, want to make a commitment here to one rule: I won’t alter the blog posts once they are published (except correcting grammar mistakes). Opinions tend to change over time, but changing their past is definitely not a good idea. After all, you can’t change your life decisions either.
The last thing I would like to say is “Thank you”. Really, it’s astonishing you made it through the whole text without getting bored and leaving. I am open to any kind of constructive criticism, just please keep in mind when choosing the tone of your language that you are a human being. (No offense).
I don’t know what you think of it, but speaking for myself I have a special feeling that this is the beginning of a wonderful journey..