You might find it interesting in this thread to compare the actual  
contents of a Carbon nib with a Cocoa nib. In Panther and Tiger this  
is accomplished from the command line with nibtool, and in Leopard  
with ibtool.

A nib is simply an XML document and can be saved as either text or  
binary-- the latter of which offers slightly faster execution at the  
cost of being human readable.

As in illustration, supppose you have the owners manual for a Dodge  
Grand Caravan. That manual tells you the description, location and  
purpose of all that vehicle's controls. Now suppose you sell the  
Caravan and purchase Honda Odyssey. Will the Caravan's owners manual  
be of much help? After all, the Odyssey also has a steering wheel,  
cruise control, antilock brake system, spare tire, fues box, etc. But  
the problem is that the design of the two vehicles is totally  
different and the Caravan manual will be worthless for operation of  
the Odyssey.

Hence the difference between Carbon and Cocoa nibs. They are XML  
instruction sheets for different beasts. To a Carbon application  
Cocoa instructions are worthless, and vice versa.

I created two nibs, one called carbon.nib, and the other cocoa.nib,  
in their respective Xcode environments. In each nib I stripped out  
the menu bar leaving simply a window with a button. Screenshots for  
each are attached. Below are the XML instructions of the two nibs--  
Carbon first followed by Cocoa-- saved in ASCII text.

HTH,

Ken


BTW: For FB RAD, TWM still can't be beat in my book.


-------------- CARBON NIB XML CONTENTS ----------------


Last login: Mon Jun 23 22:15:28 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
[Tiger:~] ken% nibtool -a /Users/ken/Desktop/carbon.nib/
/* Objects */
Objects = {

     "Object 1" = {
         Class = "NSCustomObject";
         CustomClass = "NSApplication";
         Name = "Files Owner";
         className = "NSApplication";
     };

     "Object 166" = {
         Class = "IBCarbonWindow";
         CustomClass = "NSWindow";
         Name = "MainWindow";
         allowsToolTipsWhenApplicationIsInactive = "0";
         autoPositionMask = "0";
         autorecalculatesKeyViewLoop = "0";
         backingType = "2";
         carbonWindowClass = "6";
         classID = "<null>";
         className = "NSWindow";
         compositing = "1";
         contentRect = "{{422, 522}, {300, 150}}";
         deferred = "1";
         doesNotCycle = "0";
         dynamicDepthLimit = "0";
         frameAutosaveName = "<null>";
         hasCloseBox = "1";
         hasCollapseBox = "1";
         hasHorizontalZoom = "1";
         hasMaxSize = "0";
         hasMinSize = "0";
         hasShadow = "1";
         hasSideTitle = "0";
         hasVerticalZoom = "1";
         helpTagDisplaySide = "0";
         helpTagExtendedText = "<null>";
         helpTagText = "<null>";
         hideOnFullScreen = "0";
         hideOnSuspend = "0";
         hidesOnDeactivate = "0";
         ignoreClicks = "0";
         inWindowMenu = "1";
         isConstrained = "0";
         isLockedIBObject = "0";
         isResizable = "1";
         liveResize = "1";
         maxSize = "{2.14748e+09, 2.14748e+09}";
         metal = "0";
         minSize = "{0, 22}";
         noMetalContentSeparator = "0";
         oneShot = "1";
         opaqueForEvents = "0";
         parameters = "<null>";
         receiveActivates = "1";
         receiveUpdates = "0";
         releasedWhenClosed = "0";
         standardHandler = "1";
         styleMask = "15";
         themeBrush = "0";
         title = "Carbon Window";
         toolbarButton = "0";
         visibleAtLaunch = "0";
         wantsToBeColor = "0";
         windowPosition = "7";
     };

     "Object 167" = {
         Class = "IBCarbonRootControl";
         autoresizingMask = "0";
         focusRingType = "0";
         frameRect = "{{0, 0}, {300, 150}}";
         groupedIBObjectID = "<null>";
         isHidden = "0";
         isLockedIBObject = "0";
     };

     "Object 200" = {
         Class = "IBCarbonButton";
         autoresizingMask = "0";
         auxiliaryDictionary = "<null>";
         buttonType = "0";
         command = "0";
         contentResID = "0";
         contentType = "0";
         controlID = "0";
         controlSignature = "0";
         controlSize = "0";
         controlTitle = "Button";
         enabled = "1";
         fieldEditor = "0";
         focusRingType = "0";
         fontStyle = "9999";
         foreColor = "<null>";
         frameRect = "{{206, 12}, {80, 32}}";
         groupedIBObjectID = "<null>";
         helpTagDisplaySide = "0";
         helpTagExtendedText = "<null>";
         helpTagText = "<null>";
         hidden = "0";
         iconPosition = "6";
         isHidden = "0";
         isLockedIBObject = "0";
         justification = "0";
         layoutInfoCopy = "<IBCarbonHILayoutInfo: 0x3d79d0>";
         layoutSuspended = "0";
     };

}; /* End Objects */

/* Object Hierarchy */
Hierarchy = {
     "Object 1 <NSCustomObject> (Files Owner)" = {
         "Object -1 <IBFirstResponder> (First Responder)";
         "Object 166 <IBCarbonWindow> (MainWindow)" = {
             "Object 167 <IBCarbonRootControl>" = {
                 "Object 200 <IBCarbonButton>";
             };
         };
     };
}; /* End Hierarchy */

/* Connections */
Connections = {
}; /* End Connections */

/* Classes */
Classes = {IBClasses = (); IBVersion = 1; }; /* End Classes */




-------------- COCOA NIB XML CONTENTS ----------------


Last login: Mon Jun 23 22:22:20 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
[Tiger:~] ken% nibtool -a /Users/ken/Desktop/cocoa.nib/
/* Objects */
Objects = {

     "Object 1" = {
         Class = "NSCustomObject";
         CustomClass = "NSApplication";
         Name = "File's Owner";
         className = "NSApplication";
     };

     "Object 2" = {
         Class = "NSView";
         autoresizingMask = "0";
         focusRingType = "0";
         frameRect = "{{1, 9}, {300, 150}}";
         groupedIBObjectID = "<null>";
         isHidden = "0";
         isLockedIBObject = "0";
     };

     "Object 21" = {
         Class = "NSWindowTemplate";
         CustomClass = "NSWindow";
         Name = "Window";
         allowsToolTipsWhenApplicationIsInactive = "0";
         autoPositionMask = "5";
         autorecalculatesKeyViewLoop = "0";
         backingType = "2";
         className = "NSWindow";
         contentRect = "{{374, 549}, {300, 150}}";
         deferred = "1";
         dynamicDepthLimit = "0";
         frameAutosaveName = "<null>";
         hasShadow = "1";
         hidesOnDeactivate = "0";
         isLockedIBObject = "0";
         maxSize = "{3.40282e+38, 3.40282e+38}";
         minSize = "{213, 129}";
         oneShot = "1";
         releasedWhenClosed = "0";
         styleMask = "14";
         title = "Cocoa Window";
         visibleAtLaunch = "1";
         wantsToBeColor = "0";
     };

     "Object 248" = {
         Class = "NSButton";
         Name = "NSButton";
         alignment = "2";
         allowsMixedState = "0";
         alternateImageName = "<null>";
         autoresizingMask = "12";
         bezelStyle = "1";
         bordered = "1";
         continuous = "0";
         controlSize = "0";
         enabled = "1";
         focusRingType = "0";
         font = "{name = System Font; pointSize = 13}";
         frameRect = "{{204, 12}, {82, 32}}";
         groupedIBObjectID = "<null>";
         iBAlternateTitle = "";
         iBBorderType = "1";
         iBButtonBehavior = "2";
         iBButtonType = "1";
         iBTitle = "Button";
         imageName = "<null>";
         imagePosition = "0";
         inset = "2";
         isHidden = "0";
         isLockedIBObject = "0";
         keyEquivalent = "";
         keyEquivalentModifierMask = "0";
         soundName = "<null>";
         state = "0";
         tag = "0";
         transparent = "0";
     };

}; /* End Objects */

/* Object Hierarchy */
Hierarchy = {
     "Object 1 <NSCustomObject> (File's Owner)" = {
         "Object -1 <IBFirstResponder> (First Responder)";
         "Object 21 <NSWindowTemplate> (Window)" = {
             "Object 2 <NSView>" = {
                 "Object 248 <NSButton> (NSButton)";
             };
         };
     };
}; /* End Hierarchy */

/* Connections */
Connections = {
}; /* End Connections */

/* Classes */
Classes = {
     IBClasses = ({CLASS = FirstResponder; LANGUAGE = ObjC;  
SUPERCLASS = NSObject; });
     IBVersion = 1;
}; /* End Classes */

Attachments: