Creating Xcode Project Without Storyboards - cobocombo/Scriptit-Core GitHub Wiki

Create Default Xcode Project

Start Xcode application and select Create New Project.

Select "iOS", "App" and then "Next".

Enter project settings. Verify interface is storyboard and language is swift. Hit "Next".

Select a directory to save the project and hit "Create".

Remove Main.storyboard

Delete the Main.storyboard file and make sure you select the "Move to trash" option to completely remove it.

Remove Reference To Main.storyboard From Deployment Info

Go to the "Build Settings" tab and search for the "UIKit Main Storyboard File Base Name" key. Then remove the key or set the value to empty.

Remove Info.plist Storyboard Name Key

Open your Info.plist.
Click the arrow at the leftmost of Application Scene Manifest (UIApplicationSceneManifest) key to expand.
Click the arrow at the leftmost of Scene Configuration (UISceneConfigurations) key to expand.
Click the arrow at the leftmost of Application Session Role (UIWindowSceneSessionRoleApplication) key to expand.
Click the arrow at the leftmost of First Item (Item 0) key to expand.
Remove the key Storyboard Name (UISceneStoryboardFile).

Create The Main Window

We need to initialize window and set the rootViewController manually. We do this in in the SceneDelegate.swift.
Change the following function from this:

func scene(_ scene: UIScene, willConnectTo session: UISceneSession, options connectionOptions: UIScene.ConnectionOptions) {
    guard let _ = (scene as? UIWindowScene) else { return }
}

To this:

func scene(_ scene: UIScene, willConnectTo session: UISceneSession, options connectionOptions: UIScene.ConnectionOptions) {
    guard let windowScene = (scene as? UIWindowScene) else { return }
  
    let window = UIWindow(windowScene: windowScene)
    window.rootViewController = ViewController()   
    window.makeKeyAndVisible()
    self.window = window
}

In ViewController.swift, modify the viewDidLoad method to change the background color to red. This is to verify our changes actually work:

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    self.view.backgroundColor = .red;
  }

Launch App In Simulator

Launching the app in the simulator should show your view controller with a red background: