Adding a custom subview (created in a xib) to a view controller's view - What am I doing wrong

You need to load it using the -loadNibNamed method. -initWithNibName is only for UIViewControllers.

Add the following code to your MyCustomView init method:

NSArray *subviewArray = [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:@"MyCustomView" owner:self options:nil];
UIView *mainView = [subviewArray objectAtIndex:0];
[self addSubview:mainView];

Remember, if you are initializing an object from a nib, it calls - (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder to initialize, so you'll have to override that if you are creating the MyCustomView object within the nib. If you're just doing it with initWithFrame:, then just override that and add the code above. Also, in your nib, make sure you have one top-level UIView, and place all other elements within that (that makes sure that your subviewArray only has one entry).

This will load the views from the nib and add them to the object, and should do the trick.

I think you need to use this method:

- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil;

This is because you need to pass it the .xib filename in the "nibNameOrNil".