If you create a universal ios app in xcode and want to position elements in the code instead of the interface builder then how do you do that.
I mean do you just use iphone positioning and xcode scales it up for ipads or what?
Any graphics you can have normal and retina version. MyImage.png and [email protected] and the system will use the right one. But for all other positioning you're on your own if you're not using interface builder.
Take a look at - (void)viewDidLayoutSubviews and the various resize mask settings for your UI elements.
Many apps check the size of the display and/or use idiom to determine the basic layout needs and calculating. There's a huge difference of size from an older iPhone and fullsize iPad so simply scaling everything up is not a good approach. Better to layout according to if it's an iPad and and Iphone and to take into account the real screen dimensions.