Custom NSTableView with custom NSTableCellView? - objective-c

Question

I would like to create an NSTableview with custom NSTableCellViews.
Here is what I have right now:
A nib file for the cell (view nib) called CustomCell.xib
A custom class for my cell called CustomCell
And the code in my AppDelegate.m:
Here I create my table view programmatically:
NSScrollView *tableContainer = [[NSScrollView alloc]initWithFrame:NSMakeRect(self.window.frame.size.width-TABLEWIDTH, 0, TABLEWIDTH, self.window.frame.size.height)];
NSTableView *tableView = [[NSTableView alloc] initWithFrame:NSMakeRect(self.window.frame.size.width-TABLEWIDTH, 0, TABLEWIDTH, self.window.frame.size.height)];
NSTableColumn *firstColumn = [[[NSTableColumn alloc] initWithIdentifier:#"firstColumn"] autorelease];
[[firstColumn headerCell] setStringValue:#"First Column"];
[tableView addTableColumn:firstColumn];
tableView.dataSource = self;
tableView.delegate = self;
[tableContainer setDocumentView:tableView];
tableContainer.autoresizingMask = NSViewHeightSizable | NSViewMinXMargin;
[self.window.contentView addSubview: tableContainer];
And here is the delegate method where I would like to put my custom cell code:
- (NSView *)tableView:(NSTableView *)tableView viewForTableColumn:(NSTableColumn *)tableColumn row:(NSInteger)row {
// In IB the tableColumn has the identifier set to the same string as the keys in our dictionary
NSString *identifier = [tableColumn identifier];
if ([identifier isEqualToString:#"myCell"]) {
// We pass us as the owner so we can setup target/actions into this main controller object
CustomCell *cellView = [tableView makeViewWithIdentifier:identifier owner:self];
// Then setup properties on the cellView based on the column
cellView.textField.stringValue = #"Name";
return cellView;
}
return nil;
}
In the nib file for my custom cell I have hooked up the cell view with my custom class called CustomCell which subclasses NSTableCellView. I have not done any other steps as for now. So my CustomCell.m is just default initialization code. I haven't touched it. And I did not do anything else in my nib file, so I did not change file's owner or anything like that because I don't really know what to do.
Can anyone help out ? I looked at sample files from the Apple documentation, but after days of researching I have not found any solutions. I would really appreciate if you could help me.

Answer 1

This is what I ended up doing :
Of course you have to subclass NSTableCellView and return it like I did below. If you are familiar with table views in iOS you should be familiar with methods like:
- (NSInteger)numberOfRowsInTableView:(NSTableView *)tableView{
//this will be called first. It will tell the table how many cells your table view will have to display
return [arrayToDisplay count];
}
- (NSView *)tableView:(NSTableView *)tableView viewForTableColumn:(NSTableColumn *)tableColumn row:(NSInteger)row {
//this is called after the count of rows is set. It will populate your table according to the data your array to display contains
[tableView setTarget:self];
[tableView setAction:#selector(click)];
NSString *identifier = [tableColumn identifier];
if ([identifier isEqualToString:#"TheCell"]) {
CustomCell *cellView = [tableView makeViewWithIdentifier:identifier owner:self];
cellView.cellText.stringValue = [arrayToDisplay objectAtIndex:row];
return cellView;
}
return nil;
}
And the click method that is triggered when a row is selected would look like this:
-(void)click{
int index = [table selectedRow];
// Do something with your data
//e.g
[[arrayToDisplay objectAtIndex:index] findHiggsBoson];
}
And something that has to be added to the NSTableView:
NSTableColumn *column = [[NSTableColumn alloc] initWithIdentifier:#"column"];
column.width = self.frame.size.width;
[tableView addTableColumn:column];

Answer 2

You do not need to subclass NSTableView to have custom NSTableViewCell subclasses.
You might consider using a view-based Table View also...