I'm trying to initialize the values inside a view (created inside a nib file) programmatically.
I'll try to do a little briefing of my scenario:
I've got a nib file, with a view inside. This view has some items (TextViews, CheckBox, etc)
This view is pretended to be a template of the inclusion of new data to my program (it's not the main view). Here is the view's windows initialization:
NewWindow = [[NSWindow alloc] initWithContentRect:frame
styleMask:( NSBorderlessWindowMask| NSClosableWindowMask | NSTitledWindowMask)
backing:NSBackingStoreBuffered
defer:NO];
[NewWindow setIsVisible:NO];
[NewWindow setReleasedWhenClosed:NO];
[NewWindow setBackgroundColor:[NSColor windowBackgroundColor]];
[NewWindow setContentView: MyView];
[NewWindow setDelegate:self];
I call the windows making it visible.
MyView is a IBOutlet connect to the nib's view. This view is a modified NSView, and it got it's own class file.
Everything on the view (IBOutlets) is connected and working properly (I know because when, for example, I click a button, the action related to it work just fine).
I created a initialization method on MyViews class, to initialize the template's fields according to my needs. I call the initialize like this:
[MyView initialize:InitClass];
My problem I'm facing is, this MyView object is not the same as the one inside the nib file, even with all connections (IBOutlets) connected. Then, when I run this method, nothing happens (as the initialize method is trying to change the value of unallocated fields).
I have included some NSLog to see my objects address, and confirmed that the one on the nib file is not the same as the one on the IBOutlet
I'm creating this IBOutlet property like this:
#property (assign) IBOutlet MyNewView *MyView;
Does anyone knows how to solve this problem?
You should never call viewWillMoveToWindow:. It's an information lifetime event.
It doesn't seem like you're showing enough code. I don't see any evidence that you're loading the nib. Naturally if you instantiate the MyView by calling [[MyView alloc] init] or similar, that's a different MyView. If you want your outlet to point to the one in the nib you need to load the nib with yourself as owner.
Related
Here's what i did.
Make a clean OSX project.
went to main.xib and dragged a popover controller. This created 2 visible objects on on interface builder.
I went to the appDelegate.h file and did
`-#Property (assign) IBOutlet NSViewController *popVC;
Then i went to the applicationDidFinishLaunching: method and did
popVC = [[NSViewController alloc] init];
Result: I get the following error message:
Shouldnt objects on a nib be weak since it is already owned by the nib?
Outlets to view controllers should be strong. The NIB doesn't own the objects, its just an archive. Outlets to views should usually be weak but that's because the view is retained by its superview (the superview is usually retained by its view controller).
As an aside, you shouldn't be doing:
popVC = [[NSViewController alloc] init];
Because popVC is being unarchived, created and set when the NIB is loaded. By creating and setting an instance yourself you're throwing the NIB version away. This applies to all outlets - the purpose of an outlet I'd to be filled in when a NIB is loaded.
I have a UIViewController (StoreViewController), and in it's .xib is a UITableView to the left, and a standard UIView to the right. I have created a UITableViewController called StoreTableController and want to somehow make it the the controller of the table view within the StoreView.xib.
Unfortunately, I need to keep the File Owner of the nib file as StoreViewController. I have a delegate within the StoreTableController which has been set as the StoreViewController (this is for calling certain methods), and within the StoreViewController I have an instance of the StoreTableController.
So far I have tried keeping an outlet of the UITableView within StoreViewController and then doing this:
[self addChildViewController:self.tableController];
[self.tableController setTableView:self.table];
[self.table setDataSource:self.tableController];
[self.table setDelegate:self.tableController];
Where self.table is the outlet, and self.tableController is the instance of the StoreTableController.
However, I do not fully understand how to use UIViewController containment, so this is obviously incorrect.
I have tried variations of this as well, but really don't know what to do.
I have avoided using a UISplitViewController here because not only is the left view larger than the right, but also there are various things I plan to do which mean this must be done in a single .xib file if possible.
Any help is very much appreciated.
First, put a regular UIView instead of a UIScrollView in your .xib. Connect it with an IBOutlet called "tableContentView".
Then, create a new instance of UITableViewController (or your custom class, derived from UITableViewController) in your code, and add its UIView to the tableContentView like so:
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Add tableView
UITableViewController *someTableViewController = [[UITableViewController alloc] init];
someTableViewController.view.frame = self.tableContentView.bounds;
someTableViewController.view.autoresizingMask = UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleHeight | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleWidth;
[self.tableContentView addSubview:someTableViewController.view];
}
I am creating some sample applications to understand the concepts of view navigation, binding etc in cocoa.
Here is the scenario:
I have a window that has a tab view(2 tabs) in MainMenu.Xib.
I have a text field in the first tab and label in the second tab. I want both of them to reflect the same value and I want to do this using binding. Also, I don't want to use the views provided to me along with the tab view.
These are the steps I have done.
The view of each tab view item is set separately in the applicationDidFinishLaunching: method using the following code:
- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)aNotification
{
// Insert code here to initialize your application
//initialize view controllers
view1=[[ViewTab1 alloc] initWithNibName:#"ViewTab1" bundle:nil];
view2=[[ViewTab2 alloc] initWithNibName:#"ViewTab2" bundle:nil];
//set views
[[[myTabView tabViewItems] objectAtIndex:0]setView:view1.view];
[[[myTabView tabViewItems] objectAtIndex:1]setView:view2.view];
}
myTabView is the outlet reference of the tab view from MainMenu.xib in AppDelegate.
ViewTab1 is the name of the first view controller (and the xib).
ViewTab2 is the name of the second view controller (and the xib).
ViewTab1 has one single text field (and an associated label). I have bound this to a variable(name) declared in AppDelegate.
ViewTab2 has a label. I have bound this also to the same variable in AppDelegate.
The variable, 'name' is initialized in the init method of AppDelegate.
AppDelegate.h
....
NSString *name;
....
#property(strong) ViewTab1 *view1;
#property(strong) ViewTab2 *view2;
#property (assign) IBOutlet NSTabView *myTabView;
#property (strong) NSString *name;
....
AppDelegate.m
....
#synthesize myTabView;
#synthesize view1,view2;
#synthesize name;
....
- (id)init {
self = [super init];
if (self) {
name=#"dummy";
}
return self;
....
Apart from this I haven't done any coding in my program.
In the ViewTab1.xib I got an object and made it an instance of AppDelegate and then connected the delegate reference of the Application object(NSApplication) to the same object. (I hope this is the right way of getting the AppDelegate object.)
I did the same in ViewTab2.xib
Then I bound the text field in ViewTab1 and label in ViewTab2 to this variable in AppDelegate.
When I run the program both the text field and label shows "dummy". But when I change the value in the text field, its not reflected in the label in the second tab( i.e. ViewTab2).
Please tell me what I'm doing wrong.
How to establish binding to the same App delegate object from any loaded Nib?
Yes, I know this frustrated situation as described in question... after many weeks and hundreds pages of documentation for KVO - Notifications - Bindings I think there is one very simple solution for that.
As we can find in some information sources the nib-loading process produce new instances of members... and we need to use binding connection to the old one.
Note that bindings made in InterfaceBuilder are redirect to these new instances automatically after loading nib
Why not redirect the pointer of App delegate to the old instance?
In method where you loads your nib you can test which object is app delegate before and just after nib load.
If the new one isn’t the same as the previous one you can redirect it as you want.
This simple example works for me in Xcode3 under 10.5.8 with target to OSX10.5 / i386:
// ***** SOMEWHERE IN DEFAULT APP-DELEGATE.m IMPLEMENTATION
- (IBAction) createOtherWindowFromNib: (id)sender
{
// ensure that app delegate is set as you want...
[NSApp setDelegate:self];
NSLog(#"APP-DELEGAT **** CREATE-TEST-WINDOW ***** WHO IS APP-DELEGATE BEFORE NIB LOAD: %# ", [[NSApp delegate] description]);
// we can bind members of the nib to this controller over proxy object named "File’s Owner"
NSWindowController *otherWinCapo = [[NSWindowController alloc] initWithWindowNibName: #"OtherTestWindow"];
NSLog(#"APP-DELEGAT **** CREATE-TEST-WINDOW ***** WHO IS APP-DELEGATE AFTER NIB LOAD: %# ", [[NSApp delegate] description]);
// make some test for delegates before/after here if you need ...
// usually your bindings made inside "OtherTestWindow.xib" by IB doesn’t works in this moment
// ... and some redirection if needed
[NSApp setDelegate:self];
// afer that the bind made in IB inside "OtherTestWindow.xib"
// referred to (proxy object) "Application.delegate.myBOOL" (Bind to:Application, Model Key Path:delegate.myBOOL)
// react to changes of myBOOL placed in default app delegate object as expected
// simultaneously in every open instance of "OtherTestWindow.xib"
[otherWinCapo showWindow: otherWinCapo.window]; // we need populate the window instance on screen to see it
}
I think the problem is that the objects in your xibs that you set to the app delegate class create 2 different instances of the app delegate, so changing the value of the text field changes the value of name in one instance but not in the other. That's what you're doing wrong, unfortunately, I can't think of a solution at this time.
Have you turned on 'Continuously Updates Value' in the NSTextField controls?
See this example.
In my code below, CustomWindow is a subclass of NSWindow.
CustomWindow *window = [[CustomWindow alloc] init];
if (![NSBundle loadNibNamed:#"NibName" owner:window])
[window center]; // doesn't work
How do you get a pointer to control your XIB after you load it so you can do things such as centering the NSWindow (I mean the serialised one that resides inside the XIB)?
What am i doing wrong here?
You should be using an NSWindowController subclass. NSWindowController is specifically designed to do exactly what you want to achieve and solves several problems that you will run into if you load the nib directly using the methods of NSBundle. You generally should always use an NSWindowController subclass to manage windows.
Create a subclass of NSWindowController:
#interface MyWindowController : NSWindowController {}
#end
#implementation MyWindowController
- (id)init
{
self = [super initWithWindowNibName:#"MyWindow"];
if(self)
{
//initialize stuff
}
return self;
}
//this is a simple override of -showWindow: to ensure the window is always centered
-(IBAction)showWindow:(id)sender
{
[super showWindow:sender];
[[self window] center];
}
#end
In Interface Builder, set the class of File's Owner to be MyWindowController and connect the window outlet of File's Owner to the window object in your nib.
You can then display the window by doing this:
MyWindowController* controller = [[MyWindowController alloc] init];
[controller showWindow:self];
In my code below, CustomWindow is a subclass of NSWindow.
CustomWindow *window = [[CustomWindow alloc] init];
if (![NSBundle loadNibNamed:#"NibName" owner:window])
[window center]; // doesn't work
How do you get a pointer to control your XIB after you load it so you can do things such as centering the NSWindow inside the XIB?
“centering the NSWindow inside the XIB” makes no sense (you would center it on the screen), unless you mean centering the NSWindow object that is inside the xib, in which case, why are you creating another NSWindow (CustomWindow) object outside of the xib?
Remember that a nib (or xib) is an archive of objects. If you want to use a window that you have in your nib, you need to create an outlet to point to that window, set the class of the File's Owner to be the class where you've added the outlet, hook up the outlet in IB, and appoint the object with the outlet as the File's Owner by passing it to the owner: argument. That object, as the owner, will then be responsible for working with the window. It may be (usually is, in my code) the same object that loads the nib.
Also, init doesn't work on NSWindow; you must use initWithContentRect:styleMask:backing:defer: or initWithContentRect:styleMask:backing:defer:screen:. Using init would only be valid if you've implemented init yourself in CustomWindow, and used one of those two selectors for the [super init…] message.
You probably don't want to make your window the File's Owner. Normally you would pass self or some controller object there. Then if self or that controller object has a CustomWindow IBOutlet, it will get hooked up when you call loadNibNamed:. Check out this post for example code.
A XIB is a container for objects, it's not equal to a window. You can't center a XIB, you can only center a window contained in a XIB.
Also, the objects in the XIB are created when you load it. You don't pass an object as owner that then stands in for one of the objects in the XIB, you instead use IBOutlets to get references to the new objects created when loading the XIB and then you can interact with them.
The File's Owner object is a special object in XIBs, as it's the only object that is not created and that you can specify by passing it to loadNibNamed:owner:. It's your gateway between the XIB-created objects and your application.
Usually, the owner object is some kind of controller class. Set the File's Owner's class in Interface Builder to your controller class, then define some IBOutlets in the class, they will show up in Interface Builder on the File's Owner and you can connect your objects in the XIB to them.
Finally, when you pass your controller object to loadNibNamed:owner:, Cocoa will connect your IBOutlets to the newly created objects and you can use them to interact with them, e.g. to center a window in your XIB.
So I have an NSTabView that I'm dynamically resizing and populating with NSView subclasses. I would like to design the pages in IB and then instantiate them and add them to the NSTabView. I got the programmatic adding of NSView subclasses down, but I'm not sure how to design them in IB and then instantiate them.
I think I got it. Let me know if this is not a good thing to do.
I made a new xib file, set its File's Owner to be an NSViewController and set its "view" to the custom view I designed in the xib.
Then you just need:
NSViewController *viewController = [[NSViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"MyViewXib" bundle:nil];
NSView *myView = [viewController view];
#toastie had a really good answer. Mine is similar, but requires a bit more explanation.
Let's say you've already got a controller object and you don't want to instantiate a new controller object just to get at a view, and let's say that you're going to need multiple copies of this view (for example, you've designed a custom UITableViewCell in IB and you want to instantiate it again and again from your UITableViewController). Here's how you would do that:
Add a new IBOutlet to your existing class called "specialView" (or something like that). It may also be helpful to declare it as a (nonatomic, retain) property.
Create a new view xib called "SpecialView", and build the view however you like.
Set the File's Owner of the view to be your controller object.
Set the specialView outlet of File's Owner to be the new view.
Whenever you need a new copy of the view in your code, you can simply do the following.
(gratuitous text to get formatting working properly)
NSNib * viewNib = [[NSNib alloc] initWithNibNamed:#"SpecialView" bundle:nil];
[viewNib instantiateNibWithOwner:self topLevelObjects:nil];
[viewNib release];
NSView * myInstantiatedSpecialView = [[[self specialView] retain] autorelease];
[self setSpecialView:nil];
Yes, it's a bit more code than other ways, but I prefer this method simply because the view shows up in the designated IBOutlet. I retain and autorelease the view, because I like to reset the outlet to nil once I have the view, so it can be immediately ready to load a new copy of the view. I'll also point out that the code for this is even shorter on the iPhone, which requires one line to load the view, and not 3 (as it does on the Mac). That line is simply:
[[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:#"SpecialView" owner:self options:nil];
HTH!