Using ScreenSaverDefaults with NSUserDefaultsController

• Craig Hockenberry Using ScreenSaverDefaults with NSUserDefaultsController Feb 19 2005, 03:53
  I am working on a plug-in that uses ScreenSaverDefaults instead of
  NSUserDefaults (so it doesn¹t put it's preferences in the application's
  domain.)
  
  I'd like to use bindings to manage these user defaults -- but for the life
  of me I can't figure out how to do it.
  
  I am loading an instance of NSUserDefaultsController from the NIB file --
  but don¹t see anyway to get it to use something other than [NSUserDefaults
  standardUserDefaults].
  
  I've tried creating my own subclass and overriding the defaults: method to
  return an instance of ScreenSaverDefaults, but that doesn't seem to have any
  effect. (Interestingly, defaults: is invoked before awakeFromNib: so it
  seems we need an instance before the NIB is finished loading.)
  
  The only success I've had is by creating my own instance with
  [[NSUserDefaultsController alloc] initWithDefaults:myDefaults
  initialValues:myInitialValues]. But if I do this, I don¹t have anything to
  bind against in Interface Builder -- and doing my own
  bind:toObject:withKeyPath:options defeats the purpose of using bindings in
  the first place.
  
  Any ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated. At this point my only
  option appears to be implementing an NSObjectController with my own
  preference model -- that's a whole lot of code I'd rather not write...
  
  -ch
• leenoori Re: Using ScreenSaverDefaults with NSUserDefaultsController Dec 16 2006, 17:27
  Almost two years ago Craig Hockenberry wrote:
  
  

  > I am working on a plug-in that uses ScreenSaverDefaults instead of
  > NSUserDefaults (so it doesn’t put it's preferences in the
  > application's
  > domain.)
  >
  > I'd like to use bindings to manage these user defaults -- but for
  > the life
  > of me I can't figure out how to do it.
  >
  > I am loading an instance of NSUserDefaultsController from the NIB
  > file --
  > but don’t see anyway to get it to use something other than
  > [NSUserDefaults
  > standardUserDefaults].
  >
  > I've tried creating my own subclass and overriding the defaults:
  > method to
  > return an instance of ScreenSaverDefaults, but that doesn't seem to
  > have any
  > effect. (Interestingly, defaults: is invoked before awakeFromNib:
  > so it
  > seems we need an instance before the NIB is finished loading.)
  >
  > The only success I've had is by creating my own instance with
  > [[NSUserDefaultsController alloc] initWithDefaults:myDefaults
  > initialValues:myInitialValues]. But if I do this, I don’t have
  > anything to
  > bind against in Interface Builder -- and doing my own
  > bind:toObject:withKeyPath:options defeats the purpose of using
  > bindings in
  > the first place.
  >
  > Any ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated. At this point
  > my only
  > option appears to be implementing an NSObjectController with my own
  > preference model -- that's a whole lot of code I'd rather not write...
  

  
  I'm wondering what the current state of the art is on this question.
  My searches have only revealed questions, no answers:
  
  http://forums.macnn.com/79/developer-center/189565/subclassing-
  nsuserdefaultscontroller/
  
  

  > You could use initWithDefaults:initialValues: and provide a
  > subclass of NSUSerDefaults which uses a specific domain, but
  > writing that NSUserDefaults subclass may well be as much work as
  > writing your own replacement for NSUserDefaultsController.
  

  
  Basically, is there any way to use NSUserDefaultsController in
  loadable bundles (plug-ins, preference panes etc)? I'd like to keep
  the preferences for loadable plug-ins separate from the main
  application preferences because it's cleaner to keep things modular,
  and because I've run into a weird NSUserDefaults behaviour which
  makes it undesirable to do so (specifically, calling
  "registerDefaults:" from a plug-in doesn't work).