Re: Same NSObjectController, two nibs?

FROM : Marc Respass
DATE : Fri Apr 01 23:17:05 2005

On Apr 1, 2005, at 1:26 PM, Christiaan Hofman wrote:

>
> On Apr 1, 2005, at 21:15, Marc Respass wrote:
>

>>
>> On Apr 1, 2005, at 12:48 PM, Christiaan Hofman wrote:
>>

>>>
>>> On Apr 1, 2005, at 20:27, Marc Respass wrote:
>>>

>>>> Hi All,
>>>>
>>>> I have two windows, Main and Login. Both use the same controller
>>>> for user information, userController (an NSObjectController). I
>>>> have one controller object, Controller.m, which is the main
>>>> controller for the app and the owner of Login.nib. If I connect
>>>> userController in MainMenu.nib and Login.nib, I get two different
>>>> instances of userController so I only connect it in Login.nib and
>>>> it only gets initialized when the Login panel goes up (which is
>>>> fine since it's useless until a user logs in). The userController
>>>> remains the same and it contains all the data I want but I am
>>>> unable to display information from it in my main window (in
>>>> MainMenu.nib). Any ideas about why or how to handle this?
>>>>
>>>> thanks a lot
>>>> Marc
>>>>

>>>
>>> This should work, in principle. But how do you connect, and when? In
>>> the way you describe the userController is instantiated with
>>> Login.nib, while you want to connect it to views in the Main.nib.
>>> Both nibs should therefore have been loaded when you do the
>>> programmatic binding.

>>
>> MainMenu.nib is loaded first, when applicationHasFinishedLoading,
>> Login.nib is loaded. The userController is instantiated in Login.nib.
>>

>>> But why not just live with the 2 controllers?

>>
>> I was hoping it would work since the object that references
>> userController is the same object. After the login panel is done,
>> userController has been instantiated and filled with data. I can get
>> data out of it but Cocoa bindings won't display data from it. It
>> seems more a nib synchronization thing. Since userController is not
>> connected to anything in MainMenu.nib, the main window isn't getting
>> data from it? I guess I could make a loginController, then copy the
>> data from that controller to userController once the login panel is
>> dismissed. :::Shrug::: Considering all the time and energy Cocoa
>> Bindings has saved me, this seems a small price to pay :)
>>

> I am a bit confused about that. You say the NSObjectController
> contains the data? I am not sure if that is a good idea, also in view
> of MVC.


Christiaan, thank you for pointing out that mistake. What I did was

[userController setContent:[NSMutableDictionary dictionary]];

Than managed the dictionary via the controller. But since I didn't hold
on to that dictionary, I was unable to have two different controllers
manage the data. I reimplemented it so that I hold the data dictionary
and set it in the userController. I also used -addEntriesFromDictionary
and removeAllObjects instead of replacing the dictionary in my
accessors. Now it works and I think it's also not leaking.

> The way I thought about it (and would do it) is to have all the data
> in Controller (I assume that is an NSObject subclass). Then putting a
> NSObjectController (userController) in both the nibs, and bind
> anything to that NSObjectController. After loading the nib you connect
> the content of the NSObjectController to Controller (see link below),
> and you are done. What is shared is Controller (the model object), and
> there are 2 objectControllers for the 2 nibs.


Real good points. I'm glad I asked. Thanks for the help.

Marc

>>> BTW, if you are not aware of this, do not bind to the Nib file
>>> owner, because of a retain loop bug.

>>
>> I wasn't aware. Thank you.
>>
>> Marc
>>

>
> See http://theobroma.treehouseideas.com/document.page/18
>
> Christiaan
>