designing beyond MV and (one) C

FROM : Daniel Child
DATE : Sat Jan 12 23:39:37 2008

Hi All,

Until now I've been doing very simple apps with a number of model 
classes, a view, and a single controller.

I am now going to try a more complicated interface, but don't quite 
understand how to apply the MVC paradigm in this case. (Just to be 
clear, this is NOT a document app, just a plain Cocoa app.)

I'm building a utility to take various types of data and parse them 
according to my settings. I'm looking to have an introductory window 
that asks what type of file the user wants to parse. Then based on 
the response, I open the appropriate window to gather data about the 
file to be handled. Separate interfaces will be used for the 
different types of parsing operations.

In the MVC paradigm, do you typically use a different controller for 
each major interface? Should I have three controllers, one to handle 
each type of parser? Three window controllers, to handle each major 
settings interface?

What about nib files? I've read that putting everything in separate 
nibs is more efficient in terms of loading time, but for quick and 
dirty apps, it would be nice to be able to use the "one nib has all" 
approach as well. Besides, this is not a time-critical app.

Currently, I have one controller, four windows (intro, and three for 
the different setting types), all in one nib file. I can open and 
close the separate windows fine. But is that bad design?

Thanks.

Daniel