Question

I create a class: MyArrayController, which is a subclass of NSArrayController and bind the it to a table.

I need to pass a person object to MyArrayController object, like using method:

-initWithPerson:(Person *)person; 

but because MyArrayController is created automatically (because I don’t alloc it explicitly, I think it is created by Cocoa automatically), I can’t get the object of MyArrayController or init it explicitly.

What can I do to set a person object to MyArrayController?

Answer 1

The typical way to do this is not to use an NSArrayController subclass. From your description you are not trying to change the behavior of NSArrayController you are just trying to specify its content. The way to do this is to put an NSArrayController in your nib file and bind it to your table. Add an IBOutlet to your NSWindowController or NSViewController that is bound to the NSArrayController. Create and pre-populate an NSArray with the content you want to display in the table. Then in your awakeFromNib or windowDidLoad method you call setContent: to set the content array for the NSArrayController to the NSArray you created. Roughly like:

    IBOutlet NSArrayController *myArrayController;

    NSArray *contentArray = [NSArray arrayWithObject:person];
    [myArrayController setContent:contentArray];