Question

I have an outline view and a button. I want the button to remove the selected row in the outline view. I have binded the Outline View’s Selection Index Paths to the Tree Controller, connected the button to the Tree Controller’s remove: selector, and binded the button to the canRemove: property of the Tree Controller. But once I have done all of that (which I expected to work) it completely breaks the outline view, when I say breaks I mean it no longer works, it doesn’t show any data that I have added.

Now for some more information, here are some pictures of the connections of the Array Controller and the Tree Controller.

NSArrayController Connections

alt text http://snapplr.com/snap/b5a1

NSTreeController Connections (As you can see without the Selection Index Paths Binding)

alt text http://snapplr.com/snap/qv62

One Final thing, the Outline View has a Data Source which allows it to do drag and drop, I think that has something to do with it not working, so below is the code in the data source.

The Implementation File.

#import "DragController.h"


@implementation DragController
- (void)awakeFromNib {  

    dragType = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:   @"factorialDragType", nil];

    [ dragType retain ]; 

    [ treeTable registerForDraggedTypes:dragType ];
    NSSortDescriptor* sortDesc = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"position" ascending:YES];
    [groupTreeControl setSortDescriptors:[NSArray arrayWithObject: sortDesc]];
    [ sortDesc release ];
}   


//------------------------------------
#pragma mark NSOutlineView datasource methods -- see NSOutlineViewDataSource
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------   
- (BOOL) outlineView : (NSOutlineView *) outlineView 
          writeItems : (NSArray*) items 
        toPasteboard : (NSPasteboard*) pboard {

    [ pboard declareTypes:dragType owner:self ];        
    // items is an array of _NSArrayControllerTreeNode see http://theocacao.com/document.page/130 for more info
    draggedNode = [ items objectAtIndex:0 ];

    return YES; 
}




- (BOOL)outlineView:(NSOutlineView *)outlineView acceptDrop:(id <NSDraggingInfo>)info item:(id)item childIndex:(int)index {

    _NSArrayControllerTreeNode* parentNode = item;
    _NSArrayControllerTreeNode* siblingNode;
    _NSControllerTreeProxy* proxy = [ groupTreeControl arrangedObjects ];

    NSManagedObject* draggedGroup = [ draggedNode observedObject ];

    BOOL draggingDown = NO;
    BOOL isRootLevelDrag = NO;

    // ----------------------
    // Setup comparison paths
    // -------------------------
    NSIndexPath* draggedPath = [ draggedNode indexPath ];
    NSIndexPath* siblingPath =  [ NSIndexPath indexPathWithIndex:  index  ];
    if ( parentNode == NULL ) {     
        isRootLevelDrag = YES;
    } else {
        // A non-root drag - the index value is relative to this parent's children
        siblingPath = [ [ parentNode indexPath ] indexPathByAddingIndex: index ];
    }

    // ----------------------
    // Compare paths - modify sibling path for down drags, exit for redundant drags
    // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------    
    switch ( [ draggedPath compare:siblingPath] ) {
        case NSOrderedAscending:  // reset path for down dragging
            if ( isRootLevelDrag ) {
                siblingPath = [ NSIndexPath indexPathWithIndex: index  - 1];                             
            } else {
                siblingPath = [ [ parentNode indexPath ] indexPathByAddingIndex: index - 1 ]; 
            }
            draggingDown = YES;
            break;

        case NSOrderedSame:
            return NO;
            break;               
    }

    siblingNode = [ proxy nodeAtIndexPath:siblingPath ];    

    //  NSLog(@"returning early");
    //  return NO;  // TODO robustify


    // ------------------------------------------------------------ 
    // SPECIAL CASE: Dragging to the bottom
    // ------------------------------------------------------------
    // - K                               - K                            - C                              - C
    // - - U                             - - C     OR     - U                                - F
    // - - C     ====>     - - F                    - F                              - K
    // - - F               - U              - K                              - U
    // ------------------------------------------------------------ 
    if ( isRootLevelDrag  && siblingNode == NULL ) {        
        draggingDown = YES;
        siblingPath = [ NSIndexPath indexPathWithIndex: [ proxy count ] - 1 ];          
        siblingNode = [ proxy nodeAtIndexPath:siblingPath ] ;
    }

    // ------------------------------------------------------------ 
    // Give the dragged item a position relative to it's new sibling
    // ------------------------------------------------------------ 
    NSManagedObject* sibling = [ siblingNode observedObject ];   
    NSNumber* bystanderPosition = [ sibling valueForKey:@"position"];
    int newPos =   ( draggingDown ? [ bystanderPosition intValue ]  + 1 : [ bystanderPosition intValue ]  - 1 );
    [draggedGroup setValue:[ NSNumber numberWithInt:newPos ] forKey:@"position"];   

    // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // Set the new parent for the dragged item, resort the position attributes and refresh the tree
    // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    
    [ draggedGroup setValue:[ parentNode observedObject ] forKey:@"parent" ];
    [ self resortGroups:[draggedGroup managedObjectContext] forParent:[ parentNode observedObject ] ];          
    [ groupTreeControl rearrangeObjects ];  
    return YES;             
}






- (NSArray* ) getSubGroups:(NSManagedObjectContext*)objectContext forParent:(NSManagedObject*)parent {
    NSFetchRequest *request = [[[NSFetchRequest alloc] init] autorelease];
    NSEntityDescription *entity = [NSEntityDescription entityForName:@"projects" inManagedObjectContext:objectContext];

    [request setEntity:entity];
    NSSortDescriptor* aSortDesc = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"position" ascending:YES];
    [request setSortDescriptors:[NSArray arrayWithObject: aSortDesc] ];
    [aSortDesc release];

    NSPredicate* validationPredicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"parent == %@", parent ];

    [ request setPredicate:validationPredicate ];

    NSError *error = nil;  // TODO - check the error bozo
    return [objectContext executeFetchRequest:request error:&error];    
}




- (void) resortGroups:(NSManagedObjectContext*)objectContext forParent:(NSManagedObject*)parent {

    NSArray *array = [ self getSubGroups:objectContext forParent:parent ];

    // Reset the indexes...
    NSEnumerator *enumerator = [array objectEnumerator];
    NSManagedObject* anObject;
    int index = 0;
    while (anObject = [enumerator nextObject]) {
        // Multiply index by 10 to make dragging code easier to implement ;) ....
        [anObject setValue:[ NSNumber numberWithInt:(index * INTERVAL ) ] forKey:@"position"];    
        index++;
    }   


}

- (NSDragOperation)outlineView:(NSOutlineView *)outlineView validateDrop:(id <NSDraggingInfo>)info proposedItem:(id)item proposedChildIndex:(int)index {

    _NSArrayControllerTreeNode* newParent = item;

    // drags to the root are always acceptable
    if ( newParent == NULL ) {  
        return  NSDragOperationGeneric; 
    }

    // Verify that we are not dragging a parent to one of it's ancestors
    // causes a parent loop where a group of nodes point to each other and disappear
    // from the control 
    NSManagedObject* dragged = [ draggedNode observedObject ];      
    NSManagedObject* newP = [ newParent observedObject ];

    if ( [ self category:dragged isSubCategoryOf:newP ] ) {
        return NO;
    }       

    return NSDragOperationGeneric;
}

- (BOOL) category:(NSManagedObject* )cat isSubCategoryOf:(NSManagedObject* ) possibleSub {

    // Depends on your interpretation of subCategory ....
    if ( cat == possibleSub ) { return YES; }

    NSManagedObject* possSubParent = [possibleSub valueForKey:@"parent"];   

    if ( possSubParent == NULL ) {  return NO; }

    while ( possSubParent != NULL ) {       
        if ( possSubParent == cat ) { return YES;   }

        // move up the tree
        possSubParent = [possSubParent valueForKey:@"parent"];          
    }   

    return NO;
}




// This method gets called by the framework but the values from bindings are used instead
- (id)outlineView:(NSOutlineView *)outlineView objectValueForTableColumn:(NSTableColumn *)tableColumn byItem:(id)item { 
    return NULL;
}

/* 
 The following are implemented as stubs because they are required when 
 implementing an NSOutlineViewDataSource. Because we use bindings on the
 table column these methods are never called. The NSLog statements have been
 included to prove that these methods are not called.
 */
- (int)outlineView:(NSOutlineView *)outlineView numberOfChildrenOfItem:(id)item {
    NSLog(@"numberOfChildrenOfItem");
    return 1;
}

- (BOOL)outlineView:(NSOutlineView *)outlineView isItemExpandable:(id)item {
    NSLog(@"isItemExpandable");
    return NO;
}

- (id)outlineView:(NSOutlineView *)outlineView child:(int)index ofItem:(id)item {
    NSLog(@"child of Item");
    return NULL;
}



@end

Answer 1

I have figured it out, so I will post the answer to help all those who may have the same problem. To fix it simply do this.

1. Bind the NSTreeController’s managedObjectContext directly to the managedObjectContext property of the AppDelegate, and remove the whole NSArrayController. NSTreeController can add/remove items from the managedObjectContext, but not from the NSArrayController’s arrangedObjects, as it is read-only.

2. Now connect the add button to the Tree Controller’s add: connection.

3. Finally connect the remove button to the Tree Controller’s remove: connection.