Question

I’m a beginner in objective-c and want to realize a simple GUI: A MyMainWindowController with a corresponding xib wich contains a table and a simple Add button.

@interface MyMainWindowController : NSWindowController
{
}
@end

The implementation code of the controller is nearly empty (pre-defined initWithWindow and windowDidLoad). The AddressTvc is defined like this:

@interface AddressTvc : NSObject <NSTableViewDataSource>
{
  @private
    IBOutlet NSTableView *myTableView;
    NSMutableArray *list;
}
- (IBAction)add:(id)sender;
@end

This works fine. I can click on the Add button and a new row is inserted in the table.

It seems that the AddressTvc is created automatically (by the IB?) when the MyMainWindowController is visible. I want a reference in the code of MyMainWindowController to AddressTvc so I’m able to fill the table with some data retrieved by a background thread. This should be done by calling the - (IBAction)add:(id)sender; method.

I tried to create a AddressTvc inside the MyMainWindowController but then the object is initialized twice. I’m sure I have to wire it somewhere in the IB, but have no clue where to do this …

Answer 1

Create an outlet in you MyMainWindowController class that can point to your table view controller class.

E.G.

@interface MyMainWindowController : NSWindowController
{
    IBOutlet AddressTvc *myTVC 
}
@end

Then simply control+drag from your file owner to the instance of the table view controller in interface builder and you can now access it in your window controllers code.