Xcode9 Swift4.2 NSOutlineView NSTreeController data - xcode9

I am trying to create an outlineview in a MacOS app that has mutliple levels that are summaries for a set of data held in SQLite3. I have an outlineview working with a treecontroller with a very simple NSMutuableDictionary based on a model class.
import Cocoa
class Summary: NSObject {
#objc dynamic var name: String
#objc dynamic var trades: Int
#objc dynamic var avgPL: Double
#objc dynamic var pandl: Double
#objc dynamic var parent: String
#objc dynamic var isLeaf: Bool
#objc dynamic var childCount: Int
#objc dynamic var children: [Summary] = []
init(name: String, trades: Int, avgPL: Double, pandl: Double, parent: String, isLeaf: Bool,childCount: Int) {
self.name = name
self.trades = trades
self.avgPL = avgPL
self.pandl = pandl
self.parent = parent
self.isLeaf = isLeaf
self.childCount = childCount
}
#objc func add(child: Summary) {
children.append(child)
}
}
My simple example data is:
let root: [String : Any] = ["name": "Overall","trades":5,"avgPL":200,"pandl":500,"parent":"","isLeaf": false,"childCount": 2 ]
let dict: NSMutableDictionary = NSMutableDictionary(dictionary: root)
let l2a = Summary(name: "L2a", trades: 3, avgPL: 100, pandl: 300, parent: "L1",isLeaf: true,childCount: 0)
let l2b = Summary(name: "L2b", trades: 2, avgPL: 100, pandl: 200, parent: "L1",isLeaf: true,childCount: 0)
dict.setObject([l2a,l2b], forKey: "children" as NSCopying)
I pass the dictionary to the treeController:
treeController.addObject(dict)
And that works nicely giving me a collapsible outline:
But I have no idea how to add more levels or children to the children. I want to have up to four levels deep in the outline. I have all the SQL summaries working and I have tried so many variations of populating arrays and trying to create a dictionary with the data to no avail. I have children and childCount and isLeaf set on everything but treecontroller does not like the array complaining that isLeaf is not KVO compliant. My data in an array looks like this (not all of the data but enough to see what I'm doing) The main level and all of the subsequent children are all based on the Summary model class above. Can I simply convert this array to a dictionary? Or, can I make it KVO compliant by adding keys to the model class or something? I have all of the 4 levels in separate arrays I use to build the resultant array if that is useful :
I should add that I have an NSObject defined as an NSMutableArray and its content tied to the treeController. My treeController is bound to each variable in the model class and at the top level has:
If I pass the array I have built to the treeController I get the following error:
Failed to set (contentViewController) user defined inspected property on (NSWindow): [<_TtGCs23_ContiguousArrayStorageC11outlinetest7Summary_ 0x604000445160> addObserver:forKeyPath:options:context:] is not supported. Key path: isLeaf

After building out my NSOutlineView without an NSTreeController and getting everything working I still wanted to get back to this and implement the treeController in order to take advantage of the sorting mechanism it provides. And I did find as per my last comment that I did have something wrong in InterfaceBuilder that was causing it to complain about KVO compliance. I had everything wired correctly except for the Content Array binding on the treeController. Here I bound it to my ViewController and added my data array reportSummary to the Model Key Path.
I also no longer needed to manually add my data array to the treeController using treeController.addObject(reportSummary). Once this was working I was then able to implement sorting and everything is working well. I should point out two things.
Setup of sorting on the TreeController is slightly different than on an ArrayController tied to a TableView. With the tableview it was sufficient to specify which columns are sortable in the identity inspector in IB. But in the outlineView scenario I also needed to setup bindings in IB to the treeController and change the Controller Key from arrangedObjects to sortDescriptors.
While testing my tree controlled outlineview I ran into a problem when I double-clicked on a summary row. I had implemented Double Action on the outlineView in IB in order to control the expanding and collapsing of summary sections. Note that I read about doing this in a thread here and someone mentioned that you would need to maintain multiple arrays and track indexes because once a row is collapsed or expanded that changes the row number of all the subsequent rows. But I figured out that the solution is simply to iterate through rows in reverse order and expand or collapse them working back up the tree starting from outlineView.numberOfRows-1. This works well and along with Double Action (clicking) to expand and collapse I also added an NSSlider which tracks to the expansion level and lets me collapse all the lowest levels moving back up the tree instead of clicking all of the little arrows on each row. This broke when I implemented the treeController. I received an error
Could not cast value of type 'NSKVONotifying_NSTreeControllerTreeNode'
This line of code was the problem
let summary = reportOutline.item(atRow: x) as! Summary
I had to change this to
let node = reportOutline.item(atRow: x) as! NSTreeNode
let summary = node.representedObject as! Summary
And that is it. Working beautifully now.

Related

Modify reference content of an object in swift

Given a stackView object, I got an array of stackView.arrangedSubviews
which is a get only property. Hence I can't REPLACE one item of it by merely doing
stackView.arrangedSubviews[i] = newSubView
what came to my mind is I want to replace the content of the reference at stackView.arrangedSubviews[i] with the content of newSubView. For instance if this was in C, I would have done something like
*arrangedSubViews[i] = *newSubView
I know there is a way to do what I need by removing arrangedSubViews and utilizing addArrangedSubView but it won't be very efficient.
You can't modify an immutable array, and this is a good thing in many ways.
You can create an extension method to replace the view like this:
#available(iOS 9.0, *)
extension UIStackView {
func replaceView(atIndex index: Int, withView view: UIView) {
let viewToRemove = arrangedSubviews[index]
removeArrangedSubview(viewToRemove)
insertArrangedSubview(view, atIndex: index)
}
}
Then, instead of using stackView.arrangedSubviews[i] = newSubView you can use this code:
stackView.replaceView(atIndex: i, withView: newSubView)
Performance-wise there's no negative impact on doing it this way.

Binding and NSPopUpButton: changing the value of the current key doesn't change the selection

I've a really simple UI with a single NSPopUpButton. Its selectedIndex is bound to an int value ViewController.self.my_selection. As soon as I change the selection from the UI (i.e. a select the third item of the NSPopUpButton) I see that my_selection value changes. So far so good, what I'm trying to obtain is the opposed direction though. I want to change the my_selection value programmatically and see the NSPopUpButton selecting the item a the index that I've defined in my_selection. I erroneously supposed that behaviour was the default behaviour for bindings...
This is what I'm obtaining now:
NSPoPUpButton ---> select item at index 2 ----> my_selection becomes equal to 2
This is what I want to achieve (keeping also the previous behaviour)
my_selection ---> set value to 3----> NSPoPUpButton selected index = 3
Without a bit more info (see my comment) it's hard to see exactly what you're doing wrong. Here's how I got it working: First, create a simple class...
// Create a simple class
class Beatle: NSObject {
convenience init(name: String) {
self.init()
self.name = name
}
dynamic var name: String?
}
Then, in the AppDelegate I created a four-item array called beatles:
dynamic var beatles: [Beatle]?
func applicationDidFinishLaunching(aNotification: NSNotification) {
beatles = [Beatle(name: "John"),
Beatle(name: "Paul"),
Beatle(name: "Ringo"),
Beatle(name: "George")]
}
In Interface Builder I set things up so that this array provides the pop-up with its content:
This class also has a selectedIndex property that is bound to the pop-up button's selectedIndex binding - this property provides read-write access to the pop-up button's selection:
// Set the pop-up selection by changing the value of this variable.
// (Make sure you mark it as dynamic.)
dynamic var selectedIndex: Int = 0

Can't setup bindings in Swift Storyboard?

I've got some code that runs a fairly complex algorithm. I want to put together a fairly simple UI that will allow me to monitor the values of the various variables in the algorithm in some graphical ways -- think of it like a dashboard of sorts.
So, for simplicity's sake, let's say I have an algorithm like what follows. It searches a vector of values for the two values that most closely sum to a target value:
import Foundation
class algorithm {
var numbers = [Double]()
let numberOfRandoms = 1000
dynamic var a: String
dynamic var b: String
init () {
// Load initial vector with some random numbers between 0 and 1
for _ in 1...numberOfRandoms {
numbers.append(Double(arc4random()) / Double(UINT32_MAX))
}
a = " "
b = " "
}
func findTheTwoNumbersThatAddUpTheClosestToTarget(target: Double) {
//Initializing this to a very large value
var currentBestSum = 1000.0
//Begin brute force search for the optimal solution
for i in 0...numbers.count-2 {
for j in i+1...numbers.count-1 {
//Check to see if the current candidate exceeds the best solution
if abs(numbers[i] + numbers[j] - target) < currentBestSum {
//If it does, store the new champion
a = String(i)
b = String(j)
//And reset the current top score to match
currentBestSum = abs(numbers[i] + numbers[j]-target)
}
}
}
}
}
Now, this is just a simple (and silly) example, but it suits these purposes. I basically want to create a simple UI that displays the important values in the process as it runs (dynamically).
In this example, let's say that I just want to display two labels that contain the index values of the two leaders as the algorithm executes.
I created the labels in the storyboard.
Then, I created IBOutlets in the ViewController (Actually, storyboards did it for me when I Ctrl-dragged):
class ViewController: NSViewController {
#IBOutlet weak var a: NSTextField!
#IBOutlet weak var b: NSTextField!
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Do any additional setup after loading the view.
}
override var representedObject: AnyObject? {
didSet {
// Update the view, if already loaded.
}
}
}
Then, I ctrl-dragged the labels to the a and b in the algorithm class to create the bindings.
Finally, I create an class variable in the view controller and instantiate it in the viewDidLoad method. This doesn't seem like the right thing to do -- maybe it is. Seems like you would want to keep separate your interface and data...
The labels do, in fact, show up -- but they never show any values of a and b. They just show the default text.
Not sure what I'm doing wrong.
Help!?
P.S., in response to Anthony Kong, I do recognize that I could manually synchronize all the view elements in the code, but I thought the whole point of using bindings was to avoid having to do this manual synchronization. I just can't figure out how to set it up.
Without commenting on your specific code I think I have experienced (and solved) the problem you describe. I was able to write an app that had two targets, one NIB-based and one Storyboard-based. As much as I was able I duplicated the code in each and shared the common data instance that I was trying to display in a TableView. The NIB-based app worked using the stock Cocoa Bindings that I set in IB. But the Storyboard-based app did not, the array controller did not see the data.
My solution was simply to add the binding for contentArray programmatically in viewDidLoad. The one line that fixed it for me is:
ac.bind("contentArray", toObject: cd, withKeyPath: "people", options: nil)
ac is the IBOutlet for the ArrayController in the Storyboard. cd is the class instance that contains the people array.
This is using XCode 6.2 (6C107a) which is Beta 3 I think.
This was the only binding that I had to set myself, the TableView to ArrayController (arrangedObjects) and TableViewCell to TableView (objectValue) didn't need any tweaking.
There are several problems with your code
1) In your code,
func applicationDidFinishLaunching(aNotification: NSNotification?) {
// Insert code here to initialize your application
var test = algorithm()
test.findTheTwoNumbersThatAddUpTheClosestToTarget(0.5)
}
The variable test goes out of scope when the function exits. Based on the wording of your question, you are expecting it to be a long running process. So this will not do what you want.
You should
a) Add test as class variable to the ViewController class
b) instantiate the variable in viewDidLoad method.
2) In your algorithm it does not actually provide any feedback to the labels. Maybe you think because the class has the ivar a and b so they are hooked to the IBOutlet by the same names. But of course it is not the case. And you do not need the keyword dynamic too.
What you should do is:
a) provide a method in the View Controller class to update the labels. It will serve as a callback function to be used by algorithm class to feedback the calculation result.
It may look like this:
func update_value_callback(vala: String, valb: String) {
a.text = vala; // updating the label here
b.text = valb;
}
b) make the algorithm class calls the callback function e.g.
func findTheTwoNumbersThatAddUpTheClosestToTarget(target: Double, viewController: ViewController) {
// do your stuff
...
// execute the callback
viewController.update_value_callback(a, b)
}

Access data from table view cell in Swift

I'm having trouble accessing an optional string in swift from a table view cell. Each cell has a title label as well as a detail text label and the amount of cells at any given time in the table view is dependent on the user (the table view is used to display saved values). Since the strings saved as the detail text label's text in each cell are way too long to read in the table view, I wish to load them in another view that is segued to when a cell is pressed. This is my prepare for segue method:
override func prepareForSegue(segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: AnyObject?) {
if segue.identifier == "cellSegue"
{
let cell = tableView.cellForRowAtIndexPath(tableView.indexPathForSelectedRow()!)
var transfer : ExplanationView = segue.destinationViewController as ExplanationView
if let unwrapped = cell?.textLabel?.text!
{
transfer.infoText.text = unwrapped
}
}
}
When a segue is performed, I get a fatal crash, the offending line is "transfer.infoText.text = unwrapped" and Xcode tells me it found nil when unwrapping an optional. During my debuggingg efforts, I've tried "println(cell?.textLabel?.text!)" and Xcode prints "Optional(String)" where "String" is the actual string I'm trying to access so it seems like I'm on the right track, but obviously there's something I'm missing. I've also tried "cell?.textLabel?.text" but I get the same error. Any help is appreciated
You shouldn't ever extract data from a view. You should extract data from a model. The fact that you have a tableView with cells implies you have a model for the data that goes in those cells. It might be an array of strings or whatever. Instead of trying to extract the data from the cells, just get the data from the data model you used to populate the cells. Something like:
let selectedIndexPath = tableView.indexPathForSelectedRow()
let selectedData = data[selectedIndexPath.row]
Your problem is not unwrapped but instead transfer.infoText.text. Your IBOutlets are not set up at the time of the prepareForSegue. You need add a property (var) to your destination view controller to hold the unwrapped value. Then in viewDidLoad when the IBOutlets are set up, copy the string to your text field.

How can I bind the text in a NSTextField to the value of a property on a controller using a storyboard?

I have a custom view with two text subviews, arranged, not that it matters, as per this amazing ASCII art:
/--------\
| lblOne |
| lblTwo |
\--------/
On my controller, I have a property of type Thingy:
class AwesomeController: NSViewController {
var thingy: Thingy! = nil
}
A Thingy has two properties of interest:
class Thingy: NSObject {
var one: String
var two: String
}
I would like to set up a binding between lblOne's string value and thingy.one, and lblTwo's string value and thingy.two, going through a custom view class if necessary.
When thingy is changed, obviously the two text fields should also change. (In other words, it should behave normally for a cocoa binding.)
I think it's probably a combination of learning Swift and my unfamiliarity with storyboards on OS X (last time I did cocoa development, it was still xibs), but I can't work out how to link the damn thing up.
Getting bindings to work in Swift requires two additional steps:
All the vars must be marked with dynamic, eg:
dynamic var one: String
You have to recompile the project (with cmd+B, not just in the background) in order for the var to appear as an option in IB

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