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
Related
I have several popup buttons whose selected tag is saved in the user defaults (by binding the selected tag in the Bindings inspector). Now instead of saving an integer I would like to save a string value (for the simple reason that it makes the user defaults more "readable" and failsafe), but unfortunately didn't find a way to bind a popup button's selected identifier. Is there a solution to this problem?
The bindings for NSPopupButton can be a little confusing. The various Content* bindings are used to provide the button with its list of possible selections. Content itself is used to provide a list of objects represented by the items in the pop up button. Content Values is used to provide the actual values displayed in the pop up button. For example, Content might be bound to an array of model objects, while Content Values is bound to a specific key path on those objects, for example name, because you want to display the value of the name property of each item in the popup button itself.
Similarly, the bindings for selection correspond to this system. Selected Object means that when a given item is selected, the underlying full object from the Content array will be selected/set on the bound property, not just the simple displayed string (or number, etc.) value. On the other hand, Selected Value will indeed bind just the displayed value.
Taken together, and in your case, where you're not using the content bindings, this means that you have two options:
Bind the Selected Value to user defaults.
Create an underlying model class with both an identifier property and a name (or whatever you want to call it) property. Bind the Content binding to an array of those objects, and the Content Values binding to thatArray.name.
Option 1
This option is much simpler. Just set up the selected values binding and you're done. It has the major disadvantage that the actual displayed string is the thing being stored in user defaults. This means that if you change the wording of an item, that previously stored selection won't be restored, even if it corresponds directly to the newly-worded item. More importantly, it's not a good idea to make localized -- or potentially localized -- strings semantically important.
Option 2
This takes a little more work (and code), but it would solve your problem in a robust, "correct" way. For example:
#objcMembers class Option: NSObject {
dynamic var name: String
dynamic var identifier: String
init(name: String, identifier: String) {
self.name = name
self.identifier = identifier
}
}
class ViewController: UIViewController {
#objc dynamic var optionsForPopup = [Option(name: "Item A", identifier: "id 1"),
Option(name: "Item B", identifier: "id 2"),
Option(name: "Item C", identifier: "id 3")]
}
Bind:
Content to ViewController - optionsForPopup.
Content Values to ViewController - optionsForPopup.name.
Selected Value to Shared User Defaults Controller - Controller Key: values, Model Key Path: WhateverUserDefaultsKeyYouWant.
Example
I've created an example project that implements option 2 here: https://github.com/armadsen/PopupDemo
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.
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
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)
}
I'm working on iOS 8 custom keyboard extension right now, and there are some issues in using UITextInputDelegate Methods.
Does this right: selectionWillChange: and selectionDidChange: methods should be called when user long-presses typing area? And textWillChange: and textDidChange: methods should be called whenever the text is literally changing?
Actually, what I observed is that, when I changed selection in text input area, textWillChange: and textDidChange: are called, and I cannot get a clue that the other two methods are called in what condition. If anyone knows about the usage of these delegate methods, please let me know.
It's not working for me either... what I am currently doing is just using textWillChange and textDidChange which does get called, as you mentioned, when you change your selection... (they get called BEFORE and AFTER) And then comparing the: self.textDocumentProxy.documentContextBeforeInputself.textDocumentProxy.documentContextAfterInput From BEFORE (textWillChange) to the AFTER (textDidChange) to see if selection range or length changed at all.
Something like this (set the 4 NSStrings below in your .h file of course... haven't tested this exact snippet because I wrote it from scratch just now on SO.com but I'm sure the principle works if I made any errors)
- (void)textWillChange:(id<UITextInput>)textInput {
beforeStringOfTextBehindCursor = self.textDocumentProxy.documentContextBeforeInput;
beforeStringOfTextAfterCursor = self.textDocumentProxy.documentContextAfterInput;
}
- (void)textDidChange:(id<UITextInput>)textInput {
afterStringOfTextBehindCursor = self.textDocumentProxy.documentContextBeforeInput;
afterStringOfTextAfterCursor = self.textDocumentProxy.documentContextAfterInput;
BOOL didSelectionChange = NO;
if (![beforeStringOfTextBehindCursor isEqualToString:afterStringOfTextBehindCursor]) {
didSelectionChange = YES;
}
if (![beforeStringOfTextAfterCursor isEqualToString:afterStringOfTextAfterCursor]) {
didSelectionChange = YES;
}
if (didSelectionChange) {
NSLog(#"Selection Changed!");
}
}
I had the same problem with the functions specified in the UITextInput protocol not being called. The reason as far as I can discern is due to the fact that the inputDelegate is set at runtime. According to the ios docs:
The UIKit provides a private text input delegate, which it assigns at runtime to the inputDelegate property of the object whose class adopts the UITextInput protocol. link
The fix which works in my case is to reset the inputDelegate in the function:
textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range
replacementString:(NSString *)string
by the following line:
[myUITextField setInputDelegate:self];
where self implements the UITextInputDelegate protocol.