Call IBAction in different class - cocoa

Question

My document based application has a window with a tableview. The tableview has a datasource which points to a class of type NSObject (called HopBill) which includes a NSMutableArray (aHopBill) and the needed tableview methods. So far so good.
For adding rows to the tableview I've added a sheet which is controlled from a NSWindowController (called HopBillSheetController). When pressing the OK button in the sheet. I actually need to do two IBActions (which is not possible): Add the row to the array of the tableview and close the sheet. I can connect the OK button in the sheet to the NSWindowController (to close the sheet) or connect it to the NSObject (to add the row to the array). But I want both :-)
Is it possible to call the IBAction in the NSWindowController from the NSObject? Or is there another way to do this?
I'm quite a beginner to Cocao and Objective-C, so please be gentle :-)

Answer 1

If your sheet is a nib/xib with an NSPanel, the call to close it is simply [panel close]; Assuming your window controller has a property for the panel, you can put the close code at the end of its row-adding IBAction. Or you could have the IBAction itself call another method if you prefer.
If your panel is running modal, you might need to stopModal too. (That's what's needed if everything stays frozen after the panel closes; otherwise never mind.)
Assuming hopBill, your data source, is a property of the window controller, any IBAction you write in the window controller also has access to hopBill; it can do everything you need.
So add a single IBAction to the window controller and connect the panel's OK button to it. That ought to work.
As for calling an IBAction from somewhere other than a control in a nib, yes, you can do that. Use a reference to the control as the sender arg, or nil if the IBAction doesn't use the sender arg.
You could also create your panel programmatically, or use NSAlert. But it sounds like your current setup is simpler -- and therefore better.
Take a look at this h file for an app controller: Apple's ClockControl example
The NSMutableArray *appointments property is the actual data source that will be used by the NSTableViewDataSource protocol methods. The IBAction "addAppointment" can access "appointments" directly: [self.appointments addObject:whatever atIndex:whatever];
The ClockControl example could be modified to use HopBill. You would import its declarations up top: #import "HopBill.h" And then instead of the "appointments" property, it would declare HopBill *hopBill; And "addApointment" would access HopBill's mutable array (aHopBill) like this: [self.hopBill.aHopBill addObject:whatever atIndex:whatever];

Answer 2

Why you can’t send messages to hopBill:
First, because although you declare it, you never initialize it. You have:
HopBill *hopBill;
[self.hopBill.aHopBill addObject: bHopAdditionAtInit];
It should be:
HopBill *hopBill = [[HopBill alloc] init];
[hopBill.aHopBill addObject: bHopAdditionAtInit]; // “self” won’t work here
Second, you’re declaring it inside an IBAction method, (doneHopBillSheet:), so it’s a local variable, accessible only within that method. If HopBill is holding your table’s data source cache, it should be a property of the controller which implements the NSTableViewDataSourceProtocol methods.
In your HopBill interface, you declare the aHopBill array to be a property, and you initialize it in HopBill’s init method (you should also release it in HopBill’s dealloc method). You need to do the same thing for the controller — it should have an instance of HopBill as a property, and that instance should be initialized in the controller’s init method.
If you want HopBillController to manage the tableview, its interface declaration should look like this:
#interface HopBillSheetController : NSWindowController <NSTableViewDelegate, NSTableViewDataSource> {
…
}
And, then, of course, you have to implement the relevant NSTableViewDelegate and NSTableViewDataSource methods.
Also, the controller must have an IBOutlet property for the tableview itself, and in the controller’s awakeFromNib method, it has to assign itself as delegate and datasource:
[self.tableview setDelegate:self];
[self.tableview setDataSource:self];
(The self-dot syntax assumes you’ve set up #property and #synthesize code for tableview.)
The IBAction method that adds items to your table must be in that controller class, or in a class that has a property which is an instance of the controller class. Then the IBAction method will have access to the aHopBill array and can add the new object to the array, after which it will call [tableView reloadData], which will in turn trigger the tableview protocol methods and update the table.
Now, that means that the xib containing the tableview has to have the controller as its file’s owner. Since you’re using NSDocument, I suspect that, instead, you would put the tableview outlet in the NSDocument subclass. And you would give that doc subclass a property which is an instance of the controller. The IBAction methods would also be in the doc subclass, and so they would have access to the controller and its HopBill property. Or maybe you would simply make the doc subclass the controller, rather than using the separate HopBillSheetController class. I’m not sure about the NSDocument stuff. But, remember, the IBAction method can itself call other methods, as long as it has access to instances of the classes in which those methods are declared.
Apple has an example using both the tableview delegate and datasource protocol methods. Go to this link and download the sample code: tableview example
It looks like a nice app. Good luck.