Cocoa document based app, NSWindowController subclass as "main window"

Question

I have a Cocoa document based app. I want the "main window" to be managed by my subclass of NSWindowController. I have created the subclass and laid out its interface in a .xib file with the same name. I ultimately want the same behaviour as if the NSDocument managed the window, but instead have it managed by an NSWindowController.

First of all, how do I do it? Second, are the anything special I have to think about when going with this approach, such as how to handle open and save?

Answer 1

1. Override makeWindowControllers with your own windowController instance

   //Lazy instantiation of window controller
   - (WindowController *)controller {
     if (!_controller) {
         _controller = [[WindowController alloc] initWithWindowNibName:@"Document"];
     }
   
     return _controller;
   }
   
   - (void)makeWindowControllers {
     [self addWindowController:self.controller];
   }
   

2. comment windowNibName & windowControllerDidLoadNib:aController methods

   //- (NSString *)windowNibName
   //{
   //  // Override returning the nib file name of the document
   //  // If you need to use a subclass of NSWindowController or if your document supports multiple NSWindowControllers, you should remove this method and override -makeWindowControllers instead.
   //  return @"Document";
   //}
   
   //- (void)windowControllerDidLoadNib:(NSWindowController *)aController
   //{
   //  [super windowControllerDidLoadNib:aController];
   //  // Add any code here that needs to be executed once the windowController has loaded the document's window.
   //}
   

3. Change Document.xib File Owner Class from NSDocument to your WindowController

From your WindowController you can send a message (call method) to your document class.

Also make sure you understand this diagram: