How to correctly implement a NSWindowController subclass with xib-file

Question

I am trying to implement a NSWindowController subclass with new xib-file, I read up in lots of books, and researched on StackOverflow, but none of the steps provided made my window show, nor did the subclass code get executed. The new xib-file has its File's Owner set to "LogNavigatorController" and connections to the window and its contents have been made.

My AppDelegate.h:

#import <Cocoa/Cocoa.h>

@class LogNavigatorWindowController;

@interface AppDelegate : NSObject <NSApplicationDelegate>
{
    LogNavigatorWindowController *logsWindowController;
}

@end

My AppDelegate.m:

#import "AppDelegate.h"
#import "LogNavigatorWindowController.h"

@implementation AppDelegate

- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)aNotification
{
    // Insert code here to initialize your application

    logsWindowController = [[LogNavigatorWindowController alloc] initWithWindowNibName:@"LogNavigatorWindowController"];
    [logsWindowController showWindow:self];
}

@end

My LogNavigatorWindowController.h:

#import <Cocoa/Cocoa.h>

@interface LogNavigatorWindowController : NSWindowController
{
    NSArray *directoryList1;
    NSArray *directoryList2;
    NSMutableArray *directoryList;
    NSMutableArray *filePaths1;
    NSMutableArray *filePaths2;
}

@property (assign) IBOutlet NSWindow *window;
@property (weak) IBOutlet NSTableView *logsTableView;
@property (unsafe_unretained) IBOutlet NSTextView *logsTextView;
@property (assign) IBOutlet NSArrayController *LogListController;
@property (retain) NSMutableArray *logsArray;

- (void) myDirectoryLogFunction;

@end

My LogNavigatorController.m:

#import "LogNavigatorWindowController.h"

@interface LogNavigatorWindowController ()

@end

@implementation LogNavigatorWindowController

@synthesize logsTableView;
@synthesize logsTextView;
@synthesize window;

- (id)init
{
    self = [super initWithWindowNibName:@"LogNavigatorWindowController"];
    [self loadWindow];
    [self showWindow:@"Log Navigator"];
    [self.window makeKeyAndOrderFront:nil];

    if (self)
    {
        // Initialization code here.
        [self myDirectoryLogFunction];
    }

    return self;
}

- (void)windowDidLoad
{
    [super windowDidLoad];

    // Implement this method to handle any initialization after your window controller's window has been loaded from its nib file.
}

- (void) myDirectoryLogFunction
{
    NSLog(@"Code execution test successful");
}

@end

Answer 1

You don't need to create the window property since it is already available for NSWindowController subclasses. Maybe that causes the problem.

Also your init method contains a lot of code that doesn't belong there. Remove

[self loadWindow];
[self showWindow:@"Log Navigator"];
[self.window makeKeyAndOrderFront:nil];

as well as replace

self = [super initWithWindowNibName:@"LogNavigatorWindowController"];

with

self = [super init];

You may want to remove the init method at all, since you don't need it in your case.

and move

[self myDirectoryLogFunction];

to the windowDidLoad method.

Also always check that the code for instantiating the window controller (in your case from the app delegates didFinishLaunching: ) is called. Sometimes it helps to create a new project and test there, if you may have changed too much within the original project and by accident removed delegate connections or similar.