Sharing NSArrayController Between Nibs

Question

I have an Core Data-based iTunes-like app I'm building that has an NSTableView in the main window and allows the user to select items in the table view and perform a "get info", like in iTunes. Currently I'm working on the single-item get info window, which displays when the user selects a single item in the main window (which is in MainMenu.xib) and pressed Cmd-I. This brings up the single-item get info window (in SingleItemGetInfo.xib).

The table view in the main window is populated via bindings to an NSArrayController. If I put an NSArrayController into the SingleItemGetInfo.xib file, I understand that's going to be a different instance of NSArrayController.

So, what's the proper way to bind the fields in the single item get info window to the selection the user has made in the main window's table view?

MainMenu.xib's Array Controller bindings:
Managed Object Context: AppDelegate.self.managedObjectContext

MainMenu.xib's Table View bindings:
Content: Array Controller.arrangedObjects
Selection Indexes: Array Controller.selectionIndexes
Sort Descriptors: Array Controller.sortDescriptors

Answer 1

This will work mostly the same way it does when the master and detail views are in the same window. The primary difference is that you need to bind the selection of the array controller in the detail xib to the selection of the master array controller.

It depends on how you have your app organized as to how you accomplish this. If both views are run by the same object then you can just make the master array controller an outlet connected to the controller (@property IBOutlet NSArrayController *masterArrayController;). Then in the detail xib you can bind the selection of the detail array controller to the selection of the master array controller.

If each view has its own controller you might also consider just passing the managed object from the master view to the detail view. Then you can bind to each of the attributes of the managed object in your xib file (i.e. bind to File's Owner self.detailObject.fullName). If you pass a reference I think all of the changes will go right back into the managed object context.