Is it possible to have a custom NSWindowController on launch?

Question

In this answer is said it is possible to have a custom NSWindowController by removing the window from MainMenu.xib and instantiating the window controller 'manually' from applicationDidFinishLaunching:. But it also says:

To stop the default window from showing I just delete it. There's probably a better way but I don't know that.

Is there a better way? What is that better way, should it exist? Is it considered 'normal' practice to get your own window controller?

iluvcapra · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-07T20:24:14.273

12

To do this, you would usually subclass NSWindowController and change the File's Owner class to your WindowController subclass in the nib.

EDIT:

If you aren't doing a document-based app, and just want an NSWindowController of your own to do on-demand loading of Nibs (completely reasonable), then you'd delete the window from your nib and instantiate an NSWindowController subclass programmatically, using it explicitly to do your window loading...

@implementation MyApplicationDelegate {
    MyWindowControllerSubclass *windowController;
}


-(void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)notification {
    windowController = [[MyWindowControllerSubclass alloc] initWithWindowNibName:@"MyWindowNib"];

    [windowController showWindow:nil];
    [windowController.window makeKeyAndOrderFront:nil];
}

edited Feb 07 '13 at 20:24

answered Feb 07 '13 at 17:58

iluvcapra

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Sadly, this doesn't work. The initial owner is NSApplication, and you get 2 warnings when you change that. The window does appear, but my window controller's `initWithWindow:` isn't called, as is `awakeFromNib`... – 11684 Feb 07 '13 at 18:04
Pardon me, you don't change the subclass in the MainMenu.nib, you change it in your document's nib. I'm assuming you're doing a document-based app, I don't think you even get an NSWindowController to replace otherwise, not by default. If you aren't doing a document-based app, then the best thing to do is indeed delete the boilerplate window, instatiate an NSWindowController subclass of your own devising in applicationDidFinishLaunching: and use it to load your window programmatically out of a separate window-boilerplate nib. – iluvcapra Feb 07 '13 at 20:17
No, it's not a document based app. But then I'll do that! Thanks! – 11684 Feb 07 '13 at 20:49

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 18 '14 at 14:42

I was running into the same issue and I want to show you my own solution.

Create a normal Cocoa Application (not Document Based)
Go to MainMenu.xib an delete the Window
Go ahead and create a new file, User Interface -> Window
After that create a subclass of NSWindowController
Open the just created xib file and set the Custom Class in the Identity inspector to the just created subclass of NSWindowController
Right click on File's Owner and connect the window property to the actual window
Now go to the AppDelegate an create an instance variable that holds you CustomWindowController
Last thing you have to do is instantiate your CustomWindowController self.customWindowController = [[AccountWindowController alloc] initWithWindowNibName:@"CustomWindow"]; and show the Window [self.customWindowController showWindow:nil] in - (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)aNotification

Here is an example project https://www.dropbox.com/s/ft3t7w72806tnoe/CustomWindowController.zip

While I appreciate you took the time to answer, this is kind of a duplicate of iluvcapra's answer. — 11684, Jan 19 '14 at 08:38
You are totally right. I didn't saw that! Just did the same thing here and thought I answer it quickly. — tuna, Jan 22 '14 at 09:32
@tuna ur answer was more helpful though as it gave step by step guidance — a k, Feb 14 '17 at 23:17

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 19 '13 at 15:05

I actually found another way: NSWindowController has the method -initWithWindow:. Because the App Delegate has a property window which is linked to the window from MainMenu.xib on startup, it was easy to link it to my WindowController:

- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)aNotification {
    MyWindowController *wincon = [[MyWindowController alloc] initWithWindow:window];
}

I have yet to research this, but I don't get any errors.

Is it possible to have a custom NSWindowController on launch?

3 Answers3