NSWindowController windowDidLoad not called

Question

I have a simple Cocoa app using a NSWindowController subclass. In the nib I have set:

File Owner's class to my NSWindowController subclass
The 'Window' outlet of the File's Owner to the main NSWindow in the nib.

The init method of my NSWindowController subclass is called (I call super), but not matter what I do windowDidLoad is never called.

I must be missing something obvious, but for the life of me I can't figure out what it is.

How are you initializing the class? Are you calling super's implementation of -initWithWindowNibName:? — Rob Keniger
My NSWindowController subclass is instantiated within the nib, like this doc talks about: developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/cocoa/conceptual/… Basically, MainMenu.xib creates it — Mike Hornblade
I faced similar kind of problem: I was not getting call to - (void)windowDidLoad. After some digging I found my mistake in my NSWindowController subclass i have declared window as property. I removed that member and called showWindow: method to get the window sucessfully. — Raviprakash

Rob Keniger Rob Keniger · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-23T03:54:16

You're trying to create the instance of NSWindowController by instantiating it in another nib. However, when you instantiate an object in a nib file, it is initialized by calling -initWithCoder:.

-initWithCoder: is not a designated initializer of NSWindowController, so your instance of NSWindowController never actually loads its nib.

Instead of instantiating your NSWindowController instance by placing it in the MainMenu.xib file in Interface Builder, create it programmatically:

In AppDelegate.h:

@class YourWindowController;
@interface AppDelegate : NSObject
{
    YourWindowController* winController;
}
@end

In AppDelegate.m:

@implementation AppDelegate
- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification*)notification
{
    winController = [[YourWindowController alloc] init];
    [winController showWindow:self];
}
- (void)dealloc
{
    [winController release];
    [super dealloc];
}
@end

In YourWindowController.m:

@implementation YourWindowController
- (id)init
{
    self=[super initWithWindowNibName:@"YourWindowNibName"];
    if(self)
    {
        //perform any initializations
    }
    return self;
}
@end

NSWindowController windowDidLoad not called

4 Answers