CODEWITHSUNDEEP
swiftmacosnstextfield
perhapsmaybeharry
perhapsmaybeharry

Reputation: 904

Connecting an NSTextField object to an IBOutlet in AppDelegate.swift

Recently, I've been trying to learn Swift, so if this seems to be a relatively simple question do forgive me.

For some reason, control-clicking a NSTextField object in a tab view controller and dragging doesn't give me the option to "insert outlet or action" but rather, "connect binding" when I scroll over a compatible object (in this case it was the superclass declaration).

Why is it that I am not able to insert an outlet or an action, but am able to connect a binding?

side question: what is a binding?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 1131

Answers (2)

HardikDG
HardikDG

Reputation: 6112

you need to have same view controller in storyboard when you control-drag a NSTextField to controller

Edit: As Leo mentioned in the comment You can't connect/create any IBOutlet in the AppDelegate file if you are using storyboard, you have to create in it's particular controller where you have placed NSTextField

enter image description here

Storyboard
As shown in the image if you are in storyboard click the top bar on the controller from there you will get the options shown in the image, select Automatic
If you have selected proper view controller in the storyboard it should show same viewcontroller file in the Automatic(viewController.swift) by selecting that file you should able to control-drag IBOutlet

XIB
In the Xib when you select Xib and click 'Asssistant Editor' it will generally take to the proper view controller if not select Automatic for it also as shown in the Storyboard image are that you will able to connect you IBOultet

Binding
When you control-drag IBOutlet it create a connection between your control and property of view controller

From Apple Doc

The Cocoa bindings feature enables you to establish a live connection between an item of data and its presentation in a view. Any change made to the data’s value, either in the view or in the object that stores the data, automatically propagates across the connection.

You can find more information regarding it in Apple Doc

Upvotes: 1

Nick Allen
Nick Allen

Reputation: 1873

The outlet can only be a property of your nib file / storyboard scene's owner. Which is your view controller in most cases.

This is what happen what your view controller instantiated from storyboard:

  1. Instantiates views using the information in your storyboard file.
  2. Connects all outlets and actions.
  3. Assigns the root view to the view controller’s view property.
  4. Calls the view controller’s awakeFromNib method.
    When this method is called, the view controller’s trait collection is empty and views may not be in their final positions.
  5. Calls the view controller’s viewDidLoad method. Use this method to add or remove views, modify layout constraints, and load data for your views.

Short Version:

UIKit instantiate your view controller for you, and add all subview as you required in storyboard. And connect(binding) subViews to their outlet (if you created one).

How to solve your problem

When you opened your assistant editor. Choose the automatic viewController, if that is not something your create, you should create a subclass of viewController you need (in this case, UITabViewController) and change your scene's class to that.

Upvotes: 1

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