[macaroni]

I can't seem to grasp how NSOutlineView works. I understand NSTableView but can't understand how to code the datasource methods of NSOutlineView.

What I am trying to display in a NSOutlineView
is an array of Labs. Each entry in the array which is a lab has also an array or dictionary that is of 5 items (basically 5 children)

The example that I have seen mostly has been one with a single parent root. I need to show my data structure in the similar fashion as seen in System Profiler where "hardware" and "software" are on the same top level.

I don't understand how and what is (id)item and how identifying it if it nil that I return the root and if not nil then the children?

Any tips on how to code the datasource methods based on my data structure would be appreciated....

I looked at the developer examples and I'm still scratching my head...

Thanks...

[Turias]

If I were you, I would go to the following link and do a search for NSOutlineView.

http://cocoa.mamasam.com/

There will no doubt be a ton of information and code-snippets. Good luck!

[mrwalker]

I got it by downloading this:

http://www.bignerdranch.com/Resources/outline.tgz

To display something other than the single root node at the top level, you need to change the following two methods:

Code:
- (id)outlineView:(NSOutlineView *)ov child:(int)index ofItem:(id)item
- (int)outlineView:(NSOutlineView *)ov numberOfChildrenOfItem:(id)item

In either of them, when item == nil, you need to return the child or count of the node you want to appear as top level

Here's a modified version of the one from Big Nerd Ranch that does what I'm talking about:

http://www.doublemattress.com/upload...w_modified.tgz

In my modified version, I also edited the addChild method so that I could add to the root node without selecting it

-mrwalker

[mrwalker]

Originally posted by macaroni:

I don't understand how and what is (id)item and how identifying it if it nil that I return the root and if not nil then the children?

To Clarify, (id)item is a pointer to the item that the represents a line in the outlineview. This method is called once for each line. When it asks for item == nil, it is asking for the first item in the table

[macaroni]

Thanks a bunch mrwalker.

Your example was great and very straightforward. It highly resembled the overall structure of the objects and data that I needed to show.

Thanks again!!!!

Originally posted by mrwalker:
I got it by downloading this:

http://www.bignerdranch.com/Resources/outline.tgz

To display something other than the single root node at the top level, you need to change the following two methods:

Code:
- (id)outlineView:(NSOutlineView *)ov child:(int)index ofItem:(id)item
- (int)outlineView:(NSOutlineView *)ov numberOfChildrenOfItem:(id)item

In either of them, when item == nil, you need to return the child or count of the node you want to appear as top level

Here's a modified version of the one from Big Nerd Ranch that does what I'm talking about:

http://www.doublemattress.com/upload...w_modified.tgz

In my modified version, I also edited the addChild method so that I could add to the root node without selecting it

-mrwalker

[mrwalker]

Originally posted by macaroni:
Thanks a bunch mrwalker.

Your example was great and very straightforward. It highly resembled the overall structure of the objects and data that I needed to show.

Thanks again!!!!

I feel all warm inside after that

-mrwalker

[macaroni]

Hi mrwalker,

I started playing around with NSOutlineView and I can display the top nodes fine. However when i click the disclosure triangles none of the children are shown.

I can't seem to figure out why.. I've stepped through my code and notice in comparison to your example that when the disclosure triangle is clicked in your example, the method
- (id)outlineViewNSOutlineView *)ov childint)index ofItemid)item is called. My test example it is not called....

The objects that I am trying to display is relatively simple; all nodes (including the rootNode) is a NSDictionary that holds a NSString forKey of "rootName" and a NSMutableArray forKey of "sevenDaySchedules"

So when the data is displayed in the outline view I want it to look as so:

\/ Schedule 1
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
> Schedule 2

But I can't seem to get the children to show.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Originally posted by mrwalker:
I feel all warm inside after that

-mrwalker