[techtrucker]

I've been programming in Cocoa/ObjC for a number of years, but have just started on my first document based app. So I am probably missing something very basic, and will dig out my Cocoa books and more than likely find the answer. But I still was hoping for some feedback here. So here goes:

How does one connect document actions to menu items? This particular app has a toolbar and a table in each window. I created a method to delete the currently selected row(s) in my document class, but now need to tie that to a menu item.

I've implemented an app controller for other things like a Preferences panel and custom about panel.

Thanks in advance for any input.

[Chuckit]

Use the First Responder object in the nib.

[techtrucker]

Thanks Chuck! Got it working fine now.

[ctshryock]

i have the same problem. i want a menu item to send a message to the top most document. i've added

- (IBAction)foo: (id)sender;

to MyDocument.h, but in MainMenu.nib the first responder does not have that method after i drag the new .h file to it.

i thought about using notifications but then all of the open documents would respond and preform the action, which isn't what i want, i just want the top document.

i'm implementing an optional export as xml, but currently the only way i can get it to work is if there is an "export" button on the document, which frankly, looks like crap. i'd like to offer "file>export" from the menu but can't figure this out.

thanks for any help!

[Chuckit]

I already answered this question when techtrucker asked.

[ctshryock]

I read your response to techtrucker however your solution did not work for me. as i mentioned my method in MyDocument was not available to connect in IB using first responder. i was cntrl+dragging from my menu item to first responder and didn't see it. i saw many other generic methods ("save", "save as"... etc.) but not "exportAsPlist" that i created.

i did come up with a solution, using an app controler i connected the menu item to an app controller method "export", which then called

[[[NSDocumentController sharedDocumentController] currentDocument] exportAsPlist];

this works, however it doesn't seem like it's the way i should be doing it. am i missing something obvious?

thank you for taking the time to read this

[Chuckit]

Ah, I see. Sorry, I misunderstood. You can add methods to First Responder in the Classes tab. Just double-click First Responder and click Add in the actions inspector.

[ctshryock]

awesome! thats what i needed. that worked after i changed my method back to being (IBAction)
instead of the (void) that i had to change it to in order for my sharedController hack to work.

thanks for the help.

[techtrucker]

Ok, next question if I may? Referring back to my original post, I added the action to First Responder and the menu item now performs the same function as the toolbar item. Now I need to enable/disable the menu item. Not finding an obvious solution I find myself wanting to use a notification, but wondered if anyone else (Chuck?) had a better idea? Thanks in advance!

[Chuckit]

Implement validateMenuItem: in whatever class it is that's supposed to respond to the menu item.