Create Cocoa Document App without xib files

Question

I want to create document app, but I want to write it with code-only, without any magical xib files.

There're guides out there for ordinary apps, but no guides for document app. I tried to understand the difference with Xcode projects but it's not really clear.

So what should I do to convert ordinary app without xib to document app?

Answer 1

This is not easy to do. The following source code subclasses NSDocument and may be run in XCode by copy/pasting into the main.m file and deleting the pre-existing AppDelegate files. The info.plist must also be edited to look exactly like the attachment; otherwise it won't run. Good luck.

#import <Cocoa/Cocoa.h>

@interface Document : NSDocument <NSTextViewDelegate> {
 NSTextView *txtView;
 NSWindow *window;
}
 @end

 @implementation Document
 
-(id) init {
 if (self = [super init]) {
  [self buildWindow];
 }
 return self;
}
 
 // ---- Required for remainder of  save menu to show up ---- //
+(BOOL) autosavesInPlace {
 return NO;
}
 
-(NSData *)dataOfType:(NSString *)typeName error:(NSError **)outError {
 return [[txtView string] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
}
 
-(BOOL) readFromURL:(NSURL *) absoluteURL ofType:(NSString *)typeName error:(NSError **)outError {
 //NSString *codeString = [[NSString alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:absoluteURL encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:outError];
 NSString *codeString = [[NSString alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:absoluteURL encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding error:outError];
 [txtView setString:codeString];
 return YES;
}
 
-(void) textDidChange:(NSNotification *)notification {
 [self updateChangeCount:NSChangeDone];
}
 
-(void) buildWindow {
#define _wndW 700
#define _wndH 650
 
window = [[NSWindow alloc] initWithContentRect: NSMakeRect(0, 0, _wndW, _wndH)styleMask: NSWindowStyleMaskTitled | NSWindowStyleMaskMiniaturizable | NSWindowStyleMaskClosable | NSWindowStyleMaskResizable backing:NSBackingStoreBuffered defer:NO];
[window center];
[window setTitle: @"NSDocument window"];
[window makeKeyAndOrderFront: nil];
 
[window setIdentifier:@"DocumentWindow"];
 
 NSWindowController *windowController = [[NSWindowController alloc]initWithWindow:window];
 [self addWindowController: windowController];
 
 // ****** NSTextView with Scroll ****** //
 NSScrollView *scrlView = [[NSScrollView alloc] initWithFrame:NSMakeRect( 20, 60, _wndW - 40, _wndH - 80 )];
 [[window contentView] addSubview:scrlView];
 [scrlView setAutoresizingMask: NSViewWidthSizable | NSViewHeightSizable ];
 [scrlView setHasVerticalScroller: YES];
 txtView = [[NSTextView alloc] initWithFrame:NSMakeRect( 0, 0, _wndW - 40, _wndH - 80 )];
 [scrlView setDocumentView: txtView];
 [txtView insertText:@"Enter text - Right click for menu." replacementRange:NSMakeRange(0,0)];
 [txtView setAllowsUndo: YES];
 [txtView setDelegate:self];
 
 // ***** Quit btn ***** //
 NSButton *quitBtn = [[NSButton alloc]initWithFrame:NSMakeRect( _wndW - 60, 10, 40, 40 )];
 [quitBtn setBezelStyle:NSBezelStyleCircular];
 [quitBtn setTitle: @"Q" ];
 [quitBtn setAutoresizingMask: NSViewMinXMargin];
 [quitBtn setAction:@selector(terminate:)];
 [[window contentView] addSubview: quitBtn];
}
 
 @end

 @interface AppDelegate : NSObject <NSApplicationDelegate>
 @end

 @implementation AppDelegate
 
-(Document *)frontDocument {
 NSArray *windows = [NSApp orderedWindows];
 for ( NSWindow *w in windows ) {
  if([[w identifier] isEqualToString:@"DocumentWindow"]) return [[w windowController] document];
 }
 return nil;
}
 
-(void)saveAction:(id)sender {
 [[self frontDocument] saveDocument:sender];
}
 
-(void) buildMenu {
 // ******** Menu and menubar ********//
 NSMenu *menubar = [NSMenu new];
 NSMenuItem *menuBarItem = [NSMenuItem new];
 [menubar addItem:menuBarItem];
 [NSApp setMainMenu:menubar];
 NSMenu *appMenu = [NSMenu new];
 [menuBarItem setSubmenu:appMenu];
 
 // ***** About/Quit  ******//
 NSString *appName = [[NSProcessInfo processInfo] processName];
 NSString *aboutTitle = [@"About " stringByAppendingString:appName];
 [appMenu addItemWithTitle: aboutTitle action:@selector(orderFrontStandardAboutPanel:) keyEquivalent:@""];
 [appMenu addItem:[NSMenuItem separatorItem]];
 [appMenu addItemWithTitle: @"Quit" action:@selector(terminate:) keyEquivalent:@"q"];
 
 // ******** File Menu  ********//
 NSMenuItem *fileMenuItem = [menubar addItemWithTitle:@"" action:nil keyEquivalent:@""];
 NSMenu *fileMenu = [[NSMenu alloc] initWithTitle:@"File"];
 [menubar setSubmenu:fileMenu forItem:fileMenuItem];
 [fileMenu addItemWithTitle: @"New" action: @selector(newDocument:) keyEquivalent:@"n"];
 [fileMenu addItemWithTitle: @"Open..." action: @selector(openDocument:) keyEquivalent:@"o"];
 [fileMenu addItem: [NSMenuItem separatorItem]];
 [fileMenu addItemWithTitle: @"Close" action: @selector(performClose:) keyEquivalent:@"w"];
 [fileMenu addItemWithTitle: @"Save..." action: @selector(saveAction:) keyEquivalent:@"s"];
 [fileMenu addItemWithTitle: @"SaveAs..." action: @selector(saveDocumentAs:) keyEquivalent:@"S"];
 
 // ******** Edit Menu ********//
 NSMenuItem *editMenuItem = [menubar addItemWithTitle:@"" action:nil keyEquivalent:@""];
 NSMenu *editMenu = [[NSMenu alloc] initWithTitle:@"Edit"];
 [menubar setSubmenu:editMenu forItem:editMenuItem];
 [editMenu addItemWithTitle: @"Undo" action:@selector(undo:) keyEquivalent:@"z"];
 [editMenu addItemWithTitle: @"Redo" action:@selector(redo:) keyEquivalent:@"Z"];
 [editMenu addItem:[NSMenuItem separatorItem]];
 [editMenu addItemWithTitle: @"Cut" action:@selector(cut:) keyEquivalent:@"x"];
 [editMenu addItemWithTitle: @"Copy" action:@selector(copy:) keyEquivalent:@"c"];
 [editMenu addItemWithTitle: @"Paste" action:@selector(paste:) keyEquivalent:@"v"];
 [editMenu addItemWithTitle: @"Delete" action:@selector(delete:) keyEquivalent:@""];
 [editMenu addItemWithTitle: @"Select All" action:@selector(selectAll:) keyEquivalent:@"a"];
 }
 
-(void) applicationWillFinishLaunching: (NSNotification *)notification {
 [self buildMenu];
}
 
 @end

int main() {
 NSApplication *application = [NSApplication sharedApplication];
 AppDelegate *appDelegate = [[AppDelegate alloc] init];
 [application setDelegate:appDelegate];
 [application run];
return 0;
}