Cocoa Binding Mutable Dictionary with Search Field

Question

In my header file, I have a property declared

@property (strong) NSMutableDictionary *myContents;

In my implementation, I have assigned the contents of a plist (which are dictonaries) to the NSMutableDictionary.

In my window, I have a NSSearchField that I would like to bind with the Dictionary and that is the problem. I have a few questions and still don't understand after reasearching.

(1)Which should I use? NSObjectController, NSDictonaryController, or NSTreeController.

(2)How should I bind the controller to the dictionary? Is there a "key" and a "value" that I can bind or do I have to use properties declared in another class and add it to the dictionary?

(3)Can I bind that into a NSTableView with a "Key" on one side and a "value" on another side?

Thank you!

UPDATE My plist is like this Dictonary(root)>Dictionary>Strings. The way I set up my dictionary is like this:

NSString *myListPath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"Collection" ofType:@"plist"];
self.Dictionary1 = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc]initWithContentsOfFile:myListPath];

And I access one of them by :

    NSString *initialString = [[_Dictionary1 valueForKey:@"Book1"]objectForKey:@"1"];

Book1 is a Dictionary(2nd one). "1" is the string and is a chapter of Book1. How do I split this up then?

Answer 1

(1)Which should I use? NSObjectController, NSDictonaryController, or NSTreeController.

Use NSDictionaryController.

(2)How should I bind the controller to the dictionary? Is there a "key" and a "value" that I can bind or do I have to use properties declared in another class and add it to the dictionary?

Step 1 : Create @property(strong)NSMutableDictionary *dict; in .h file

Step 2 : Create a NSDictionaryController.

Step 3 : Check prepares content.

Step 4 : Set as :

Step 5 : Create a NSTableView.

Step 6 : For first column do as:

Step 7 : similarly for second column put value in Model Key Path.

Find the running sample here.

(3)Can I bind that into a NSTableView with a "Key" on one side and a "value" on another side?

Already done.

Binding NSDictionaryController with NSTableView by NSSearchField

Step 1 : Draw a NSSearchField.

Step 2 : Bind it to NSDicitonaryController in Predicate option.

Step 3 : In predicate format put key contains $value

Answer 2

As your Second Question is :

NSString *myListPath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"Collection" ofType:@"plist"]; self.Dictionary1 = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc]initWithContentsOfFile:myListPath];

And I access one of them by :

NSString *initialString = [[_Dictionary1 valueForKey:@"Book1"]objectForKey:@"1"];

You can use :

NSString *book=@"Book1";
NSString *chapter=[book integerValue];
NSString *initialString=self.Dictionary1[book][chapter];