NSPopUpButton with Fixed Values and Bindings

NSPopUpButton can be challenging to use. It would be quite desirable to have a very easy way to add an NSPopUpButton for fixed values, like "male" and "female". Unfortunately, that doesn't exist (at least not to my knowledge). That's why I'll show you really quick how to implement this with IB, bindings and some code.

1. Create a plain old new Cocoa application in XCode and call it NSPopUpDemo.
2. Open NSPopUpDemoAppDelegate.h, and add these two ivars:
   
   
   

   NSArray *genders;
   
   
   NSString *selectedGender;
   
   IBOutlet NSArrayController *arrayController;
   
   
   
   

   And add this property:
   
   
   
   @property (nonatomic, copy) NSString *selectedGender;
   
   
   
   
3. Switch to NSPopUpDemoAppDelegate.m and add this at the top:
   
   
   

   @synthesize selectedGender;
   
   
   
   

   and add this to applicationDidFinishLaunching:
   
   
   

   genders = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:[NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:@"male", @"name", @"m", @"value", nil],[NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:@"female", @"name", @"f", @"value", nil], nil];
   
   
   
   [arrayController setContent:genders];
   
   
   

4. Open MainMenu.xib
5. Drag an NSArrayController onto the nib and an NSPopUpButton onto the window.
6. Control-drag from the App Delegate to the Array Controller and connect the arrayController outlet.
7. Open the inspector for the NSPopUpButton. Bind it's content to Array Controller's arrangedObjects, it's content objects to Array Controller's arrangedObjects.value and it's content values to Array Controller's arrangedObjects.name:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Build and Run, you should be able to select male or female.
9. Open MainMenu.xib again and drag an NSTextField to the window. Bind it's value to the App Delegate's selectedGender:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. Also open the Inspector for the NSPopUpButton and bind it's selectedObject also to the App Delegate's selectedGender.
11. Build and Run again. Now you should be able to enter "f" in the text field and the pop up should change to "female" and vice versa.
12. And you're done!

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