Initialize a subclass of NSViewController without a xib file - swift

Question

I am currently writing an OS X application using Swift 2. I am wanting to build the UI without XIBs or Storyboards. The problem I am having is on initializing a custom ViewController that I can put my views in.
Here is my AppDelegate:
#NSApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate {
#IBOutlet weak var window: NSWindow!
var viewController: MyViewController?
func applicationDidFinishLaunching(aNotification: NSNotification) {
viewController = MyViewController()
self.window.contentView!.addSubview(viewController!.view)
}
func applicationWillTerminate(aNotification: NSNotification) {
// Insert code here to tear down your application
}
}
And MyViewController:
class MyViewController: NSViewController {
var textField: NSTextField?
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
textField = NSTextField(frame: NSRect(x: 10, y: 10, width: 100, height: 100))
textField!.bezeled = false
textField!.drawsBackground = false
textField!.editable = false
textField!.selectable = false
textField!.stringValue = "TEST"
self.view.addSubview(textField!)
}
}
The problem is that when I add the viewController's view as a subview of the window's contentView, I get the following error and the view doesn't load.
2015-12-06 17:34:18.204 Test[9682:1871784] -[NSNib
_initWithNibNamed:bundle:options:] could not load the nibName:
Test.MyViewController in bundle (null).
I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong - any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

From the NSViewController documentation:
If you pass in a nil for nibNameOrNil then nibName will return nil and
loadView will throw an exception; in this case you must invoke
setView: before view is invoked, or override loadView.
The initializer for MyViewController() uses nil for the nibName.
Two potential fixes:
1. Set the view in your AppDelegate
func applicationDidFinishLaunching(aNotification: NSNotification) {
viewController = MyViewController()
viewController!.view = NSView() // added this line; edit to set any view of your choice
self.window.contentView!.addSubview(viewController!.view)
}
Alternately,
2. Override loadView in your subclassed ViewController
import Cocoa
class MyViewController: NSViewController {
var textField: NSTextField?
override func loadView() {
self.view = NSView() // any view of your choice
}
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
textField = NSTextField(frame: NSRect(x: 10, y: 10, width: 100, height: 100))
textField!.bezeled = false
textField!.drawsBackground = false
textField!.editable = false
textField!.selectable = false
textField!.stringValue = "TEST"
self.view.addSubview(textField!)
}
}