In the last post I showed you how to build a basic sidebar using CPOutlineView and all its data source methods. In this post I am going to continue that idea and show you how to update a content view based on the user’s selection in the sidebar. You can see a demo of the final application to get the idea. All the source code created for this post can be found here.

I started chandlerkent.com about four years ago as a way to learn how to create a website, including a backend powered by PHP and MySQL. At that time I created really basic blog software. This had many obvious problems, mainly it became impossible for me to maintain and add the features I needed. So the blog became stagnant. But from the experience I gained while building the site, I was able to create and deploy iPhlickr, which was also backed by PHP and MySQL. This site has basically been used for iPhlickr since then. About a year ago I deleted the blog altogether as the information was simply out-of-date and the site was an eyesore. I didn’t want to associate myself with that work.

This past week I was tasked with converting our CPCollectionView-backed sidebar to one using a CPOutlineView. The reason for doing this was threefold. First, a collection view could not support all of the project’s requirements going forward (at least not easily). Most notably, we wanted to support quick and easy navigation to common items like projects, glossaries, and some community links. Second, an outline view is more Mac-like in that most desktop Mac applications with a sidebar have some sort of outline view. This would move us closer to a Mac desktop experience on the web and lower the learning curve for new users. Finally, we just could.

I finally got the blog setup again. I am still using Blogger because I don’t feel like fussing with installing my own solution. We’ll see how far this takes me.

I have a few things I want to write up in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Also, I can’t seem to find a good Blogger template, so if anybody has any suggestions, let me know.