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I notice that Mail.app, iTunes and even Finder have a similar template, with a various columns, but often, a left Column with "folders" and "files". Is this a sort of standard template, that I can use so as to not reinvent the wheel?


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No, Apple does not provide a control that acts like a finder window, etc., although it is a common request and you might want to file a bug report at http://bugreport.apple.com making this request...it would help push them along to provide such a standard control.

However, there are several controls that implement various aspects that you may want to take a look at like NSTableView, NSOutlineView, NSCollectionView & IKImageBrowser.

Although, to get everything you want, you may have to reinvent the wheel. I have generally found these control hard to customize if they do not provide everything you need out-of-the-box...but they do provide a lot out-of-the-box.

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Brilliant, that's just what I needed to know. Thanks Eric.. I'm copying the post into a local note so I will remember, and will file a request on Radar.. Thanks again. David –  David DelMonte Mar 7 '11 at 4:53
I hope there is an NSFileOutlineView in Lion (subclass of NSOutlineView). –  user142019 Mar 7 '11 at 11:12
@radek well, file a bug report. –  ericgorr Mar 7 '11 at 13:38
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Nopes, but you can create your own templates so you only have to reinvent the wheel once.

By the way, you can decompile nibs from some applications by copying two files from an empty nib into them.

By the way, if you decompile Finder's nibs, you see that they are very messy and the sidebar is in a separate nib. I guess they are combined programmatically.

By the way, iTunes uses Carbon nibs while Finder and Mail use Cocoa nibs.

By the way, Mail is soon to be replaced with a new version that has a totally different lay-out.

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hmm. Hi Radek.. "you can decompile nibs from some applications by copying two files from an empty nib into them". Could you say more about that. And thanks for answering.. –  David DelMonte Mar 7 '11 at 4:02
I did hear about this sample code that at least has the left side columnsbuilt: developer.apple.com/library/mac/#samplecode/SourceView –  David DelMonte Mar 8 '11 at 2:31
@David DelMonte well, the Hulu app has nibs that are not compiled. There are two files in them that are missing in the nibs from the Finder. If you copy these two files in the Finder nibs than you can open them. Google 'nib decompiler hulu'. –  user142019 Mar 8 '11 at 11:58
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