NSTableView setObjectValue not called

I think you've implemented the wrong method. Right above the setObjectValue method in the NSTableView.h header is this one:

- (nullable id)tableView:(NSTableView *)tableView objectValueForTableColumn:(nullable NSTableColumn *)tableColumn row:(NSInteger)row;

Replace the method header with this one and tweak the code to just return the object value, and everything should work just fine.

Cell-based table views have been deprecated since 10.10 Yosemite, so, unless you're targeting Snow Leopard or earlier, I'd recommend that you make the simple move to a view-based table view, which is far more flexible, capable, and easy to use.

Ok I threw together a quick and dirty app to test the normal mechanism and it works fine

The app delegate, which again is also the table delegate and data source, looks like this

@interface AppDelegate () <NSTableViewDataSource, NSTableViewDelegate>
    @property (weak) IBOutlet NSWindow *window;
    @property (nonatomic, strong) NSArray *data;
@end

@implementation AppDelegate

- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)aNotification {

  self.data = @[[@{@"name":@"Jonathan"} mutableCopy], [@{@"name":@"Richard"} mutableCopy]];
  [self.window makeKeyAndOrderFront:nil];

}

- (void)applicationWillTerminate:(NSNotification *)notification
{
  NSLog(@"%@", self.data.description);
}

- (NSInteger)numberOfRowsInTableView:(NSTableView *)tableView
{
  return 2;
}

- (id)tableView:(NSTableView *)tableView objectValueForTableColumn:(NSTableColumn *)tableColumn row:(NSInteger)row
{
  return [[self.data objectAtIndex:row] valueForKey:tableColumn.identifier];
}

- (void)tableView:(NSTableView *)tableView setObjectValue:(id)object forTableColumn:(NSTableColumn *)tableColumn row:(NSInteger)row
{
  [[self.data objectAtIndex:row] setValue:object forKey:tableColumn.identifier];
}
@end

All you have to do is make sure the table column is editable (in interface builder) and has the correct identifier which here would be "name" and everything works. The - (void)tableView:setObjectValue:forTableColumn:row: gets called as expected and sets the value.

Wait a minute—I just realized that my last post was incorrect! 😟 I haven't worked with cell-based table views in years (they have been officially deprecated since last year), so I forgot that the two methods in question (objectValue… and setObjectValue…) did different jobs. Sorry if I confused you!

Thanks. It looks like the column not having an identifier set was where I went wrong.

However, I also found another way to get the edited values from the table.

  // this bit goes in applicationDidFinishLaunching
  [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                      selector:@selector(editingDidEnd:)
                      name:NSControlTextDidEndEditingNotification
                        object:nil];

// this notification is sent by the table cell field editor
- (void)editingDidEnd:(NSNotification *)notification
{
  NSControl *control = [notification object];
  NSView *cellView = [control superview];
  NSInteger tableRow = [keyTable rowForView:cellView];
  NSString *cellText = [control stringValue];
  [keysList replaceObjectAtIndex:tableRow withObject:cellText];
}

I got this from Technical Q&A QA1551. The table cell's field editor sends the notification when the user finishes editing (tabs out, clicks elsewhere, hits return).