Simple core data problem--- please help

Question

hi all,
I've done a few core data tutorials, can't say I understand all the switches and doodads, but I'm fairly comfortable with it. I can create almost any kind of "to many" relationship work, and its pure magic...
the problem is that every "to one" relationship fails to work. I would have thought this was easy! but its apparently impossible.
heres how to get exactly were i am:
1. make a new xcode project... core data document based application.
2. in the model graph make 1 entity with 1 attribute, say an int16 for arguments sake... it doesn't matter what it is the results are always the same.
3. open up your myDocument.nib file in IB
4. switch back to xcode, leaving the main window of you Doc visible.
5. option click + drag your entity from the model graph in xcode, to the main window in IB (you'll see a green plus symbol if its working) and release it
6. select one object from the resulting option window.
7. save all files, compile the app, and run it.
you will now see a control (usually a text box) that is grayed out, and reporting: "no selection". if we had picked "many objects" in #6, this app would be working. so what gives?
well in the bindings, the item labeled "Controller Key" is set to "selection" and I guess that since there is just the one object, and were already bound to it, theres No need for a selection, thus breaking the binding. But what options do we have in that list? nothing that makes sense, and even though we can put in whatever we feel like, nothing makes any sense. And why would apple even bother letting you drag n drop an entity if it wasn't set up correct in the first place anyway?
whats going on here? the docs and the tutorials all focus on repeating things I already know, none of them illuminate what the Controller Key is really looking at, and what I need to put in that box to make it aware that it doesn't have a selection, just attributes.

Answer 1

ok.
here is whats really happening...
i set everything up correctly, but when we go to runtime, there is no instantiation of any data, at all. I have a controller, but it has nothing to control.
with the "to many" relationships, you get an empty table, with add, remove buttons. So its the standard behavior to assume that you don't need the data in the beginning, leading me to a logistical problem, but one that I understand enough to begin formulating a plan.
I can make a call that instantiates an instance of the data, from my document object, in the awake from nib method. which call? who knows. But I seem to recall that there is some sort of bug in the display anyway, so it may be more complicated than that.