Step 4: Save Custom Print Settings

In Step 1, you designed the accessory view in Interface Builder so that it has two sections, one that applies only to the current print job and one that applies to all print jobs. This means that the first setting is supposed to return to its initial default value every time you close and reopen the print panel, including when you quit the application and relaunch it. The settings in the second section, to the contrary, are supposed to persist through closing and reopening the print panel, closing and reopening the Chef’s Diary document, and even quitting and relaunching the application.

The HIG and other Apple documents relating to printing give developers great latitude in deciding upon the appropriate persistence of print settings. For example, Apple advises that document-based applications can keep print settings alive on a per-document basis as long as the document is open or even after the document is closed and reopened. You can see this flexibility in the sections of the print panel controlled by the printing system, too. For example, in TextEdit, you can change virtually all of the settings in the top part of the print panel, and they return to their defaults the next time you open the print panel, whether you reopen it after clicking Cancel, after clicking Print, or after choosing Print to PDF from the PDF pop-up menu. Yet if you change the “Print header and footer” setting in the TextEdit accessory view, the change persists whether you reopen the print panel after clicking Cancel, clicking Print, or choosing Print to PDF from the PDF pop-up menu. It’s a matter of your best judgment about the typical usage of your application and what your users will find most convenient.