I am making my first OS X application in Xcode, and I have no idea how to make a specified keyboard shortcut trigger some code (e.g. ⌘ Cmd+ C/⌘ Cmd+V). All I can find online is keyboard shortcuts in Xcode itself.
Thanks in advance
This is usually setup for you automatically. The MainMenu.xib by default has an Edit menu with these shortcuts bound, activating [firstResponder copy:] and [firstResponder paste:]. The first responder is item currently having keyboard focus, or it's parent view if it doesn't answer to those actions, up to the window at the top level.
For new shortcuts, Apple recommends that you have menu items associated to all those. If you do, you can set the shortcut in the interface builder using the attributes inspector. You then ctrl-drag from the menu item to the object you want to send the action to, e.g. the app delegate. You will have to create the target method first obviously. You should also use bindings to control when the menu item is enabled or not.
It's not recommended, but if you want to do this programmatically, without a menu item, you override the
- (BOOL)performKeyEquivalent:(NSEvent *)theEvent
method of the view or window in question. It will be called if it's in the responder chain when the key is pressed, and you return YES to indicate you've handled the event.
Related
I am currently creating a macOS menubar for an app without using any interface builder (no XIB/NIB files), just pure code. However I was expecting some items to be auto-generated during the start-up of the app. Items like "Start Dictation", "Emoji & Symbols" under Edit menu were existing as well as the "Enter Full Screen" menu item under the View Menu. But when it comes to Window Menu nothing was automatically generated, only the menu items I've set in the code. Do I have to enable some flags or options when instantiating a Window NSMenu so it automatically generates those items? I am new to macOS development so I feel like I am kind of lost. Thanks in advance.
The Window and Help menus are a little special in that they have their own NSApplication properties, so you will need to set them to your menus so that the system will know what they are.
For example, if you just create a window menu and add it to the main, all you will get are the items that you have provided. If you also set it as the application’s windowsMenu, in addition you will get all the stuff for moving, tab support, etc.
Setting NSApp’s helpMenu is similar, where a Spotlight menu item is added to the menu.
I am showing a floating NSPanel (separate from the main application window) for inputing data (I should add, this is a UIElement application but not a background one, i.e. it has no main window per say, and responds to global keyboard shortcuts to launch a window). I want certain keyboard shortcuts to work specifically for this NSPanel in addition to the ones the main menu supports for the application window.
How can I set a NSMenu for the floating panel such that keyboard shortcuts are sent to this panel when it's a keyWindow?
The simple solution was to simply implement the menu actions in the NSViewController hosted by the panel. This would then get picked up in the responder chain for all keyboard shortcuts supported.
I have customized the contextual menu for my Cocoa application such that only certain items are visible. In spite of my customization, I found that the system adds a menu item -- "Add to iTunes as a spoken track".
I tried removing this item from the menu but somehow, I am unable to get the control. Is there a way this item can be removed, or do I have to write an AppleScript to disable the iTunes option under Keyboard Shortcuts? I hate doing that since I will then have to restore it for the user.
You can control the contents of these menus (system-wide) by using Preferences.
See System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services > Text
In my experience, Apple's default items trigger off of the exact title of the menu. For example, I have a toy app with an NSMenu that I am creating entirely in code (no nib). I find that the View menu gets an extra item (for full screen) if I initialize it as follows:
NSMenu* viewMenu = [[NSMenu alloc]initWithTitle:#"View"];
However, if I put an extra space into the name, then Apple doesn't mess with it:
NSMenu* viewMenu = [[NSMenu alloc]initWithTitle:#"View "];
Is there a way this item can be removed, or do I have to write an AppleScript to disable the iTunes option under Keyboard Shortcuts?
Don't fight with The System; those Service items are supposed to appear on every context menu, as specified in the System Preferences. It even appears on the context menu of Safari which I'm using to view this post right now. Yes I agree that having "add to iTunes" enabled by default is a poor choice on the part of Apple, but that's life.
Maybe the user has his/her own service item s/he installed say as an Automator action. In that case the user probably doesn't want to have it removed.
XCode works in mysterious ways (at least to me).
I simply want to create a Preference pane in my app. When I run my app, the stock menu bar comes up (Apple, MyApp, File, Edit...) and the "Preferences" menu item is grayed out. It makes sense since I haven't started playing with it.
How on earth do I add/remove/activate/inactivate menu items? I'm not talking about adding anything new, simply using what should be there.
Thanks in advance.
NSMenu has "Auto Enable Items" enabled by default. That means if the menu item does not have it's action message hooked up, it will appear grayed out. So in your case, you would simply set the Preferences menu item's "Sent Action" to whatever action shows your preferences window. This can be hooked to some sort of showPreferencesWindow: method of your AppDelegate, or directly to the showWindow: method of a window controller.
To dynamically enable/disable menu items the best way is to implement the NSUserInterfaceItemValidation protocol which is excellently documented here
Edit: Your app's menu bar items live in the MainMenu.xib file. The menu bar appears as a "Main Menu" object on the left hand side (if you're using Xcode 4) Simply click on the items to modify them, and you can Ctrl+drag connections to and from them like any UI object.
I have come across this Cocoa application (source code) that shows a main Window.
As long as this window is key it is possible to open the Preferences window from the Main menu as well as by hitting Command-, but when the main window is not key and another window from the same app is, the NSMenuItem is grayed out and the keyboard shortcut does not respond.
I've inspected the xib file associated to the Main Menu and that NSMenuItem is sending a openPreferences:(id)sender IBAction to the FirstResponder which sould be the NSApplication.
What am I missing (I am still a newbie at mac cocoa programming)? How can I fix it so that the preferences are reachable from each application window?
Probably the original author implemented - (BOOL)validateMenuItem:(NSMenuItem *)menuItem and returns NO under some circumstances.
NSMenuValidationProtocol documentation.
Update: Another quick guess: Maybe the object that handles the IBAction for the menu item is not in the responder chain anymore after you open the second window. NSMenuItems are only enabled if the action selector can be found in the responder chain.