Fuzzy text in NSStatusItem - cocoa

I'm displaying a statusItem at launch like this:
theItem = [[[NSStatusBar systemStatusBar] statusItemWithLength:NSVariableStatusItemLength] retain];
NSString *theString = [textField stringValue];
(textField.stringValue = theString);
[theItem setTitle:theString];
[theItem setHighlightMode:YES];
The text looks very fuzzy. How can I clean up the look of the text?
Thanks.
Paul
Here's a screenshot with the digital menu bar clock on top, and NSStatusItem title on bottom:

Have you tried drawing the text into an image and using that image in the NSStatusItem?

Looks rather fine to me.
Okay, not "perfect" but it's more about uneven scaling than "fuzziness." Is this what you're seeing too?

Related

Misaligned NSAttributedString in macOS NSStatusItem's button

I would like to display a two-line NSAttributedString as the button title of the NSStatusItem of my macOS app.
However, it seems to move the text up a few pixels and, thus, cut it off. This problem did not occur before macOS Big Sur.
Workaround
With some effort I managed to generate an NSImage of the text and use it as the button's image.
Question
Is there any way to position the NSAttributedString correctly without using an image?
I found a way to workaround this problem, but I don’t know if this way is correct, the code with Objetive-C is as follows
NSMutableParagraphStyle *style = [[NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc] init];
CGFloat minMaxLineHeight = (font.pointSize - font.ascender + font.capHeight);
[style setMinimumLineHeight:minMaxLineHeight];
[style setMaximumLineHeight:minMaxLineHeight];
NSRange range = NSMakeRange(0, text.length);
[attriString addAttribute:NSParagraphStyleAttributeName
value:style
range:range];
[attriString addAttribute:NSBaselineOffsetAttributeName
value:#(-3.5)
range:range];

NSButton(Cell) setFont

It seems that NSButtonCell's setFont method is not available anymore from 10.9.
Is there any way (or category) to (re)implement it?
I don't know why Apple forces it's own styles on buttons.
I am trying for 2 days to style my own custom button (I also needed a category to simply change the button's text color - shame).
You can use -setAttributedTitle: of NSButton to set the style of button title.
Sample code:
NSDictionary *attributes = #{NSForegroundColorAttributeName: [NSColor redColor], NSFontAttributeName: [NSFont userFixedPitchFontOfSize:13.0f]};
NSAttributedString *aString = [[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:#"Button" attributes:attributes];
[button setAttributedTitle:aString];

How to make TabBar transparent

I want to make the tabbar transparent and leave the icons still there. So that when you look at it the icons on the tabbar look like they are their by themselves. Whats the code for me to do this? Right now this is the code i have
UIImage* tabBarBackground = [UIImage imageNamed:#""];
[[UITabBar appearance] setBackgroundImage:tabBarBackground];
[[UITabBar appearance] setSelectionIndicatorImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#""]];
Try this code
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
CGRect frame = CGRectMake(0.0, 0, self.view.bounds.size.width, 48);
UIView *trans_view = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:frame];
[trans_view setBackgroundColor:[[UIColor alloc] initWithRed:0.0
green:0.0
blue:0.0
alpha:0.5]];//you can change alpha value also
[tabBar1 insertSubview:trans_view atIndex:0];//tabBar1 = your tabbar reference
[trans_view release];
}
this link also will help you
The easiest way to make a tab bar transparent is by setting the tab bar background image to a transparent image in the interface builder.
You can get a transparent png image whose height and width is equal to the tab bar's from the net.
Note: By changing the alpha value, you actually end up dimming the tab bar's icons as well. Make sure this is what you want, otherwise using a transparent background image is a better option.

Default NSRecessedBezelStyle NSButton visual bug?

I have a basic NSRecessedBezelStyle NSButton added via IB to an NSView. Why is the font messed up in its unselected state? Is this normal?
As you can see, when pushed the recessed button looks fine, but unpressed it's solid black with no shadow. Am I missing something really obvious somewhere? I tried messing around with setAttributedTitle and setAttributedAlternateTitle but that yielded odd results with the push on push off mechanic.
That is the expected behavior for NSRecessedBezelStyle with the default "Push On Push Off" Type, bezeled in On state, plain text in OFF, additionally you can change the Type so the bezel is only displayed when hovering, here is the code to make it gray.
NSMutableDictionary *attrsDictionary = [NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithCapacity:1];
[attrsDictionary setObject:[NSColor grayColor] forKey:NSForegroundColorAttributeName];
[attrsDictionary setObject:[NSFont boldSystemFontOfSize:12.0] forKey:NSFontAttributeName];
NSMutableParagraphStyle *paragraph = [[[NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc] init] autorelease];
[paragraph setAlignment:NSCenterTextAlignment];
[attrsDictionary setObject:paragraph forKey:NSParagraphStyleAttributeName];
NSAttributedString *str = [[[NSAttributedString alloc] initWithString:#"Button" attributes:attrsDictionary] autorelease];
[button setAttributedTitle:str];

NSPopUpButton text overlaps menu image

I am using the following to create an NSPopupButton programmatically:
...
NSPopUpButton *accessoryView = [[NSPopUpButton alloc] initWithFrame:NSMakeRect(0, 0, 100, 24) pullsDown:YES];
NSFont *aFont = [NSFont systemFontOfSize:[NSFont systemFontSizeForControlSize:NSSmallControlSize]];
[accessoryView setBezelStyle:NSRecessedBezelStyle];
[accessoryView setFont:aFont];
[accessoryView setShowsBorderOnlyWhileMouseInside:YES];
[accessoryView setAutoresizingMask:NSViewMaxXMargin | NSViewMinYMargin];
NSArray *popupItems = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:#"Your Account", #"Sign In", #"Create Account", nil];
[accessoryView addItemsWithTitles:popupItems];
...
Now, when I add the NSPopUpButton to my view, I end up with the button's text overlapping the icon used for the dropdown menu. I have seen this previously when I use NSControl:setAlignment but I am not using this here. Here is the output:
Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong?
Take care,
Jeremy
It just so happens this is a simple fix. (Thanks Beelsebob on irc.freenode.net!) Basically, you need to have the following code:
[[accessoryView cell] setArrowPosition:NSPopUpArrowAtBottom];
in there somewhere. (I added it just below the line to add the menu items.) I had read the API docs on this call a few times before, since I had implemented the same call with a value of NSPopUpNoArrow to remove the arrow as an interim fix, but it didn't make it clear that the proper value being used above would do what it's doing. Problem solved.

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