I have an NSTableView that allows inline editing on one of its cells (NSTextFieldCell). This actually works well, but I want to manipulate the content for the editing session.
Imagine having a string with a path (say: "folder/subfolder/myfile.txt") as the content of such a cell. But when the user enters edit mode for this cell (e.g. by double clicking) I want only the string "myfile.txt" to be editable (i.e. to appear in the editor). How can I achieve this?
You could create a custom NSFormatter that does this. Override the method stringForObjectValue: to return the full string and editingStringForObjectValue: to return only the part you want to edit. You also need to write a method getObjectValue:forString:errorDescription: to transform the edited string back to the complete string. How to exactly do this depends on the rest of your program. You somehow need to get back the part of the string you removed for editing.
Related
Thanks for looking.
Background
I am working on a MS Outlook plug in that requires certain text to be injected into the body of a new meeting request when a button click event fires.
The meeting request window only allows plain text or RTF (no HTML). The text that my application needs to enter should be able to be swapped out when the button is clicked again, but should not remove any text that the user may have added either above or below mine.
For now, I use a string of underscores with a leading and trailing set of hidden slashes like this:
\v//\v0__________________________________________________________________
{MY CUSTOM TEXT GOES IN BETWEEN}
__________________________________________________________________\v//\v0
Problem
With plain text, this is not a problem, but the problem arises when the user edits the body, and then clicks the update button again, it seems that the structure of the RTF encoding changes in a way that is not predictable and I therefore can not search for my text boundaries. For example, after the user adds their own text and clicks the "update button", my code now receives the following which I am unable to find using IndexOf():
//}{\\rtlch _______________________________________________________________
Question
Is their an easier, more consistent way to have essentially merge fields in RTF that the user may edit? I essentially just need to swap in or out a chunk of very simple text regardless of whether the user has written above or below it.
Thanks.
Actually HTML for appointments is supported by Outlook 2016. In any case however, Inspector.WordEditor returns an instance of the Word's Document object, so you can add a bookmark around your text using the Word Object Model rather then by injecting text visible to the end user.
I have created an NSTextView and managed to populate it using a getter for the scroll view that it is nested in, and using the .insertText() function.
How do I empty the same NSTextView? I have read the documentation and there doesn't seem to be a function .removeText(). It seems a bit weird that Apple would allow you to insert data but not remove it programmatically. I have searched high and low for answers but have come up empty handed.
You can't set the text of the text view directly, but you can set its textStorage's, getting that object's mutableString, which it inherits from NSMutableAttributedString, and then using setString(), passing an empty string.
No idea what I was thinking. Use var string { get set }, inherited from NSText.
If you set the text on the textview directly you'll lose the ability to automatically have the undo manager pick that change up.
I've found it more reliable to first select all the text and then delete it.
[self.textInput selectAll:self];
[self.textInput delete:self];
I have created a "notes" field designed to hold multiple paragraphs of text which I would like to store in a custom object. Originally, I just used an NSTextField as a temporary solution, but this does not allow me to scroll or have multiple paragraphs of text...
In IB I have placed a NSTextView (which seems to be wrapped inside an NSScrollView.) Upon execution of my program, seems to allow me to enter text in multiple paragraphs, scroll, etc. In short it LOOKS to be exactly what I want would like it to be. So far so good.
Now, I need to retrieve the data from this field and store it in my custom object. This is where I'm getting a bit lost within the developer documentation...
My goals are fairly straight forward:
Allow users to type away in the box.
Store the contents of the box into a variable (array, etc.) in my custom object when the user moves to another field, leaving the notes field.
Display the users stored text in the text box next time the record is viewed.
Second, is there a simple way to retrieve and store the data into a "notes" variable in my custom object (such as an NSString object? I would think having multiple would exclude an NSString object as an option here, but maybe I'm wrong) or am I getting into a more complex area here (such as having to store it in an array of NSString objects, etc.)?
Any help would be appreciated!
You can get the data using -string, defined by NSText (e.g. NSString *savedString = [aTextView string])
Your save code can be put in your NSTextDelegate (read, delegate of the NSTextView, because it's the immediate superclass), in – textDidEndEditing: which will be called, well, when editing is finished (e.g. when the user clicks outside the view) or one of the other methods.
Then to reload the saved string if you emptied the text view or something, use [textView setString:savedString] before editing begins.
NSTextDelegate documentation: here.
I'm not sure what you mena when you say "store the contents of the box into a variable (array, etc.) Are you hoping for an array of custom notes? Text views store a string of data, so the easiest way of storing its value is using one string; if you need an array of notes you'd have to split the string value into different paragraphs, which shouldn't be too hard.
I have the same initial problem as described in Integrate NSStepper with NSTextField:
I need to have a NSTextField working with a NSStepper as being one control so that I can edit an integer value either by changing it directly on the text field or using the stepper up/down arrows.
Using bindings as commented on by carlosb results in a usable UI. However, in the initial question carlosb describes the following:
Problem is that if I edit the text field then click the stepper again it will forget about the value I manually edited and use the stepper's internal value.
This is why I am posting a variation on this question again. carlosb's use of bindings doesn't solve this problem. This happens in both the current project I am working on and a test project I have created. The test project can be found at GitHub. You can download it there (even without git) via the "Download Source" button in the top right.
Is there a clean way to solve this issue?
Text fields and sliders are both in the view layer of the MVC pattern. You'll have much better results by binding both of those views to a property of your controller.
Your problem is that that the editing isn't ended until you press return or the field loses focus (so the number is never actually changed). If you press return or leave the field after editing, you'll see it works as expected.
One solution is to check the "Continuously Updates Value" option in the text field's value binding and check the "Continuous" option in the text field's attributes.
This will make sure the value is being updated as it's typed, so an immediate click on the stepper will reflect these changes.
I am developing an app which has a text field box. so when i am entering text, it should search the database and give me suggestions just like google search. like if i have entered letter 'a', it should have a box like thing below text field with all names starting with letter 'a'. then if i have entered letter 'b', it should resize the box and give names that start with 'ab' and so on.
I was planning to use a table view below the text field which reloads itself as and when new thing is entered into text field. but i dont know how to resize the table view depending on number of suggestions. So is there any other ui element which suits this kind of situations?
Also how do i detect a new alphabet or number entered into text field so that i can filter out suggestions like is there any such notification? what i mean to say is say i entered letter 'a' so now the string value of text field is 'a' and now i entered say 'b'. so now the string value changed to 'ab'. how do i detect this? i think textDidChange notification will do this for me.
Thanks
You can use an NSComboBox for auto-completing lists like you describe. NSComboBox is a subclass of NSControl so you can use the -controlTextDidChange: delegate method to detect changes in the text that the user types. Make sure you set the control to "continuous" in Interface Builder or call [comboBox setContinuous:YES].
If, for whatever reason, you find that a combo box is inappropriate for your situation, you can implement the list of completions as a child window of the control's window, with a headerless table view in it. Then you would programmatically resize that window as the number of possible completions changes.