Arranging programmatically created NSButtons - objective-c

Question

I have an array that varies in size. I want to create NSButtons for each element in a Mac OSX Application. So say this is the array: "thing1", "thing2", "thing3", then I want three buttons on the screen titled "button1", "button2", "button3" respectively.
This obviously needs to be done programmatically. I do know how to create buttons programmatically and how to give them a fixed position.
But this cannot be the solution. How would I make the whole thing dynamic, so that no matter how many buttons are going to be created, it won't lead to massive UI issues? (So basically: place all buttons next to another within a certain container for example)
Thank you.

Answer 1

you can create button programmatically this way:
NSButton *myButton = [[[NSButton alloc] initWithFrame:NSMakeRect(x, y, width, height)] autorelease];
[[windowOutlet contentView] addSubview: myButton];
[myButton setTitle: #"Button title!"];
[myButton setButtonType:NSMomentaryLightButton]; //Set what type button You want
[myButton setBezelStyle:NSRoundedBezelStyle]; //Set what style You want
[myButton setTarget:self];
[myButton setAction:#selector(buttonPressed)];
}
-(void)buttonPressed {
NSLog(#"Button pressed!");
//Do what You want here...
}

Answer 2

I think you need to use horizontal NSStackView for this. Each item will be a custom NSView (create custom nib) with buttons and elements as its subviews. For right arranging controls inside the item use AutoLayout.

Answer 3

For dynamically placing views you should use constraints. This way you can set up relationship's between your views, instead of placing them at fixed positions. Check out the documentation over here:
https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/mac/documentation/AppKit/Reference/NSLayoutConstraint_Class/

Answer 4

There are a few possible approaches.
1) NSStackView
A new-ish class (appeared in 10.9) which handles horizontal or vertical stacking of subviews.
2) Constraints
Constraints allow you to define views' spatial relationships to one another, but they're most easily managed in Interface Builder and can be a bit complicated to work with programmatically.
3) Setting each button's frame in code
With a fairly straightforward loop, you can position the buttons how you like. This is the most "manual" of the three approaches, but also arguably the most clear and predictable. Here's an example of a method which will position buttons.
- (void)arrangeViews:(NSArray <NSView *> *)views startingAt:(NSPoint)startPt spacing:(NSSize)spacing
{
NSPoint loc = startPt;
for (NSView *view in views) {
NSRect viewFrame = view.frame;
viewFrame.origin = loc;
view.frame = viewFrame;
loc.x += spacing.width;
loc.y += spacing.height;
}
}
If you want to arrange 3 buttons vertically, each one 50 pixels apart, then you'd call the method like this:
[self arrangeViews:#[btn0, btn1, btn2] startingAt:NSMakePoint(100,100) spacing:NSMakeSize(0,-50)];