How to receive mouseDown messages in a NSTableViewCell? - nstableviewcell

Question

I am trying to make a table view cell that shows ratings for songs in a playlist. I have successfully created the cell so that it shows the current number of stars, and also an indication of how a new setting will be when you hover your mouse cursor over a cell to give a new rating.
The problem is that while mouseEnter, mouseExit and mouseMove works like a charm, I get no messages for mouseDown, which is required to actually change the value of the cell.
I have searched all over the Internet, but I can't find any solution to how to solve this problem anywhere. I have spent so many hours trying to sort this. I hope anyone have any answer or hint what I can do. Thank you.
The full code for the current implementation is as follows:
#import "FavouriteCellView.h"
#implementation FavouriteCellView {
NSTrackingArea *_trackingArea;
int _starsRated; //The current rating value
BOOL _hovering; //YES if the mouse is currently hovering over this cell
int _starsHovering; //The number of stars hovering, if the mouse is hovering over this cell
}
- (void)awakeFromNib {
[super awakeFromNib];
_starsRated = 1;
_hovering = NO;
_starsHovering = 0;
[self createTrackingArea];
}
- (void)createTrackingArea
{
_trackingArea = [[NSTrackingArea alloc] initWithRect:self.bounds options:NSTrackingMouseEnteredAndExited |NSTrackingActiveInActiveApp | NSTrackingMouseMoved owner:self userInfo:nil];
[self addTrackingArea:_trackingArea];
}
- (void)updateTrackingAreas{
[self removeTrackingArea:_trackingArea];
_trackingArea = nil;
[self createTrackingArea];
}
- (void)drawRect:(NSRect)dirtyRect {
[super drawRect:dirtyRect];
// CGFloat middleX = [self bounds].size.width / 2.0f;
CGFloat middleY = [self bounds].size.height / 2.0f;
CGFloat starDivs = [self bounds].size.width / 5.0f;;
NSColor *starSelectedColor = [NSColor colorWithDeviceRed:0.8f green:0.0f blue:0.4f alpha:1.0f];
NSColor *starUnselectedColor = [NSColor colorWithDeviceRed:0.5f green:0.5f blue:0.5f alpha:1.0f];
NSColor *starHoverColor = [NSColor colorWithDeviceRed:1.0f green:0.843f blue:0.0f alpha:1.0f];
NSColor *starHoverColorSelected = [NSColor colorWithDeviceRed:0.9f green:0.843f blue:0.6f alpha:1.0f];
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
NSColor *useColor = [NSColor redColor];
if (_hovering && (i <= _starsHovering)) {
if (i <= _starsRated) {
useColor = starHoverColorSelected;
} else {
useColor = starHoverColor;
}
} else if (i <= _starsRated) {
useColor = starSelectedColor;
} else {
useColor = starUnselectedColor;
}
[self star:NSMakePoint((starDivs / 2.0f) + starDivs * i, middleY) color:useColor];
}
}
-(void)star:(NSPoint)center color:(NSColor *)color {
[color set];
CGFloat t = (2.0f * M_PI) / 10.0f;
NSBezierPath *path = [[NSBezierPath alloc] init];
CGFloat radii1 = 12.0f;
CGFloat radii2 = 4.0f;
CGFloat rot = M_PI / 2.0f;
BOOL first = YES;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
CGFloat pointX = cos(t * i + rot) * radii1 + center.x;
CGFloat pointY = sin(t * i + rot) * radii1 + center.y;
CGFloat tempRadii = radii1;
radii1 = radii2;
radii2 = tempRadii;
if (first) {
first = NO;
[path moveToPoint:NSMakePoint(pointX, pointY)];
}
else {
[path lineToPoint:NSMakePoint(pointX, pointY)];
}
}
[path closePath];
[path fill];
/*
[[NSColor blackColor] set];
[path setLineWidth:0.25f];
[path stroke];
*/
}
-(NSView *)hitTest:(NSPoint)aPoint {
//THIS GETS CALLED
return self;
}
-(BOOL)validateProposedFirstResponder:(NSResponder *)responder forEvent:(NSEvent *)event {
printf("$"); //DOES NOT GET CALLED
return YES;
}
-(BOOL)acceptsFirstResponder {
printf("!"); //DOES NOT GET CALLED
return YES;
}
-(BOOL)acceptsFirstMouse:(NSEvent *)theEvent {
printf("8"); //DOES NOT GET CALLED
return YES;
}
-(void)mouseDown:(NSEvent *)theEvent {
printf("o"); //DOES NOT GET CALLED
_starsRated = _starsHovering;
}
-(void)mouseUp:(NSEvent *)theEvent {
printf("O"); //DOES NOT GET CALLED
}
-(void)mouseEntered:(NSEvent *)theEvent {
//DOES GET CALLED
_hovering = YES;
[self setNeedsDisplay:YES];
}
-(void)mouseExited:(NSEvent *)theEvent {
//DOES GET CALLED
_hovering = NO;
[self setNeedsDisplay:YES];
}
-(void)mouseMoved:(NSEvent *)theEvent {
//DOES GET CALLED
NSPoint mouseLocation = [[self window] mouseLocationOutsideOfEventStream];
mouseLocation = [self convertPoint: mouseLocation
fromView: nil];
int newStarsHoveringValue = mouseLocation.x / ([self bounds].size.width / 5.0f);
if (newStarsHoveringValue != _starsHovering) {
_starsHovering = newStarsHoveringValue;
[self setNeedsDisplay:YES];
}
}
#end

Answer 1

It was a bit fiddly, but I managed to create a solution that works. I subclassed NSTableView, then overrode mouseDown with the following code:
-(void)mouseDown:(NSEvent *)theEvent {
NSPoint globalLocation = [theEvent locationInWindow];
NSPoint localLocation = [self convertPoint:globalLocation fromView:nil];
NSInteger clickedRow = [self rowAtPoint:localLocation];
if (clickedRow != -1) {
NSInteger clickedColumn = [self columnAtPoint:localLocation];
if (clickedColumn != -1) {
if (clickedColumn == 3) {
FavouriteCellView *fv = [self viewAtColumn:clickedColumn row:clickedRow makeIfNecessary:NO];
if (fv != nil) {
[fv mouseDown:theEvent];
}
return;
}
}
}
[super mouseDown:theEvent];
}
Now it works exactly like I wanted.