how can I make clickable url in NSTableView - objective-c

Question

I am trying to build OS-X core data based app. In one of the entities, I am storing an URL ex. (www.somesite.com/somepage/someindex.php)
Using binding, I am successfully displaying the URL in the NSTableView. I would like however that URL to be clickable, and when clicked, browser to fire up and open the page. I have done some research, and I have found some solutions, for example:
Clickable url link in NSTextFieldCell inside NSTableView?
also:
https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/qa/qa1487/_index.html
but they both look outdated, first one is six years old, while the second is last updated on Jan. 2005
Anyone can provide easier & faster way how to achieve this? I didn't expected that I will have to write bunch of code just to make simple link to work to be honest... I am coming from web development world, where those kind of things can be sorted out withing few seconds, while here seems to be totally different story....
Any help will be appreciated.
John

Answer 1

You can use NSTextView and implement its delegate. There is a demo:
// MyCellView.h
#interface MyCellView : NSView
#property (nonatomic, strong) IBOutlet NSTextView *textView;
#end
// ViewController.m
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
self.tableView.delegate = self;
self.tableView.dataSource = self;
NSNib *nib = [[NSNib alloc] initWithNibNamed:#"MyCellView" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
[self.tableView registerNib:nib forIdentifier:#"MyCell"];
}
- (NSView *)tableView:(NSTableView *)tableView viewForTableColumn:(NSTableColumn *)tableColumn row:(NSInteger)row {
MyCellView *cell = (MyCellView *)[tableView makeViewWithIdentifier:#"MyCell" owner:self];
cell.textView.delegate = self;
[cell.textView.textStorage setAttributedString:[self makeLinkAttributedString:#"This is a test: www.somesite.com/somepage/someindex.php"]];
return cell;
}
- (NSAttributedString *)makeLinkAttributedString:(NSString *)string {
NSMutableAttributedString *linkedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:string];
NSDataDetector *detector = [NSDataDetector dataDetectorWithTypes:NSTextCheckingTypeLink error:nil];
[detector enumerateMatchesInString:string options:0 range:NSMakeRange(0, string.length) usingBlock:^(NSTextCheckingResult *match, NSMatchingFlags flags, BOOL *stop) {
if (match.URL) {
NSDictionary *attributes = #{ NSLinkAttributeName: match.URL };
[linkedString addAttributes:attributes range:match.range];
}
}];
return [linkedString copy];
}
#pragma mark - NSTextViewDelegate methods
- (BOOL)textView:(NSTextView *)textView clickedOnLink:(id)link atIndex:(NSUInteger)charIndex {
// The click will be handled by you or the next responder.
return NO;
}

Answer 2

You can use TTTAttributedLabel in your tableviewcell. It supports powerful link detection.