How to add an NSView to NSWindow in a Cocoa app? - objective-c

Since the template of an OS X app in Xcode seems to be similar to an empty app template, the following is used to add a view and a button (trying not to use Interface builder for now):
- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)aNotification
{
NSView *view = [[NSView alloc] initWithFrame:NSMakeRect(100, 100, 100, 100)];
view.layer.backgroundColor = [[NSColor yellowColor] CGColor];
[self.window.contentView addSubview:view];
NSRect frame = NSMakeRect(10, 40, 90, 40);
NSButton* pushButton = [[NSButton alloc] initWithFrame: frame];
pushButton.bezelStyle = NSRoundedBezelStyle;
[self.window.contentView addSubview:pushButton];
NSLog(#"subviews are %#", [self.window.contentView subviews]);
}
Similar code on iOS should have produced a yellow box and a button, but the code above only produce a button, but the view won't show. Is there something wrong with the code above, and how to make it show the view with a yellow background?

Use setWantsLayer: method of NSView class.
NSView *view = [[NSView alloc] initWithFrame:NSMakeRect(100, 100, 100, 100)];
[view setWantsLayer:YES];
view.layer.backgroundColor = [[NSColor yellowColor] CGColor];
[self.window.contentView addSubview:view];
NSRect frame = NSMakeRect(10, 40, 90, 40);
NSButton* pushButton = [[NSButton alloc] initWithFrame: frame];
pushButton.bezelStyle = NSRoundedBezelStyle;
[self.window.contentView addSubview:pushButton];
NSLog(#"subviews are %#", [self.window.contentView subviews]);

To expand on the suggestion by Kevin Ballard, the classic way to do this is to subclass NSView and override the -drawRect: method. NSRectFill is a very convenient function for filling a rectangle without having to create a bezier path:
- (void)drawRect:(NSRect)rect
{
[[NSColor yellowColor] set];
NSRectFill(rect);
}

NSViews in Cocoa are, by default, not layer-backed. I suspect that if you type
NSLog(#"%#", view.layer);
you will see that it is nil.
In iOS, all views have layers. But on OS X, views don't have layers. In addition, there's 2 "modes" of layer-backed views on OS X. There's what's called a "layer-backed views" and a "layer-hosting view". A layer-backed view uses a CoreAnimation layer to cache drawn data, but you are not allowed to interact with the layer in any way. A layer-hosting view uses a CALayer that you explicitly provide, and you may mess with that layer all you want. However, with a layer-hosting view you may not add any subviews, or use the built-in NSView drawing mechanism. A layer-hosting view must only be used as the root of a CoreAnimation layer hierarchy.
Given all this, you should probably avoid using CoreAnimation at all for your view.
It's possible that an NSBox will do what you want. You can certainly set a fill color there, turn off the border, and set the style to custom. I'm just not 100% certain it will draw as a simple filled rectangle of color. Alternatively you can define your own NSView subclass that draws a color in -drawRect:.

Related

Why does adding a top border to a subview does not resize with auto layout/device rotation?

(using Xcode 6 and iOS 8)
How can I create a top border in a sub UIView that sizes correctly when the view changes due to auto layout or device rotation?
I have code draws a line as the top border but it uses the size of what I have in Interface Builder. It does not size correctly after auto layout resizes the view nor after device rotation.
In the UIViewController, I tried [self.view layoutSubviews], [self.view layoutIfNeeded], [self.myCustomView layoutIfNeeded], and so on, in following method because when this method is called, the view has been resized by auto layout. But doesn't change the size of the line.
UIViewController:
- (void) viewDidLayoutSubviews {
[super viewDidLayoutSubviews];
[self.myCustomView layoutIfNeeded];
}
Hierarchy is:
UIViewController -> ViewController's View -> my custom UIView
Tried 2 different methods to draw the border which do draw the lines in my-custom-uiview. Neither one is recalled after the view is resized by auto layout or device rotation. This really shouldn't be that hard!
myCustomUIView:
First method:
// in initWithCoder, initWithFrame, awakeFromNib methods
CALayer *border = [CALayer layer];
border.frame = CGRectMake(self.bounds.origin.x, self.bounds.origin.y, self.bounds.size.width, 2.0f);
border.backgroundColor = [UIColor blackColor].CGColor;
[self.contentView.layer addSublayer:border];
Second method:
- (void) drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
UIBezierPath *line = [UIBezierPath bezierPath];
[line moveToPoint:CGPointMake(0, 0)];
[line addLineToPoint:CGPointMake(self.bounds.size.width, 0)];
[line setLineWidth:2.0f];
[[UIColor blackColor] setStroke];
[line stroke];
}

Drawing issues after subclassing NSCollectionView

OK, here's what I have done:
I have an NSCollectionView
I wanted to be able to enable "selecting" items, and drawing a custom border when an items is selected
I subclassed NSCollectionViewItem (to enable selection)
I subclassed NSView for the NSCollectionViewItem view, in order to draw the border
The code
The view item
#implementation MSLibraryCollectionViewItem
- (void)setSelected:(BOOL)flag
{
[super setSelected:flag];
[(MSLibraryCollectionViewView*)[self view] setSelected:flag];
[(MSLibraryCollectionViewView*)[self view] setNeedsDisplay:YES];
}
The custom view
#implementation MSLibraryCollectionViewView
/***************************************
Initialisation
***************************************/
- (MSLibraryCollectionViewView*)initWithFrame:(NSRect)frame
{
self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
if (self) {
// Initialization code here.
}
return self;
}
/***************************************
Drawing
***************************************/
- (void)drawRect:(NSRect)rect
{
if ([self selected]) {
//[[NSColor redColor] setFill];
//NSRectFill(rect);
//[super drawRect:rect];
NSColor* gS = [NSColor colorWithCalibratedRed:0.06 green:0.45 blue:0.86 alpha:1.0];
NSColor* gE = [NSColor colorWithCalibratedRed:0.12 green:0.64 blue:0.94 alpha:1.0];
NSGradient* g = [[NSGradient alloc] initWithStartingColor:gE endingColor:gS];
NSColor *borderColor = [NSColor colorFromGradient:g];
NSRect frameRect = [self bounds];
if(rect.size.height < frameRect.size.height)
return;
NSRect newRect = NSMakeRect(rect.origin.x+5, rect.origin.y+5, rect.size.width-10, rect.size.height-10);
NSBezierPath *textViewSurround = [NSBezierPath bezierPathWithRoundedRect:newRect xRadius:7 yRadius:7];
[textViewSurround setLineWidth:2.0];
[borderColor set];
[textViewSurround stroke];
}
}
However, the seems to be something wrong with drawing. For example:
When resizing the Collection View's container, a weird line appears at the outer box
When an Collection View item is not 100% visible (e.g. because it's been scrolled down), the selection border doesn't appear at all (while I would expect it to draw just the visible portion).
Some Examples
What's going on?
P.S. I'm not a guru with drawing and custom views in Cocoa - so any ideas/help is more than welcome!
You switched from asking about a collection view to talking about an outline view, but I assume that was just a mental hiccup.
When an Outline View item is not 100% visible (e.g. because it's been scrolled down), the selection border doesn't appear at all
(while I would expect it to draw just the visible portion).
That's because of this code in your -drawRect:.
if(rect.size.height < frameRect.size.height)
return;
It's specifically avoiding drawing a partial selection outline.
Regarding the weird line, I doubt that has to do with your collection item view's custom drawing. Does it stop happening if you disable the custom drawing? You could experiment with using an ordinary color rather than using the third-party +colorFromGradient: code you're using.
By the way, this line:
NSRect newRect = NSMakeRect(rect.origin.x+5, rect.origin.y+5, rect.size.width-10, rect.size.height-10);
could be written more simply as:
NSRect newRect = NSInsetRect(rect, 5, 5);

How Do I dim/disable the current view?

Is it possible to dim the current view in cocoa?On a certain action I want to make the screen a little darker and prevent the user from interacting with the screen.
From the idea given by #Lord Zsolt, the same can be implemented in OS X as:
Add the following code when you want to darken your window.
NSView *transparentBlackView = [[NSView alloc] initWithFrame:[[yourwindow contentView] frame]];
CALayer *viewLayer = [CALayer layer];
[viewLayer setBackgroundColor:CGColorCreateGenericRGB(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.4)]; //RGB plus Alpha Channel
[transparentBlackView setWantsLayer:YES];
[transparentBlackView setLayer:viewLayer];
[[yourwindow contentView] addSubview:transparentBlackView];
Also don't forget to add QuartzCore.framework to your project. And import it in your class using #import<QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>
Edit: I've only now noticed, it's OSX, not iOS. Though the idea should still be the same.
Disable user interaction:
[self.view setUserIntractionEnabled:NO];
Then add a UIView with black color, alpha like 0.2 above it.
UIView *transparentBlackView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:self.view.frame]
[transparentBlackView setBackgroundColor:[UIColor blackColor];
[transparentBlackView setAlpha:0.2];
[self.view addSubview:transparentBlackView];
Then you can write a custom method, and use performSelector:afterDelay to remove transparentBlackView.

UIView size is not as expected to be

I can't figure out why that view takes the entire screen.
In AppDelegate file
...
self.viewController = [[[ViewController alloc]init]autorelease];
[self.window setRootViewController:self.viewController];
self.window.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
..
In ViewController.m
UIView *view = [[UIView alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(30, 30, 30, 30)];
[view setBackgroundColor:[UIColor greenColor]];
self.view = view;
When I run the app the screen is entirely green instead of having just a square in green.
What is wrong here ?
The erroneous line is here:
self.view = view;
When you set a view of a UIViewController that is the root controller, it is guaranteed to fill the screen. Instead, add it as a subview:
[self.view addSubview:view];
And you should be fine.
The view controller automatically manages the size of its root view (self.view), so even if you initialize it with a smaller size it will later get resized to fill the screen. This resizing conveniently also happens when the interface orientation changes (see the answer this question).
As suggested by Richard's answer, you can add your green view as a subview to the controller's root view. The crash you get is probably because the root view does not exist yet when you try to access it. Try the following:
- (void) loadView
{
[super loadView]; // creates the root view
UIView* subView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(30, 30, 30, 30)];
[subView setBackgroundColor:[UIColor greenColor]];
// because you don't set any autoresizingMask, subView will stay the same size
[self.view addSubview:subView];
}

UITableViewCell custom selectedBackgroundView background is transparent

I have the following code that creates a UIView that I assign to my UITableViewCell's selectedBackgroundView property. Everything works as expected, with the exception of the subview's background, which is transparent.
I use the same code to create a custom view that I assign to backgroundView, and that works fine.
What is causing that subview to be transparent for selectedBackgroundView, and how can I avoid that?
- (UIView*) makeSelectedBackgroundView
{
// dimensions only for relative layout
CGRect containerFrame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 320, 40);
UIView* containerView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:containerFrame];
containerView.autoresizesSubviews = YES;
// dimensions only for relative layout
CGRect subframe = CGRectMake(5, 5, 310, 30);
UIView* subview = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:subframe];
subview.autoresizingMask = UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleWidth | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleHeight;
subview.backgroundColor = [UIColor redColor];
subview.layer.cornerRadius = 5;
subview.layer.borderWidth = 2;
subview.layer.borderColor = [UIColor greenColor].CGColor;
[containerView addSubview:subview];
return containerView;
}
As we can see from name of ivar selectedBackgroundView, this background shown by cell when it was selected.
I've to reload few methods (– setSelected:animated: and – setHighlighted:animated:) of UITableViewCell subclass to reset background color of subviews back to their values. Look's like UIKit do some magic in this template methods (iterating over all UIView subclasses and set their background to clearColor)
This code might be helpful for you:
UIImageView *cellImageView = [[UIImageView alloc]
initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0,
0,
cell.frame.size.width,
cell.frame.size.height
)];
cellImageView.contentMode = UIViewContentModeScaleAspectFit;
// normal background view
[cellImageView setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"*<ImageName>*"]];
[cell addSubview:cellImageView];
[cell sendSubviewToBack:cellImageView];
[cellImageView release], cellImageView = nil;
Here cell is an object of custom UITableViewCell.
Also you can set backgroundColor property.
I would try to set the alpha for both containerView and subView to 1.0
[containerView setAlpha:1.0];
...
[subview setAlpha:1.0];
this should make your controls totally opaque.
You could also create some images for the background and use that images in state of creating 2 views. Let's say you create 2 image (normalBackground.png and selectedBackground.png) and then set this images as cell background. Here is a nice tutorial.
Try setOpaque:YES on your views.
In the end, I ended up subclassing UITableViewCell which contained a custom view object, and that worked.