Question

I’m having problem triggering complete: method for NSTextfield.

for now I can make an distinct array of names from a textfield using @distinctUnionOfObjects ( awesome method to remove duplicates of an array ) and now I can send back autocompletion for this textfield using:
- (NSArray *)control:(NSControl *)control textView:(NSTextView *)textView completions:(NSArray *)words forPartialWordRange:(NSRange)charRange indexOfSelectedItem:(NSInteger *)index


But, this method is not automatic and I have to press ESC button to pop the autocompletion suggestion up for the textfield during data entry.

I searched here and found some examples that make no sense for me.

Short Question:
Is there any method using NSTexfields delegates like controlDidChanged or something like that to do this more easily and clearly ?

I just confuse using complete: method for nstextview.

Answer 1

When your text field delegate gets controlTextDidChange:, you can call complete: on the Field Editor. This is the method that gets called when you press ESC or F5.

- (void) controlTextDidChange: (NSNotification *)note {
    NSTextView * fieldEditor = [[note userInfo] objectForKey:@"NSFieldEditor"];

    [fieldEditor complete:nil];
}

The tricky part is that when the completion menu is being navigated, it will cause controlTextDidChange: messages to be sent again, (although without changing the actual string) which will create an infinite loop. You will need some kind of flag to stop complete: from being called when you are already in the middle of a completion. For example, you can keep track of the last change the user made to the string and compare it with the current value of the field editor; if there’s no user-initiated change, don’t cause completion:

BOOL textDidNotChange = [lastTypedString isEqualToString:[fieldEditor string]];

if( textDidNotChange ){
    return;
}
else {
    lastTypedString = [[fieldEditor string] copy];
    [fieldEditor complete];
}