Home/ Questions/Q 1047165
In Process

The Archive Base Latest Questions

Editorial Team
  • 0
Asked: 2026-05-16T16:15:34+00:00

I’m trying to create an NSSearchField programmatically; however, I don’t know how to find

  • 0

I’m trying to create an NSSearchField programmatically; however, I don’t know how to find the frame height of a standard NSSearchField (a la those in Interface Builder.) Obviously, I could simply copy the height from an NSSearchField entity in IB and call NSMakeFrame with that height, but that feels hackish – what happens when Apple changes the height of a typical search field? I’d rather the height not be hardcoded into my application. This is more of a “best practices” question, not an “I can’t get it to work at all” one.

Thanks!

Share

Leave an answer

You must login to add an answer.

Need An Account,

1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The magic method for this is

    [mysearchfield sizeToFit]

    which changes the frame to the minimum width and height. I use this in a Cocoa language wrapping where applications have to build their GUI completely without IB and it works on almost any NSControl class except for same cases (like small control size and NSComboBox) and for giving the width of icon only NSPopUpButton.

    Also look at the Human Interface Guid of Apple. The pixel sizes are fixed so there is no danger in using magic pixel constants.

    • 0