Question

In my desktop Mac OS X app, I’d like to programatically create a NSTextField “label” which has the same behavior and properties as a typical label created in Interface Builder.

I usually use (and very much like) IB, but in this case it must be done programatically.

Try as I might, I can’t seem to find the combination of method calls that will programatically produce the same label-y behavior as a “Label” dragged from the IB View Library palette.

Can anyone provide or point out some example code of how to do this programatically? Thx.

Answer 1

A label is actually an instance of NSTextField, a subclass of NSView. So, since it is a NSView, it has to be added to another view.

Here’s a working code:

- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)aNotification
{
    NSTextField *textField;

    textField = [[NSTextField alloc] initWithFrame:NSMakeRect(10, 10, 200, 17)];
    [textField setStringValue:@"My Label"];
    [textField setBezeled:NO];
    [textField setDrawsBackground:NO];
    [textField setEditable:NO];
    [textField setSelectable:NO];
    [view addSubview:textField];
}