In a view-based NSTableView, how do I control the first responder with one click?

Question

Presentation-based NSTableViews seem to have only standard behavior, where in order to make the text field inside the table the first responder, the user must either double-click, or click, or "keep calm."

However, given the flexibility-based NSTableViews proposal, this behavior is not always desirable, as there are currently many different and complex applications than just executing an "old school" table.

How can I easily make a control (possibly in a cell along with other controls) inside an NSTableView based on the presentation of the first responder with one click?

Answer 1

To solve this problem, override this method in NSTableView:

@interface NSResponder (NSControlEditingSupport) /* This is a responder chain method to allow controls to determine when they should become first responder or not. Some controls, such as NSTextField, should only become first responder when the enclosing NSTableView/NSBrowser indicates that the view can begin editing. It is up to the particular control that wants to be validated to call this method in its -mouseDown: (or other time) to determine if it should attempt to become the first responder or not. The default implementation returns YES when there is no -nextResponder, otherwise, it is forwarded up the responder chain. NSTableView/NSBrowser implements this to only allow first responder status if the responder is a view in a selected row. It also delays the first responder assignment if a doubleAction needs to (possibly) be sent. 'event' may be nil if there is no applicable event. */ - (BOOL)validateProposedFirstResponder:(NSResponder *)responder forEvent:(NSEvent *)event NS_AVAILABLE_MAC(10_7); @end 

And immediately return YES so that you can quickly make the first interrogator. The table “delays” the creation of the first responder if the text field was deleted and does not allow it to be executed unless the first row has been selected.