macOS 10.12 and Later
Starting with macOS 10.12 (Sierra), there are three new NSTextField constructors:
NSTextField(labelWithString:), which the header file comment says “Creates a non-wrapping, non-editable, non-selectable text field that displays text in the default system font.”
NSTextField(wrappingLabelWithString:), which the header file comment says “Creates a wrapping, non-editable, selectable text field that displays text in the default system font.”
NSTextField(labelWithAttributedString:), which the header file comment says “Creates a non-editable, non-selectable text field that displays attributed text. The line break mode of this field is determined by the attributed string's NSParagraphStyle attribute.”
I tested the ones that take a plain (non-attributed string), and they create text fields that are similar to, but not precisely the same as, the text fields created in a storyboard or xib.
The important difference is that both constructors create a text field with textBackgroundColor (normally pure white) as its background color, while the storyboard text field uses controlColor (normally about 90% white).
Unimportantly, both constructors also set their fonts by calling NSFont.systemFont(ofSize: 0) (which produces a different NSFont object than my code below, but they wrap the same underlying Core Text font).
The wrappingLabelWithString: constructor sets the field's isSelectable to true. (This is documented in the header file.)
macOS 10.11 and Earlier
I compared four NSTextField instances: one created by dragging a “Label” to a storyboard, another created by dragging a “Wrapping Label” to a storyboard, and two in code. Then I carefully modified properties of the code-created labels until all their properties were exactly the same as the storyboard-created labels. These two methods are the result:
extension NSTextField {
/// Return an `NSTextField` configured exactly like one created by dragging a “Label” into a storyboard.
class func newLabel() -> NSTextField {
let label = NSTextField()
label.isEditable = false
label.isSelectable = false
label.textColor = .labelColor
label.backgroundColor = .controlColor
label.drawsBackground = false
label.isBezeled = false
label.alignment = .natural
label.font = NSFont.systemFont(ofSize: NSFont.systemFontSize(for: label.controlSize))
label.lineBreakMode = .byClipping
label.cell?.isScrollable = true
label.cell?.wraps = false
return label
}
/// Return an `NSTextField` configured exactly like one created by dragging a “Wrapping Label” into a storyboard.
class func newWrappingLabel() -> NSTextField {
let label = newLabel()
label.lineBreakMode = .byWordWrapping
label.cell?.isScrollable = false
label.cell?.wraps = true
return label
}
}
If you use one of these methods, don't forget to set your field's frame, or turn off its translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints and add constraints.
Here is the code I used to compare the different text fields, in case you want to check:
import Cocoa
class ViewController: NSViewController {
@IBOutlet var label: NSTextField!
@IBOutlet var multilineLabel: NSTextField!
override func loadView() {
super.loadView()
}
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
let codeLabel = NSTextField.newLabel()
let codeMultilineLabel = NSTextField.newWrappingLabel()
let labels = [label!, codeLabel, multilineLabel!, codeMultilineLabel]
for keyPath in [
"editable",
"selectable",
"allowsEditingTextAttributes",
"importsGraphics",
"textColor",
"preferredMaxLayoutWidth",
"backgroundColor",
"drawsBackground",
"bezeled",
"bezelStyle",
"bordered",
"enabled",
"alignment",
"font",
"lineBreakMode",
"usesSingleLineMode",
"formatter",
"baseWritingDirection",
"allowsExpansionToolTips",
"controlSize",
"highlighted",
"continuous",
"cell.opaque",
"cell.controlTint",
"cell.backgroundStyle",
"cell.interiorBackgroundStyle",
"cell.scrollable",
"cell.truncatesLastVisibleLine",
"cell.wraps",
"cell.userInterfaceLayoutDirection"
] {
Swift.print(keyPath + " " + labels.map({ ($0.value(forKeyPath: keyPath) as? NSObject)?.description ?? "nil" }).joined(separator: " "))
}
}
}
