Cocoa Categories

A collection of Cocoa categories I've found useful.

For the most recent license, see Cocoa Categories License.

NSString+Size

Adds - (NSSize) sizeWithWidth:(float)width andFont:(NSFont *)font; method to NSStrings. Returns the width and height of a box that would contain the rendered string with the given width & font.

NSColor+Hex

Adds the following:

+ (NSColor *) colorWithHex:(NSString *)hexColor;

- (NSString *) hexColor;

The class method + (NSColor *) colorWithHex:(NSString *)hexColor attempts to initialise a new NSColor object from the given hexadecimal string. It will accept a three or six character string (# is optional). Anything else and it will raise an exception.

The instance method - (NSString *) hexColor; returns a hexadecimal string representation of the given NSColor. If the colour's colorSpaceName is not one of: NSCalibratedWhiteColorSpace, NSCalibratedBlackColorSpace, NSCalibratedRGBColorSpace or NSDeviceRGBColorSpace, the method will return @"transparent".

NSPopover+Message

Adds the class method:

+ (void) showRelativeToRect:(NSRect)rect
                     ofView:(NSView *)view
              preferredEdge:(NSRectEdge)edge
                     string:(NSString *)string
                   maxWidth:(float)width;

Intended to allow one to show a NSPopover containing a message with the minimum of fuss.

Example:

[NSPopover showRelativeToRect:[view bounds]
                       ofView:view
                preferredEdge:NSMaxXEdge
                       string:@"Your message - the NSPopover will be as tall as required depending on your given maxWidth"
                     maxWidth:200.0];

More info:

NSSplitView+Animation

Adds - (void) animateView:(int)viewIndex toDimension:(CGFloat)dimension method to NSSplitViews. Animates the split view panels such that the view at viewIndex has the pixel width or height of dimension. Note that animating a panel to zero width or height will cause it to 'disappear', and such a panel will not animate again. Animating a panel to no less than 1 pixel wide or high is sufficient to make the panel appear hidden.

NSObject+VariableArgumentPerformSelector

Adds - (void) performSelector:(SEL)aSelector withObjects:(NSObject *)firstObject, ... to NSObjects, which allows one to more conveniently perform selectors that require more than two arguments.