On Jan 6, 2013, at 16:53, Arved von Brasch <co...@atgo.org> wrote: > I first noticed a problem when I couldn't get a NSMenuItem to validate, but > it seems to also be a problem with buttons.
Don't get side-tracked by looking at button actions. Validation works differently, and since buttons are not normally first responder, the responder chain starting from any given button doesn't tell you anything about "first responder" and its chain. To debug the menu item validation, first *remove* the 'validateMenuItem:' code from your view controller. Then, look and see if the relevant menu item is enabled or disabled. Assuming the menu item is set to target "first responder" (i.e. its target is nil), and it's set to auto-enable, then it's enabled if and only if something in the responder chain, starting from the actual first responder, implements your action method. Therefore, assuming your view controller implements the action method, if the menu item is disabled, your view controller isn't in the responder chain starting from the first responder. For example, the window itself might be first responder, in which case the menu won't be enabled. Note that this is an inherent issue when using view controllers to control parts of a window: it can't just serve as a sub-controller for the window as a whole, though that's often what you want it to do. Putting that a different way, the view controller doesn't get control just because its view is in the window. It gets control only when its view or a subview of its view is first responder. You haven't given us enough information to work out whether the view controller is being "abused" in the manner I just described. I guess, though I've never tried it, that if you arrange to insert the view controller into the responder chain just *below* (i.e. before) the window controller, then things should work as you perhaps are expecting. The danger with doing this, though, is that messing with the responder chain that far up *might* fall foul of other classes' assumptions about the chain structure. I dunno, it might be safe enough, but this is usually the point at which I get nervous and go looking for a different approach. (BTW, once you've got the auto menu enabling working without a validation method, then add the validation method -- preferable validateUserInterfaceItem rather than validateMenuItem.) _______________________________________________ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: https://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to arch...@mail-archive.com
