NSButton in NSToolbarItem (setView) when clicked in "Text only" forces mode to "Icon and Label"

Question

I am trying to recreate the nice textured buttons like Finder, Safari and Transmission have in their toolbar. First I started by just dragging in a "Texture button" in the IB and such. All works well except for when a user sets the toolbar to "Text only" mode. When he then clicks the button the toolbar will enable "Icon and Label" on it's own. I have remove alles code and delegates from the toolbar to make sure it is not a code issue.

Then, just to make sure, I created a new project (no code at all) and I can reproduce the issue with a clean NSWindow with a NSToolbar with one NSToolbarItem with a NSButton in it.

Adding the NSButtons via code like:

- (NSArray*)toolbarAllowedItemIdentifiers:(NSToolbar*)toolbar {
    return [NSArray arrayWithObject:@"myToolbarMenu"];
}

- (NSArray*)toolbarDefaultItemIdentifiers:(NSToolbar*)toolbar {
    return [self toolbarAllowedItemIdentifiers:toolbar];
}

- (NSToolbarItem*)toolbar:(NSToolbar*)toolbar
    itemForItemIdentifier:(NSString*)str
willBeInsertedIntoToolbar:(BOOL)flag
{
    if ([str isEqualToString:@"myToolbarItem"] == YES) {
        NSToolbarItem* item = [[NSToolbarItem alloc] initWithItemIdentifier:str];
        [item setView:[[NSButton alloc] init]];
         [item setMinSize:NSMakeSize(50,50)];
        [item setMaxSize:NSMakeSize(50,50)];
        [item setLabel:@"Text"];
        return [item autorelease];  
    }
    return nil;
}

But this also has the same effect: when I press a NSToolbarItem with a NSButton in it in "Text only mode" the toolbar itself forces it's mode to "Icon and Text".

Do you have any idea how I can make it work correctly or perhaps have an alternative to creating the nice looking toolbaritems like Safari etc have?

Answer 1

You need to add a menu representation to each NSToolbarItem that has a custom view. Below the line where you allocate the NSToolbarItem add this:

NSMenuItem *menuRep = [NSMenuItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"Text" action:@selector(targetMethod:) keyEquivalent:@"");
[menuRep setTarget:<target>];
[item setMenuFormRepresentation:menuRep];

As long as the target is valid your items should stay as text-only buttons; otherwise they will be disabled. See Setting a Toolbar Item's Representation.

Normally you would also need to implement validateToolbarItem: in your target, but for custom view items you instead need to override validate: to do something appropriate. See Validating Toolbar Items.