Creating a NSTextView programmatically?

Question

I'm can't seem to build a working NSTextView programmatically. Starting from a new project template I have this code (mostly coming from Apple's "Text System User Interface Layer Programming Guide"):

- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)aNotification {
    NSString *string = @"Here's to the ones who see things different.";
    NSTextStorage *textStorage = [[NSTextStorage alloc] initWithString:string];
    NSLayoutManager *layoutManager = [[NSLayoutManager alloc] init];
    [textStorage addLayoutManager:layoutManager];

    NSTextContainer *textContainer = [[NSTextContainer alloc] initWithContainerSize:NSMakeSize(300, 300)];
    [layoutManager addTextContainer:textContainer];

    NSTextView *textView = [[NSTextView alloc] initWithFrame:NSMakeRect(50, 50, 300, 300)
                                               textContainer:textContainer];

    [textContainer setWidthTracksTextView:YES];
    [textView setVerticallyResizable:YES];
    [textView setHorizontallyResizable:NO];
    [textView setAutoresizingMask:NSViewWidthSizable];

    [[self.window contentView] addSubview:textView];
}

Running the app, a window opens with a white square in it that's supposed to be the NSTextView, but there's no text, and there's no way to interact with the text view. Moreover, I tried adding text to the text view in code after the view is created using [textView setString:@"Some string."], but that doesn't work either. (Incidentally, I've also tried putting it in a NSScrollView first, in case that somehow was the issue, but that didn't help.)

I can't for the life of me figure out what the problem is. What am I missing?

Usually NSTextView used together with NSScrollView. See example in this answer: stackoverflow.com/a/45947994/1418981 — Vlad

TheAmateurProgrammer TheAmateurProgrammer · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-13T03:11:49

This should work, although I tried it out myself and was unable to edit too. It could possibly be a bug now, but I'm not 100% sure. If you need to use the containers and layout managers just use the one that comes from the initWithFrame: method (without the text container).

NSTextView *textView = [[NSTextView alloc] initWithFrame:NSMakeRect(50, 50, 300, 300)];
NSLayoutManager *layoutManager = textView.layoutManager;
NSTextContainer *textContainer = textView.textContainer;
NSTextStorage *textStorage = textView.textStorage;

//Do your edits here

Creating a NSTextView programmatically?

2 Answers