How to disable context menus with right mouse click in an NSTextField (Cocoa)?

Question

I'm working on a Cocoa application that has editable text fields. These text fields need to accept values but don't need to be spell checked or use any of the other options given in the default context menu. I've read that the easiest way to remove the right click/ opt + click context menu is to override the function:

rightMouseDown:(NSEvent *) 

I've done this in a custom NSTextfield class. This fix blocks the user from right clicking when the text box is enabled and unselected, but as soon as the user double clicks/enters the text field for editing the default right click functionality returns.

Is this because the firstResponder switches to a class in the inheritance chain upon trying to edit the field? Is this approach the right way to disable all context menu functionality for this NSTextField?

Thanks!

Answer 1

When a text field is editing, the actual first responder is the "field editor", an NSTextView supplied by the window. The field editor always uses the control on whose behalf it is acting as its delegate.

So, in order to influence its behavior with respect to the contextual menu, you need to use a custom subclass of NSTextField. (I guess you already are to override -rightMouseDown:.) Then, implement the text view delegate method -textView:menu:forEvent:atIndex: and return nil (i.e. no menu).