I want an effect kinda like ButtonWithTwoStatesAndThreeAlternateImages but instead of toggling through them on click I want to choose from a menu. What I am thinking of is an image that I can click on, have it popup a menu with choices about the display of the image.
What I thought I’d do is subclass NSPopupButton and override it’s drawRect: method to draw the image based on the state of the submenu (which it gets with [self titleOfSelectedItem]) Is this a good way to do it? will the drawRect: method get called after the menu goes away? will I break something or is there an easy pitfall? (I have never subclassed any NSView before, but this time I need to do a couple and this seemed like the easiest one to start with)
Couldn’t you just set the image for the NSPopupButton’s menu items? Or use a NSImageView subclass with its mouseDown:(NSEvent *)theEvent method overridden to show its menu. Or use a NSPopupButton with the PullDown style. There are a few ways to do this, depending on exactly what you’re trying to achieve - I don’t think you need to subclass NSPopupButton.
Initial testing shows it works… I don’t want image menu items, (because some of the states are related to text anyways), I am not sure about showing and hiding menus… that seemed like more work than I wanted… I also don’t want to show an arrow button. Subclassing NSPopupButton and over-riding drawRect: was exactly the effect I wanted for how it works… now I just have to figure out the drawing bits…
further testing reveals the pitfalls of subclassing an NSControl.. I wanted to display images but I think that because NSPopupButton is an NSControl and uses an NSCell, they’re all not antialiased. (ie. they are pixely!) At anyrate, first responder… you were right… I just need to figure out the menu hiding and showing and then I should make it an NSView subclass (not NSImageView… that uses an NSCell too… wait-a-minute…. hmmmm)
Problem solved: see ImageAntialiasing