How to programmatically open an NSComboBox's list?

Question

I've been around this for a while.. I thought this should be an easy task, but it isn't =D

What I am trying to do, is to display the combobox's list when the user clicks the combobox but not specifically in the button.

Any Idea? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

This answer fits the title of the question, but not question itself. Omer wanted to touch a text field and have the box popup.

This solution shows the popup when the user enters text.

I found this answer on cocoabuilder from Jens Alfke. I reposted his code here. Thanks Jens.

original cocoabuilder post: (http://www.cocoabuilder.com/archive/cocoa)

@interface NSComboBox (MYExpansionAPI)
@property (getter=isExpanded) BOOL expanded;
@end

@implementation NSComboBox (MYExpansionAPI)

- (BOOL) isExpanded
{
    id ax = NSAccessibilityUnignoredDescendant(self);
    return [[ax accessibilityAttributeValue:
                NSAccessibilityExpandedAttribute] boolValue];
}

- (void) setExpanded: (BOOL)expanded
{
    id ax = NSAccessibilityUnignoredDescendant(self);
    [ax accessibilitySetValue: [NSNumber numberWithBool: expanded]
                 forAttribute: NSAccessibilityExpandedAttribute];
}

I used this code in my controlTextDidChange: method.

- (void) controlTextDidChange:(NSNotification *) aNotification {
  NSTextField *textField = [aNotification object];
  NSString *value = [textField stringValue];
  NSComboBox *box = [self comboBox];
  if (value == nil || [value length] == 0) {
    if ([box isExpanded]) { [box setExpanded:NO]; }
  } else {
    if (![box isExpanded]) { [box setExpanded:YES]; }
  }
}

Answer 2

1. Returns true if the NSComboBox's list is expanded

   comboBox.cell?.isAccessibilityExpanded() ?? false
   

2. Open the NSComboBox's list

   comboBox.cell?.setAccessibilityExpanded(true)
   

3. Close the NSComboBox's list

   comboBox.cell?.setAccessibilityExpanded(false)
   

---

Ref. jmoody’s answer.