Change NSButton's background color on highlight

Question

I have an NSButton which I want to have a different background color when it's highlighted than when it's not (transparent on not highlighted, if that makes any difference).

At present, I have the following code

[view setWantsLayer:YES];

NSButton* button = [[NSButton alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 100, 100)];
[button setBordered:FALSE];
[(NSButtonCell*)[button cell] setHighlightsBy:NSChangeBackgroundCellMask];

[view addSubview:button];

This will change the background to the default window background color on click. If I remove NSChangeBackgroundCellMask the background goes away.

Is there an easy way I can have a different color for the background, or does this require me to subclass NSButton?

See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3797640/borderless-nsbutton-turns-gray-when-clicked — Alexander, Apr 23 '14 at 14:50

score 11 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 19 '13 at 08:25

11

In the end, I solved it by subclassing NSButtonCell and overwriting

- (void) highlight:(BOOL)flag withFrame:(NSRect)cellFrame inView:(NSView*)controlView

to make the changes I wanted (changing controlView.layer.backgroundColor based on flag)

answered Nov 19 '13 at 08:25

cobbal

69,903
20
143
156

I'm not seeing this method on the class reference docs for `NSButtonCell`? https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/Reference/ApplicationKit/Classes/NSButtonCell_Class/ – Adam Johns May 04 '16 at 01:46
1

@AdamJohns It's documented in the [`NSCell` superclass](https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/Reference/ApplicationKit/Classes/NSCell_Class/index.html#//apple_ref/occ/instm/NSCell/highlight:withFrame:inView:) – cobbal May 04 '16 at 01:48
This is correct but be careful! In Mojave, if you overwrite any draw methods, this will not work! – Ricardo Anjos Dec 11 '18 at 11:28

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 19 '13 at 06:18

2

You will need to subclass your NSButton and override its mouseDown: and mouseUp: events, change the color of your NSButton in these events.

answered Nov 19 '13 at 06:18

Neha

1,751
14
36

1

Oddly enough, mouseUp: wasn't getting called properly for me so I ended up subclassing NSButtonCell instead. – cobbal Nov 19 '13 at 08:27
Please note: Mouse events of the NSButtonCell are only getting called when you set showsBorderOnlyWhileMouseInside = YES – paxos May 07 '15 at 11:21
1

mouseUp never called for me – Coldsteel48 May 03 '16 at 11:23
NSButton enters its own nested event loop on mouseDown:. That's why you're not getting a mouseUp: event. The nested event loop for tracking the mouse swallows it to know when to return to the main event loop. – uliwitness Aug 29 '16 at 16:24

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 28 '18 at 08:35

0

Swift version of Cobbal's answer:

override func highlight(_ flag: Bool, withFrame cellFrame: NSRect, in controlView: NSView) {
        //do nothing, to disable highlight
}

answered Oct 28 '18 at 08:35

Witterquick

6,048
3
26
50

Change NSButton's background color on highlight

3 Answers3

Linked