C H A P T E R 1 5

Controls

Text Input Field Implementation

Text input fields are available in Interface Builder. To create one using Application Kit programming interfaces, use the NSTextField class.

Token Fields

A token field is a control that creates a token out of input text. The token field control supports behavior similar to that of the address field in the Mail application.

Figure 15-72 shows various states of the token field control (no contextual menu support is shown).

Figure 15-72 A token field control in use

Selected token (prior to keyboard input)

Token changed to user's keyboard input

New keyboard input before user presses Return, Enter, or Tab

New token with the mouse pointer hovering over it

Token Field Usage

Use a token field control in a text input field (see “Text Input Fields” (page 313) for more information about text input fields). As the user types in the text input field, the token field control invokes text completion after a delay you specify. When the user types the comma character or presses Return, the preceding text input is transformed into a token.

A token is draggable and, if you add code to support a menu, displays a disclosure triangle that reveals a contextual menu when the user presses or clicks it. In this menu, you might offer more information about the token and ways to manipulate it. In Mail, for example, the token menu displays information about the token (the email address associated with the name) and items that allow the user to edit the token or add its associated information to Address Book, as shown in Figure 15-73.

316	Text Controls

2008-06-09 | © 1992, 2001-2003, 2008 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved.