I think I found a way to do this. It may not be the most eloquent, but it seems to work with the type of behavior I want.
I added an mouse event listener to the app's main controller:
event_monitor_mousedown_ = [NSEvent addLocalMonitorForEventsMatchingMask:NSRightMouseDown
handler:^NSEvent *(NSEvent * event)
{
NSResponder *resp = [[[NSApplication sharedApplication] keyWindow] firstResponder];
if ([resp isKindOfClass:[NSTextView class]])
{
// set UI in proper state - remove focus from text field
// even when touching a new window for the first time
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter]
postNotificationName:@"setResponderToNil" object:self];
[self setStopState];
}
return event;
}];
This event checks the current responder in the application on any mouseDown action. If it's a textView object (which is type of the object that would be the first responder when editing an NSTextField) it will send the notification to set the firstResponder to nil. This forces the textDidEndEditing notification. I want to play around with it some more to see if I'm getting the right expected behavior. I hope this helps someone out there!