Autolayout inside a view-based NSTableView

Question

I have an NSTableView (view-based) that creates a row;

- (NSView *)tableView:(NSTableView *)tableView viewForTableColumn:(NSTableColumn *)tableColumn row:(NSInteger)row {
    TaskTableCellView *tableCellView = [[TaskTableCellView alloc] init];
    return tableCellView;
}

-(void) tableView:(NSTableView *)tableView didAddRowView:(NSTableRowView *)rowView forRow:(NSInteger)row {
    NSView *view = [rowView viewAtColumn:0];
    [view setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints:NO];
    NSDictionary *views = NSDictionaryOfVariableBindings(view);
    [tableView addConstraints:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"H:|[view]|" options:0 metrics:nil views:views]];
    [tableView addConstraints:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"V:|[view]|" options:0 metrics:nil views:views]];
}

- (CGFloat)tableView:(NSTableView *)tableView heightOfRow:(NSInteger)row {
    return 20;
}

This row creates some subviews and assigns some constraints;

- (void)layout {
    [super layout];
    ViewWithBackground *viewWithBackground = [[ViewWithBackground alloc] init];
    viewWithBackground.backgroundColor = [NSColor greenColor];
    [self addSubview:viewWithBackground];

    [viewWithBackground setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints:NO];
    NSDictionary *views = NSDictionaryOfVariableBindings(viewWithBackground);
    [self addConstraints:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"H:|[viewWithBackground]|"
                                                                 options:0
                                                                 metrics:nil
                                                                   views:views]];
    [self addConstraints:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"V:|[viewWithBackground]|"
                                                                 options:0
                                                                 metrics:nil
                                                                   views:views]];

    [viewWithBackground setContentHuggingPriority:200 forOrientation:NSLayoutConstraintOrientationVertical];
    [viewWithBackground setContentHuggingPriority:200 forOrientation:NSLayoutConstraintOrientationHorizontal];
}


- (void)drawRect:(NSRect)dirtyRect {
    [[NSColor redColor] set];
    NSRectFill(dirtyRect);
    [super drawRect:dirtyRect];
}

The fun starts when I actually try to edit the constraints.. viewWithBackground is just an empty NSView that sets it's background. When the constraint is |[viewWithBackground]| for both horizontal and vertical, I get the expected result -- green rows. When I change it to the most basic |-[viewWithBackground]-|, I get a decidedly unexpected result -- red rows, and no sign of my green view!

Is there some additional step I'm supposed to take here? My goal is to have my viewWithBackground actually be a slightly smaller view, to fake the 'gaps' between rows and the spacing from the edges of the table view..

Answer 1

In case anyone ever stumbles on this.. it turns out that NSTableCellView is a bit wonky without a min size -- adding (>=10) on the Vertical constraint took care of the issue..