Getting a column in an NSTableView with editable column order

Question

I have an NSTableView where I would like to be notified if the user clicks in a column "ClickMe". I linked the entire table view to a method which can extract the clickedColumn:, but I get an absolute number and not a reference to the "ClickMe" column (which may have been moved to another place).

I could of course program my own search algorithm to see if column X is actually the "Clickme" column, but that would not be very elegant. Is there a way to identify columns properly, and to receive that ID programmatically?

Answer 1

I found a way to do my own search in a fairly fast way, but I still have a feeling I am putting too much effort in this:

First, set the Identifier of the desired column in the Interface Builder to "ClickMeColumn". Then:

NSInteger cmColumn = [tableView columnWithIdentifier:@"ClickMeColumn"];
if ( [tableView clickedColumn] == cmColumn )
      NSLog(@"Clicked me!");

I am looking for something along the lines of [tableView clickedColumnIdentifier].

Answer 2

What about querying NSTableView's columnAtPoint: in your table views mouseDown: or mouseUp: method?

Answer 3

Use any of the methods below. Called by the tableView's delegate on selection. You can extract the identifier and the title string from the relevant tableColumn.

- (void)tableView:(NSTableView *)tableView didClickTableColumn:(NSTableColumn *)tableColumn {

NSLog(@"tableView:didClickTableColumn: %@, titleString: %@", [tableColumn identifier], [[tableColumn headerCell] stringValue]);

}


- (void)tableView:(NSTableView *)tableView mouseDownInHeaderOfTableColumn:(NSTableColumn *)tableColumn {

NSLog(@"tableView:mouseDownInHeaderOfTableColumn: %@, titleString: %@", [tableColumn identifier], [[tableColumn headerCell] stringValue]);

}

From: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/Reference/ApplicationKit/Classes/NSTableView_Class