NSLevelIndicator fading when not highlighted

Question

When the NSLevelIndicator (in star ratings mode) is interacted with it shows placeholder dots for where there are no stars. These dots however fade once the interaction with the NSLevelIndicator is seized. This brings with it obvious UI problems because the user is no longer aware that there is a NSLevelIndicator to be interacted with. Is there any way to force the continuous highlighting of the indicator so that the dots do not fade?

Answer 1

I found an answer here: http://www.cocoabuilder.com/archive/cocoa/202167-rating-style-levelindicator-not-showing-dots.html

Basically the control's cell needs to have its 'highlighted' property set to YES for the dots to show. Their solution involves subclassing NSLevelIndicatorCell; I found a simpler way that seems to work fine, which is to set the control's cell's highlight to YES when it's initially created, and after it's clicked and sends its action message. (You have to keep highlighting it because it loses the highlight after each click for some reason.)