Re: Best practice for hidden keyboard shortcuts

FROM : David Spooner
DATE : Fri Nov 02 17:49:05 2007

Phil,

I had written a class of view which implements arbitrary key 
equivalents (with some exceptions, like cmd-tab) by overriding both -
performKeyEquivalent: and -keyDown: -- I don't recall the specifics, 
but I know that both methods are called in different circumstances...

dave


On 2-Nov-07, at 9:20 AM, Philip Dow wrote:

> I'm looking to provide hidden keyboard shortcuts in my cocoa app. 
> Actually this was already working in Tiger but the technique I was 
> employing seems to no longer work in Leopard.
>
> In Tiger I was using a hidden popup button. Worked great, but no 
> more. I've search the lists for possible solutions but have not come 
> across a concrete answer. Recommendations include using Carbon's 
> kMenuAttrHidden, Leopard's new hidden menu attribute, 
> performKeyEquivalent: and overriding NSApp's sendEvent:
>
> I don't mind delving into Carbon, but to get a MenuRef for a NSMenu 
> I am required to use an undocumented method. I'd like to avoid that 
> if i can. Leopard's new hidden menu attribute looks promising, but 
> hiding a menu removes the key equivalents for its menu items, 
> defeating my purpose. performKeyEquivalent would be great, but 
> documentation says you are limited to key equivalents that have no 
> modifiers or the shift modifier only. I'd like to use control and 
> option as well.
>
> This leaves me with overriding NSApp's sendEvent: . My current 
> thinking is to check in that method for key events with the cmd 
> modifier and ask the main window or window's delegate if it would 
> like to handle a key equivalent. This is similar to the 
> performKeyEquivalent: route except I can now use additional 
> modifiers. If the window or delegate doesn't care to handle the 
> event, I simply call super's sendEvent:
>
> Before I go through with this implementation I was just wondering if 
> all of that sounds right or if there is a better way to do it.
>
> -Phil
>