Re: Adding HUD context pannel to rows within NSOutlineView

FROM : Corbin Dunn
DATE : Wed Nov 28 21:33:14 2007

>> A context menu is a regular menu; not a HUD. I would discourage you 
>> from creating UI that does something other than pop up a context 
>> menu on the right click; it won't be what people expect, and isn't 
>> easily discoverable. Apps that use HUD's typically bring them up in 
>> some other way. For instance, they have a button in the cell to 
>> bring it up, a toolbar item (Aperture), or an item in the context 
>> menu itself (iCal).

>
> Sounds like its best to stick to a context menu for the time being. 
> The obvious one that uses HUD on right click is Interface 
> builder.... :)


Ahh yes, IB -- they are the exception to the rule. They have taken 
over what "right click" means. Instead of it meaning "context menu", 
it means "make a connection". In some ways it is unfortunate, as it 
would be nice to right click on a particular item and have some 
context menu options (cut/copy/paste, for example).

>
> Thats why I was thinking of using a HUD rather than a context menu, 
> as some of the parameters I need to set are not "context menu 
> friendly". What are your thoughts?


Well there are several "cool" approaches. You could do something like 
iCal when you click on an event, and/or Delicious Library 2 (http://theocacao.com/document.page/505
) -- they both do popout bubbles when clicking on a particular item. 
You could do this when clicking on some signifier in a row (for 
instance -- a button, or selecting the row itself).

If you want a HUD, it should just be context aware. You could have 
some toolbar button that shows/hides the HUD, and it is aware of the 
current selection in the tableview and updates itself as the selection 
changes. This is a lot more standard than requiring the user to right 
click to show it, and makes discoverability easier.

>
>

>> If you really want to do a HUD, you will probably have to subclass 
>> NSTableView, override mouseDown:, call super (to do all the work of 
>> tracking and changing the selection), and then show your HUD if it 
>> was a right click.

>
> Its actually on a NSOutlineView - is the same applicable?


Yup! it is a subclass.

corbin