Cocoa Keyboard Shortcuts in Dialog without an Edit Menu

user_1175 0
Viewed 13950

I have an LSUIElement application that displays a menubar status item. The application can display a dialog window that contains a text field.

If the user right-clicks/control-clicks the text field, a menu appears that allows cut, copy, paste, etc. However, the standard Command-X, Command-C, and Command-V keyboard shortcuts do not work in the field. I assume this is because my application does not provide an Edit menu with those shortcuts defined.

I've tried adding an Edit menu item to my application's menu, as suggested in the Ship Some Code blog, but that did not work. The menu items in the Edit menu can be used, but keyboard shortcuts still don't work.

I can imagine a few ways to hack the keyboard handling, but is there a "recommended" way to make this work?

(For details about the app, see Menubar Countdown.)

Related question: Copy/Paste Not Working in Modal Window

nsstatusitem macos cocoa
16 Answers

What worked for me was using The View Solution presented in Copy and Paste Keyboard Shortcuts at CocoaRocket.

Basically, this means subclassing NSTextField and overriding performKeyEquivalent:.

Update: The CocoaRocket site is apparently gone. Here's the Internet Archive link: http://web.archive.org/web/20100126000339/http://www.cocoarocket.com/articles/copypaste.html

Edit: The Swift code looks like this

class Editing: NSTextField {

  private let commandKey = NSEventModifierFlags.CommandKeyMask.rawValue
  private let commandShiftKey = NSEventModifierFlags.CommandKeyMask.rawValue | NSEventModifierFlags.ShiftKeyMask.rawValue
  override func performKeyEquivalent(event: NSEvent) -> Bool {
    if event.type == NSEventType.KeyDown {
      if (event.modifierFlags.rawValue & NSEventModifierFlags.DeviceIndependentModifierFlagsMask.rawValue) == commandKey {
        switch event.charactersIgnoringModifiers! {
        case "x":
          if NSApp.sendAction(Selector("cut:"), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
        case "c":
          if NSApp.sendAction(Selector("copy:"), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
        case "v":
          if NSApp.sendAction(Selector("paste:"), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
        case "z":
          if NSApp.sendAction(Selector("undo:"), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
        case "a":
          if NSApp.sendAction(Selector("selectAll:"), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
        default:
          break
        }
      }
      else if (event.modifierFlags.rawValue & NSEventModifierFlags.DeviceIndependentModifierFlagsMask.rawValue) == commandShiftKey {
        if event.charactersIgnoringModifiers == "Z" {
          if NSApp.sendAction(Selector("redo:"), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
        }
      }
    }
    return super.performKeyEquivalent(event)
  }
}

Edit: The Swift 3 code looks like this

class Editing: NSTextView {

private let commandKey = NSEventModifierFlags.command.rawValue
private let commandShiftKey = NSEventModifierFlags.command.rawValue | NSEventModifierFlags.shift.rawValue

override func performKeyEquivalent(with event: NSEvent) -> Bool {
    if event.type == NSEventType.keyDown {
        if (event.modifierFlags.rawValue & NSEventModifierFlags.deviceIndependentFlagsMask.rawValue) == commandKey {
            switch event.charactersIgnoringModifiers! {
            case "x":
                if NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSText.cut(_:)), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
            case "c":
                if NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSText.copy(_:)), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
            case "v":
                if NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSText.paste(_:)), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
            case "z":
                if NSApp.sendAction(Selector(("undo:")), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
            case "a":
                if NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSResponder.selectAll(_:)), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
            default:
                break
            }
        }
        else if (event.modifierFlags.rawValue & NSEventModifierFlags.deviceIndependentFlagsMask.rawValue) == commandShiftKey {
            if event.charactersIgnoringModifiers == "Z" {
                if NSApp.sendAction(Selector(("redo:")), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
            }
        }
    }
    return super.performKeyEquivalent(with: event)
 }
}
user_11750

Xcode10/Swift 4.2 solution:

import Cocoa

extension NSTextView {
override open func performKeyEquivalent(with event: NSEvent) -> Bool {
    let commandKey = NSEvent.ModifierFlags.command.rawValue
    let commandShiftKey = NSEvent.ModifierFlags.command.rawValue | NSEvent.ModifierFlags.shift.rawValue
    if event.type == NSEvent.EventType.keyDown {
        if (event.modifierFlags.rawValue & NSEvent.ModifierFlags.deviceIndependentFlagsMask.rawValue) == commandKey {
            switch event.charactersIgnoringModifiers! {
            case "x":
                if NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSText.cut(_:)), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
            case "c":
                if NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSText.copy(_:)), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
            case "v":
                if NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSText.paste(_:)), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
            case "z":
                if NSApp.sendAction(Selector(("undo:")), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
            case "a":
                if NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSResponder.selectAll(_:)), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
            default:
                break
            }
        } else if (event.modifierFlags.rawValue & NSEvent.ModifierFlags.deviceIndependentFlagsMask.rawValue) == commandShiftKey {
            if event.charactersIgnoringModifiers == "Z" {
                if NSApp.sendAction(Selector(("redo:")), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
            }
        }
    }
    return super.performKeyEquivalent(with: event)
}
}
user_12851310

Swift 4.2 for Thomas Kilian solution

class MTextField: NSSecureTextField {

    private let commandKey = NSEvent.ModifierFlags.command.rawValue
    private let commandShiftKey = NSEvent.ModifierFlags.command.rawValue | NSEvent.ModifierFlags.shift.rawValue

    override func performKeyEquivalent(with event: NSEvent) -> Bool {
        if event.type == NSEvent.EventType.keyDown {
            if (event.modifierFlags.rawValue & NSEvent.ModifierFlags.deviceIndependentFlagsMask.rawValue) == commandKey {
                switch event.charactersIgnoringModifiers! {
                case "x":
                    if NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSText.cut(_:)), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
                case "c":
                    if NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSText.copy(_:)), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
                case "v":
                    if NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSText.paste(_:)), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
                case "z":
                    if NSApp.sendAction(Selector(("undo:")), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
                case "a":
                    if NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSResponder.selectAll(_:)), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
                default:
                    break
                }
            }
            else if (event.modifierFlags.rawValue & NSEvent.ModifierFlags.deviceIndependentFlagsMask.rawValue) == commandShiftKey {
                if event.charactersIgnoringModifiers == "Z" {
                    if NSApp.sendAction(Selector(("redo:")), to:nil, from:self) { return true }
                }
            }
        }
        return super.performKeyEquivalent(with: event)
    }

}
user_4066270

Thank you for this solution! It helped me greatly, so I decided to contribute some code in hope it helps someone else. The suggested solution above worked perfectly after I converted it to Swift 4.2. I then refactored the code a little. I think this is a little cleaner. This is Swift 4.2 compatible:

// NSEventExtensions.swift

import AppKit

extension NSEvent {
    func containsKeyModifierFlags(_ flags: NSEvent.ModifierFlags) -> Bool {
        switch modifierFlags.intersection(.deviceIndependentFlagsMask) {
        case [flags]: return true
        default: return false
        }
    }
}

// SearchFiled.swift

import AppKit
import Carbon

final class SearchField: NSSearchField {
    override func performKeyEquivalent(with event: NSEvent) -> Bool {
        switch event.type {
        case .keyDown: return performKeyDownEquivalent(with: event)
        default: return super.performKeyEquivalent(with: event)
        }
    }

    // MARK: - private

    private func performKeyDownEquivalent(with event: NSEvent) -> Bool {
        if event.containsKeyModifierFlags(.command) {
            switch Int(event.keyCode) {
            case kVK_ANSI_X: return NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSText.cut(_:)), to: nil, from: self)
            case kVK_ANSI_C: return NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSText.copy(_:)), to: nil, from: self)
            case kVK_ANSI_V: return NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSText.paste(_:)), to: nil, from: self)
            case kVK_ANSI_Z: return NSApp.sendAction(Selector(("undo:")), to: nil, from: self)
            case kVK_ANSI_A: return NSApp.sendAction(#selector(NSResponder.selectAll(_:)), to: nil, from: self)
            default: break
            }
        } else if event.containsKeyModifierFlags([.command, .shift]) {
            switch Int(event.keyCode) {
            case kVK_ANSI_Z: return NSApp.sendAction(Selector(("redo:")), to: nil, from: self)
            default: break
            }
        }
        return false
    }
}
user_25020050

Swift 5 solution for NSApplication subclass

open override func sendEvent(_ event: NSEvent) {
    if event.type == .keyDown {
        if event.modifierFlags.contains(.command)  && NSEvent.ModifierFlags.deviceIndependentFlagsMask.contains(.command) {
            if event.modifierFlags.contains(.shift) && NSEvent.ModifierFlags.deviceIndependentFlagsMask.contains(.shift) {
                if event.charactersIgnoringModifiers == "Z" {
                    if NSApp.sendAction(Selector("redo:"), to:nil, from:self) { return }
                }
            }
            guard let key = event.charactersIgnoringModifiers else { return super.sendEvent(event) }
            switch key {
            case "x":
                if NSApp.sendAction(Selector("cut:"), to:nil, from:self) { return }
            case "c":
                if NSApp.sendAction(Selector("copy:"), to:nil, from:self) { return }
            case "v":
                if NSApp.sendAction(Selector("paste:"), to:nil, from:self) { return }
            case "z":
                if NSApp.sendAction(Selector("undo:"), to:nil, from:self) { return }
            case "a":
                if NSApp.sendAction(Selector("selectAll:"), to:nil, from:self) { return }
            default:
                break
          }
        }
    }
    super.sendEvent(event)
}
user_10010570
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