[iOliverC]

Hey guys,

Im trying to replace a string with a string, so for example, if I type in "hello", the text would be changed to "goodbye".

I did some research and found this method:

replaceOccurrencesOfString

So I tried this code in my textStorageDidProcessEditing: notification method:

Code:
	NSMutableString *text = [[[docTextView string] mutableCopy] autorelease];
	[text replaceOccurrencesOfString:@"hey" withString:@"bye" options:NSLiteralSearch range:NSMakeRange(0, [text length])];

I get no errors or anything, but nothing happens in the text view. I tried NSLogging the mutable string, and it seems to be fine.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Oliver

[Chuckit]

Why would operating on a mutable copy of the backing store do something to the text view?

[iOliverC]

Originally posted by Chuckit:
Why would operating on a mutable copy of the backing store do something to the text view?

Not sure what you mean, I've looked over the same type of source on mamasam, and this is how they all seem to do what I'm looking for.

[Chuckit]

From the code you posted, what you are doing should not affect the text view at all. You first obtain the text view's string with [docTextView string]. Then you make a copy of it with mutableCopy. You then perform a search-and-replace on this new string that you just created. But that string is completely unconnected to the text view. If you wanted its contents to be displayed in the text view, you'd have to use [docTextView setString:text].

[Angus_D]

Originally posted by Chuckit:
From the code you posted, what you are doing should not affect the text view at all. You first obtain the text view's string with [docTextView string]. Then you make a copy of it with mutableCopy. You then perform a search-and-replace on this new string that you just created. But that string is completely unconnected to the text view. If you wanted its contents to be displayed in the text view, you'd have to use [docTextView setString:text].

Or if it's really a NSTextView (sounds like it's more likely to be a NSTextField) you could operate directly on its -textStorage (NSTextStorage inherits from NSMutableAttributedString).

[iOliverC]

setString: did it, thanks. I got a little confused .

Now I have another little problem, If I try this code:

[text replaceOccurrencesOfString:@"£" withString:@"£" options:NSLiteralSearch range:NSMakeRange(0, [text length])];

If I type in £, nothing happens, but if I replace the £ with a word, it works perfectly. I guess this means something to do with encoding. I am using Unicode (UTF-8) and I don't see why it shouldn't work.

Thanks,
Oliver

[Angus_D]

Constant strings don't work too well with non-ASCII characters. You'd have to either escape it as a unicode character or load it from a strings file.

[Uncle Skeleton]

not to mention your source files can become corrupted if they have a bunch of non-ASCII characters in them (well, it happened to me at least; the file wasn't lost, but my "©" mysteriously changed to something else when I wasn't looking)

[Chuckit]

Originally posted by Angus_D:
Or if it's really a NSTextView (sounds like it's more likely to be a NSTextField) you could operate directly on its -textStorage (NSTextStorage inherits from NSMutableAttributedString).

NSMutableAttributedString, however, does not inherit from NSMutableString and lacks many methods that the latter has (including the one Oliver is using).

Also, since NSTextField is just an NSControl wrapper for an NSTextView, any techniques applicable to one ought to be applicable to the other.