[iOliverC]

Hi guys,

I have a NSSearchField which has a menu attached to it. I attach the menu via this code:

- (void)setupSearchBar
{
NSMenu *cellMenu = [[[NSMenu alloc] initWithTitle:@"Search Menu"] autorelease];
NSMenuItem *item = [[NSMenuItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"PHP.Net Manual" action:@selector(setPHP:) keyEquivalent:@""];
NSMenuItem *item2 = [[NSMenuItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"MySQL Manual" action:@selector(setMySQL:) keyEquivalent:@""];
id searchCell = [searchBar cell];
[cellMenu insertItem:item atIndex:0];
[cellMenu insertItem:item2 atIndex:1];
[item release];
[item2 release];
[searchCell setSearchMenuTemplate:cellMenu];
}

Now, the menu is attached fine, but the menu items are not enabled, they are just grey. I had a look in Apple's docs and this is how they do it too. In case its needed, here are the methods I use (setPHP and setMySQL):

- (void)setPHP:(id)sender
{
id searchBarCell = [searchBar cell];
[searchBarCell setPlaceholderString:@"PHP.Net Manual"];
[phpMenuItem setState:NSOnState];
[sqlMenuItem setState:NSOffState];
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:@"PHP.Net Manual" forKey:@"HelpSearchMode"];
}

- (void)setMySQL:(id)sender
{
id searchBarCell = [searchBar cell];
[searchBarCell setPlaceholderString:@"MySQL Manual"];
[sqlMenuItem setState:NSOnState];
[phpMenuItem setState:NSOffState];
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:@"MySQL Manual" forKey:@"HelpSearchMode"];
}

Now, you would have thought that it would have worked, but it won't! I had a look in the cocoa-dev archives, and someone else had a similar problem but got no reply.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Oliver

[Rickster]

By setting an action but not a target on the two menu items, you're implicitly setting their target to "first responder". Menu items are automatically validated -- when you pull up the menu, it searches the responder chain for an object that responds to setPHP:, and then disables the menu item when it doesn't find one. (And does the same for the other menu item.) Is the object you've implemented those action methods on in the responder chain? If not, you need to either insert it there or set it as an explicit target on the menu items.

[iOliverC]

Turns out I needed a setTarget:self on each menu item .

Thanks,
Oliver