STPathTextField class

UPDATE: This class now has a home on GitHub. Go there to view and download the latest version. If you fork and improve it, please push your improvements back. Thank you!


STPathTextField is an Objective C class for Mac OS X. It is a subclass of the Cocoa NSTextField control, adding path autocompletion to the textfield. Autocompletion can be configured in a variety of ways: as browser-style autocomplete or shell-style, highlighting of invalid path input and more.

Download STPathTextField class + example code

There is another implementation of similar, though more limited and slightly different functionality, in the class DTCPathView.

Class files


/*
    STPathTextField.m

    Created by Sveinbjorn Thordarson on 6/27/08.
    Copyright 2008 Sveinbjorn Thordarson. All rights reserved.
	
	************************ ABOUT *****************************
	
	STPathTextField is a subclass of NSTextField for receiving 
	and displaying a file system path.  It supports path validation
	and autocompletion.  Autocompletion can use "web browser" style -
	e.g. expansion and selection, or shell autocompletion style -
	tab-expansion.
	
	To use STPathTextField, just add a text field to a window in
	Interface Builder, and set its class to STPathTextField.
	
	See code on how to set the settings for the text field.
	Defaults are the following:
	
		autocompleteStyle = STNoAutocomplete;
		colorInvalidPath = YES;
		foldersAreValid = NO;
		expandTildeInPath = YES;
	
	There are three settings for autocompleteStyle
	
		enum 
		{
			STNoAutocomplete = 0,
			STShellAutocomplete = 1,
			STBrowserAutocomplete = 2
		};
	
	************************ LICENSE ***************************

	Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
	obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation
	files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without
	restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
	copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
	copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
	Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
	conditions:

	The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
	included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

	THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
	EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES
	OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
	NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
	HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
	WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
	FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
	OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
	
	**************************************************************
*/