NSTokenField: different colors for tokens

Question

I have created an NSTokenField in my xib. I'd like to display tokens with different colors inside that tokenField. Meaning: some tokens will be blue, the rest will be red (according to their content). Is that possible?

The following code doesn't work for me. I hope someone can help me out:

- (id)tokenField:(NSTokenField *)tokenField representedObjectForEditingString:(NSString *)editingString
{
    id returnRepresentedObject = nil;

    NSTokenFieldCell *tf = [[NSTokenFieldCell alloc] init];
    tf.stringValue = editingString;
    tf.backgroundColor = [NSColor redColor];
    returnRepresentedObject = tf;

    return returnRepresentedObject;
}

Result: all tokens remain blue... :-(

Any help will be highly appreciated!

Answer 1

Its possible by using private APIs. Subclass NSTokenAttachmentCell (Private) and NSTokenFieldCell.

Sample project

Use BWTokenAttachmentCell and BWTokenFieldCell class and NSTokenAttachmentCell class dump from BWToolkit. Modify initialize method of BWTokenAttachmentCell.

[sample project

NOTE:

Use this method if you are not targeting for Mac App Store.

Answer 2

You'll probably have to role your own. There is a wwdc video from 2010 about advanced Cocoa Text handling. The NSTokenField Uses NSTextAttachments to render the tokens.