objective c - Validating fonts and colors NSToolbarItem items -

using cocoa latest sdk on osx 10.6.6

i have nstoolbar custom toolbar items , built in fonts , colors nstoolbaritem items (nstoolbarshowfontsitem , nstoolbarshowcolorsitem identifiers).

i need able enable/disable in various situations. problem validatetoolbaritem: never called these items (it being called other toolbar items).

the documentation not clear this:

the toolbar automatically takes care of darkening image item when clicked , fading when disabled. code has validate item. if image item has valid target/action pair, toolbar call nstoolbaritemvalidation’s validatetoolbaritem: on target if target implements it; otherwise item enabled default.

i don't explicitly set target/action these 2 toolbar items, want use default behavior. mean can't validate these items? or there other way can this?

thanks.

after trial , error, think able figure out , find reasonable workaround. post quick answer here future reference others facing same problem.

this 1 more of cocoa's design flaws. nstoolbar has hardcoded behavior set target/action nstoolbarshowfontsitem , nstoolbarshowcolorsitem nsapplication documentation hints never invoke validatetoolbaritem: these nstoolbaritem items.

if need toolbar items validated, trivial thing not use default fonts/colors toolbar items roll own, calling same nsapplication actions (see below).

if using default ones, possible redirect target/action of them object , invoke original actions

- (void) toolbarwilladditem:(nsnotification *)notification {   nstoolbaritem *addeditem = [[notification userinfo] objectforkey: @"item"];   if([[addeditem itemidentifier] isequal: nstoolbarshowfontsitemidentifier]) {                     [addeditem settarget:self];     [addeditem setaction:@selector(toolbaropenfontpanel:)];   } else if ([[addeditem itemidentifier] isequal: nstoolbarshowcolorsitemidentifier]) {     [addeditem settarget:self];     [addeditem setaction:@selector(toolbaropencolorpanel:)];   } }  

now validatetoolbaritem: called:

- (bool)validatetoolbaritem:(nstoolbaritem *)theitem {   //validate item here } 

and here actions invoked:

-(ibaction)toolbaropenfontpanel:(id)sender {   [nsapp orderfrontfontpanel:sender]; }  -(ibaction)toolbaropencolorpanel:(id)sender {   [nsapp orderfrontcolorpanel:sender]; } 

i guess engineers designed never thought 1 want validate fonts/colors toolbar items. go figure.