Customizing borderless NSButton behavior when clicked?

Question

I have a borderless NSButton(more or less a NSTextField with an action) that I would like to behave like an "image-based" button, i.e. I would like the button text to change color when passed over with a mouse and when clicked. Is there an easy way to achieve that ?

Here is my button initialization context :

    NSButton* but =[[NSButton alloc] initWithFrame:NSMakeRect(5, 5, 125, 25)] ;
    [but setTitle:@"Do not show Again"];
    [but setButtonType:NSMomentaryLightButton]; //I figure it could be here
    [but setBezelStyle:NSHelpButtonBezelStyle];
    [but setBordered:NO];
    [but setAction:@selector(writeToUserDefaults)];
    [but setFont:[NSFont fontWithName:@"Arial" size:9.0]];
    [self.view addSubview:but];

Source that didn't work : Borderless NSButton Turns Gray

What are my solution (besides subclassing NSButton ?)

Answer 1

The solution is to use NSTrackingArea, from Apple documentation

An NSTrackingArea object defines a region of view that generates mouse-tracking and cursor-update events when the mouse is over that region.

In your situation you need to set up a tracking area with respect to the frame of your NSButton and change text color when you receive mouse tracking events.

- (void)awakeFromNib:(NSWindow *)newWindow 
{
    NSButton* but =[[NSButton alloc] initWithFrame:NSMakeRect(5, 5, 125, 25)] ;
    [but setTitle:@"Do not show Again"];
    [but setBezelStyle:NSHelpButtonBezelStyle];
    [but setBordered:NO];
    [but setAction:@selector(writeToUserDefaults)];
    [but setFont:[NSFont fontWithName:@"Arial" size:9.0]];
    [self.view addSubview:but];

    NSTrackingArea* trackingArea = [[NSTrackingArea alloc] initWithRect:[but frame] 
                                                                options:(NSTrackingInVisibleRect | NSTrackingEnabledDuringMouseDrag | NSTrackingMouseEnteredAndExited | NSTrackingActiveAlways) 
                                                                  owner:self userInfo:nil];

[self.view addTrackingArea:trackingArea];
}

- (void) mouseEntered:(NSEvent*)theEvent {
    //Set text color
}

- (void) mouseExited:(NSEvent*)theEvent {
    //Reset text color
}