Aligning NSTextField and an Image

Question

I am trying to align an NSTextField and an NSImageView.. My current code is below. I have tried a bunch of different approaches including subclassing NSTextFieldCell (found here on SO), messing around with the frame of the text field, and tweaking constraints, but I just can't get it.. No matter what I do, it looks like the screenshot below..

I also have discovered that when I don't apply a font to the label, alignment works as I would expect -- it is vertically aligned with the image.

So the question is, a) why in the world does applying a font screw up the alignment, and b) how do I get around this, ideally in a dynamic way that will adapt if i change the font at runtime..

- (id)initWithFrame:(NSRect)frameRect {
    self = [super initWithFrame:frameRect];
    if (self) {
        NSView *spacer1 = [[NSView alloc] init];
        [spacer1 setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints:NO];
        [self addSubview:spacer1];

        NSView *spacer2 = [[NSView alloc] init];
        [spacer2 setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints:NO];
        [self addSubview:spacer2];

        NSImage *icon = [NSImage imageNamed:@"05-arrow-west"];
        NSImageView *iconView = [[NSImageView alloc] init];
        [iconView setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints:NO];
        [iconView setImage:icon];

        [self addSubview:iconView];

        NSFont *font = [NSFont fontWithName:@"HelveticaNeue-Light" size:14];
        NSTextField *label = [[NSTextField alloc] init];
        [label setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints:NO];
        [label setEditable:NO];
        [label setSelectable:NO];
        [label setBezeled:NO];
        [label setDrawsBackground:NO];

        [label setFont:font];
        [label setTextColor:[NSColor lightGrayColor]];
        [label setStringValue:@"Test String"];


        [self addSubview:label];

        NSDictionary *views = NSDictionaryOfVariableBindings(iconView, label, spacer1, spacer2);

        [self addConstraints:
                [NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"H:|[spacer1(>=0)][iconView]-5-[label][spacer2(==spacer1)]|"
                                                        options: 0
                                                        metrics:nil
                                                          views:views]];

        [self addConstraints:
                [NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"V:|[iconView]|"
                                                        options: 0
                                                        metrics:nil
                                                          views:views]];

        [self addConstraints:
                [NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"V:|[label]|"
                                                        options: 0
                                                        metrics:nil
                                                          views:views]];

        [self setContentHuggingPriority:200 forOrientation:NSLayoutConstraintOrientationVertical];
        [iconView setContentHuggingPriority:200 forOrientation:NSLayoutConstraintOrientationVertical];
        [label setContentHuggingPriority:200 forOrientation:NSLayoutConstraintOrientationVertical];
    }

    return self;
}

Answer 1

In the end, this did it:

[self addConstraint:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem:label
                                                          attribute:NSLayoutAttributeBaseline
                                                          relatedBy:NSLayoutRelationEqual
                                                             toItem:iconView
                                                          attribute:NSLayoutAttributeCenterY
                                                         multiplier:1
                                                           constant:0]];