A common pattern for for single window oriented Mac apps is to create a set of container views in the main window. Then each of the container views can be filled with an NSViewController controlled view. In the strings and struts world, embedding a view was typically done by adding the subview and then matching the frame size of the embedded vie…

gistfile1.md

Usage

Drag the NSView+ASTEnhancements.h and .m files into your project.

Import NSView+ASTEnhancements.h where needed.

To add the subview so that it "fills" the container view using auto layout, you would then simply do:

[containerView addAutoLayoutSubview:embedSubView];

NSView+ASTEnhancements.h

//
//  NSView+ASTEnhancements.h
//
//  Created by Sean Kormilo on 2012-12-27.
//  http://www.anystonetech.com 
//  http://www.anytune.us

//  Copyright (c) 2012 Anystone Technologies, Inc.
//
//  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.


#import <Cocoa/Cocoa.h>

@interface NSView (ASTEnhancements)

- (void)addAutoLayoutSubview:(NSView*)aSubView;

@end

NSView+ASTEnhancements.m

//
//  NSView+ASTEnhancements.m
//
//  Created by Sean Kormilo on 2012-12-27.
//  http://www.anystonetech.com 
//  http://www.anytune.us

//  Copyright (c) 2012 Anystone Technologies, Inc.
//
//  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.

#import "NSView+ASTEnhancements.h"

@implementation NSView (ASTEnhancements)

- (void)addAutoLayoutSubview:(NSView*)aSubView
{
    NSDictionary *views = NSDictionaryOfVariableBindings( aSubView );
    [aSubView setTranslatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints:NO];

    [self addSubview:aSubView];
    
    NSArray *horizontalConstraints = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"H:|-0-[aSubView]-0-|"
                                                                             options:0
                                                                             metrics:0
                                                                               views:views];
    
    NSArray *verticalConstraints = [NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"V:|-0-[aSubView]-0-|"
                                                                           options:0
                                                                           metrics:0
                                                                             views:views];
    
    [self addConstraints:horizontalConstraints];
    [self addConstraints:verticalConstraints];
}

@end