On Jul 2, 2009, at 1:48 AM, Bill Cheeseman wrote:
I'm not "assuming" that it works with all user controls. The document I quoted from says it does, explicitly and in detail, without qualification. All I asked in my original post is whether I'm correct in concluding that in fact buttons don't work that way. I understand that you've all confirmed that I'm correct in my conclusion. Thanks.
You have to confess that the docs don't say, "all user interface items conform to the NSValidatedUserInterfaceItem protocol and therefore support validation." That is the only true *detailed* and *explicit* statement that would indicate such. Anything else is an inference, although a reasonable and understandable inference, considering the docs in isolation.
Your argument seems to make the case that the problem is precisely how the docs are *not* explicit, and therefore allow or encourage an incorrect inference. I agree, conditionally.
It doesn't help to refer me to the NSUserInterfaceValidations and NSValidatedUserInterface protocol documents, because that's where I started. They are ambiguous, and they're very short on explanation. In fact, I turned to the User Interface Validation document precisely because I was seeking clarification of the protocol documents. Telling me to go back and look at the protocol documents doesn't help.
Well, looking at the methods that both protocols does shed light on their purpose, as was explained by Andy Lee.
In trying to pin down whether buttons also do so, I looked at the NSButton Class Reference document and found that it expressly conforms to the NSUserInterfaceValidations protocol. I don't understand why you say it doesn't.
I defer to Andy's explanation.
I did find it confusing when I read the NSMenuItem and NSToolbarItem Class Reference documents, which say that they conform to the other protocol, the NSValidatedUserInterface protocol. But this tends to suggest that NSButton will work, too, since NSControl, from which NSButton inherits, also conforms to the NSValidatedUserInterface protocol. It doesn't say so, but Apple's documentation has a long history of neglecting to mention all the protocols that a class conforms to. I was able to confirm from the NSControl Class Reference document, and you can too, that NSControl does implement the -action and -tag methods required by the NSValidatedUserInterface protocol. So, again, I don't understand why you say it doesn't.
It's not a matter of docs, although it would be preferable that the docs *do* indicate every protocol. Because the two protocols in question are formal protocols, the @interface declaration must specify conformance. If it doesn't, then no assumption of conformance should be made. Pure and simple. Also, protocol conformance is not inheritable in Objective-C. Therefore, neither NSControl, nor NSButton, conform to the NSValidatedUserInterface protocol.
Keary Suska Esoteritech, Inc. "Demystifying technology for your home or business" _______________________________________________ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to arch...@mail-archive.com
