Align Toolbar Item to split view content unsing Auto Layout Constraints

Question

I would like to align a button in the toolbar of an os x app to the position of a split view in the window, similar to the delete button in Apple Mail. How can this be done

Answer 1

I just run into the same question. As in OS X 10.11 El Capitan, we can use NSLayoutGuide for this.

First you should have a reference to the NSView subclass's instance to be aligned to in the "current" source code file. In this case, a subview in your splitview.

This following example is to show how to align two views using NSLayoutAnchor. You may also add vertical constrains to the toolbar item.

- (void) setUpToolbarItemConstrains {

// the view you want your toolbaritem to align to
NSView * refView = self.theOtherView.view;

// theToolbarItem is the outlet to the ToolbarItem
NSView * toolsView = self.theToolbarItem.view;

// You can also do this in Interface Builder
self.theToolbarItem.minSize = CGSizeMake(200.0f, 0.0f);
self.theToolbarItem.maxSize = CGSizeMake(600.0f, 100.0f);

toolsView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;

[toolsView.leadingAnchor constraintEqualToAnchor: refView.leadingAnchor].active = YES;

}

However, I have an extended question related to this.

Answer 2

I know it's a bit old, but I had the same issue and found an answer:

You have to use topLayoutGuide property.

Ex in swift

view.addConstraints(NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormats(
        ["H:|[toolbarShadow]|", "V:[topLayoutGuide][toolbarShadow(100)]"], 
views: viewDictionnary))

Of course topLayoutGuide must be in your view dictionary

You can access it through self.topLayoutGuide