NSButton how to color the text

Question

on OSX I have an NSButton with a pretty dark image and unfortunately it is not possible to change the color using the attributes inspector. See picture the big black button,

Answer 1

My solution:

.h

IB_DESIGNABLE
@interface DVButton : NSButton

@property (nonatomic, strong) IBInspectable NSColor *BGColor;
@property (nonatomic, strong) IBInspectable NSColor *TextColor;

@end


.m

@implementation DVButton

- (void)awakeFromNib
{
    if (self.TextColor)
    {
        NSMutableParagraphStyle *style = [[NSMutableParagraphStyle alloc] init];
        [style setAlignment:NSCenterTextAlignment];
        NSDictionary *attrsDictionary  = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
                                          self.TextColor, NSForegroundColorAttributeName,
                                          self.font, NSFontAttributeName,
                                          style, NSParagraphStyleAttributeName, nil];
        NSAttributedString *attrString = [[NSAttributedString alloc]initWithString:self.title attributes:attrsDictionary];
        [self setAttributedTitle:attrString];
    }
}


- (void)drawRect:(NSRect)dirtyRect
{
    if (self.BGColor)
    {
        // add a background colour
        [self.BGColor setFill];
        NSRectFill(dirtyRect);
    }

    [super drawRect:dirtyRect];
}

@end

And here’s a Swift 3 version:

import Cocoa

@IBDesignable
class DVButton: NSButton
{
    @IBInspectable var bgColor: NSColor?
    @IBInspectable var textColor: NSColor?

    override func awakeFromNib()
    {
        if let textColor = textColor, let font = font
        {
            let style = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
            style.alignment = .center

            let attributes =
            [
                NSForegroundColorAttributeName: textColor,
                NSFontAttributeName: font,
                NSParagraphStyleAttributeName: style
            ] as [String : Any]

            let attributedTitle = NSAttributedString(string: title, attributes: attributes)
            self.attributedTitle = attributedTitle
        }
    }

    override func draw(_ dirtyRect: NSRect)
    {
        if let bgColor = bgColor
        {
            bgColor.setFill()
            NSRectFill(dirtyRect)
        }

        super.draw(dirtyRect)
    }

}

and Swift 4.0 version:

import Cocoa

@IBDesignable
 class Button: NSButton
{
    @IBInspectable var bgColor: NSColor?
    @IBInspectable var textColor: NSColor?

    override func awakeFromNib()
    {
        if let textColor = textColor, let font = font
        {
            let style = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
            style.alignment = .center

            let attributes =
            [
                NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: textColor,
                NSAttributedStringKey.font: font,
                NSAttributedStringKey.paragraphStyle: style
             ] as [NSAttributedStringKey : Any]

            let attributedTitle = NSAttributedString(string: title, attributes: attributes)
            self.attributedTitle = attributedTitle
        }
    }

    override func draw(_ dirtyRect: NSRect)
    {
        if let bgColor = bgColor
        {
            bgColor.setFill()
            __NSRectFill(dirtyRect)
        }

        super.draw(dirtyRect)
    }
}

Answer 2

Swift 4.2 version of David Boyd's solution

extension NSButton {
func setAttributes(foreground: NSColor? = nil, fontSize: CGFloat = -1.0, alignment: NSTextAlignment? = nil) {

    var attributes: [NSAttributedString.Key: Any] = [:]

    if let foreground = foreground {
        attributes[NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor] = foreground
    }

    if fontSize != -1 {
        attributes[NSAttributedString.Key.font] = NSFont.systemFont(ofSize: fontSize)
    }

    if let alignment = alignment {
        let paragraph = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
        paragraph.alignment = alignment
        attributes[NSAttributedString.Key.paragraphStyle] = paragraph
    }

    let attributed = NSAttributedString(string: self.title, attributes: attributes)
    self.attributedTitle = attributed
}

}

Answer 3

I've created a NSButton subclass called FlatButton that makes it super-easy to change the text color in the Attributes Inspector of Interface Builder like you are asking for. It should provide a simple and extensive solution to your problem.

It also exposes other relevant styling attributes such as color and shape.

You'll find it here: https://github.com/OskarGroth/FlatButton

Answer 4

This is how I get it done in Swift 4

 @IBOutlet weak var myButton: NSButton!

 // create the attributed string
 let myString = "My Button Title"
 let myAttribute = [ NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor: NSColor.blue ]
 let myAttrString = NSAttributedString(string: myString, attributes: myAttribute)
 // assign it to the button
 myButton.attributedTitle = myAttrString

Answer 5

NSColor color = NSColor.White;  
NSMutableAttributedString colorTitle = new NSMutableAttributedString (cb.Cell.Title);                
NSRange titleRange = new NSRange (0, (nint)cb.Cell.Title.Length);
colorTitle.AddAttribute (NSStringAttributeKey.ForegroundColor, color, titleRange);      
cb.Cell.AttributedTitle = colorTitle;  

Answer 6

Using the info above, I wrote a NSButton extension that sets the foreground color, along with the system font and text alignment.

This is for Cocoa on Swift 4.x, but could be easily adjusted for iOS.

import Cocoa

extension NSButton {
    func setAttributes(foreground: NSColor? = nil, fontSize: CGFloat = -1.0, alignment: NSTextAlignment? = nil) {

        var attributes: [NSAttributedStringKey: Any] = [:]

        if let foreground = foreground {
            attributes[NSAttributedStringKey.foregroundColor] = foreground
        }

        if fontSize != -1 {
            attributes[NSAttributedStringKey.font] = NSFont.systemFont(ofSize: fontSize)
        }

        if let alignment = alignment {
            let paragraph = NSMutableParagraphStyle()
            paragraph.alignment = alignment
            attributes[NSAttributedStringKey.paragraphStyle] = paragraph
        }

        let attributed = NSAttributedString(string: self.title, attributes: attributes)
        self.attributedTitle = attributed
    }
}