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NSMutableAttributedString Class Reference

Overview

NSMutableAttributedString declares the programmatic interface to objects that manage mutable attributed strings. You can add and remove characters (raw strings) and attributes separately or together as attributed strings. See the class description for NSAttributedString for more information about attributed strings.

When working with the Application Kit, you must also clean up changed attributes using the various fix... methods. See “Changing an Attributed String“ for more information on fixing attributes. These methods, as well as others involving setting graphical attributes, are described in NSMutableAttributedString Additions in the Application Kit.

NSMutableAttributedString adds two primitive methods to those of NSAttributedString. These primitive methods provide the basis for all the other methods in its class. The primitive replaceCharactersInRange:withString: method replaces a range of characters with those from a string, leaving all attribute information outside that range intact. The primitive setAttributes:range: method sets attributes and values for a given range of characters, replacing any previous attributes and values for that range.

The Application Kit also uses NSParagraphStyle and its subclass NSMutableParagraphStyle to encapsulate the paragraph or ruler attributes used by the NSAttributedString classes.

Note that the default font for NSAttributedString objects is Helvetica 12-point, which differs from the Mac OS X system font Lucida Grande, so you may wish to create the string with non-default attributes suitable for your application using, for example, initWithString:attributes:.

Tasks

Retrieving Character Information

• – mutableString

Changing Characters

• – replaceCharactersInRange:withString:
• – deleteCharactersInRange:

Changing Attributes

• – setAttributes:range:
• – addAttribute:value:range:
• – addAttributes:range:
• – removeAttribute:range:

Changing Characters and Attributes

• – appendAttributedString:
• – insertAttributedString:atIndex:
• – replaceCharactersInRange:withAttributedString:
• – setAttributedString:

Grouping Changes

• – beginEditing
• – endEditing

Instance Methods

addAttribute:value:range:

Adds an attribute with the given name and value to the characters in the specified range.

- (void)addAttribute:(NSString *)name value:(id)value range:(NSRange)aRange

Parameters

name

A string specifying the attribute name.

value

The attribute value associated with name.

aRange

The range of characters to which the specified attribute/value pair applies.

Discussion

You may assign any name/value pair you wish to a range of characters, in addition to the standard attributes described in the “Constants” section of NSAttributedString Additions. Raises an NSInvalidArgumentException if name or value is nil and an NSRangeException if any part of aRange lies beyond the end of the receiver’s characters.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

See Also

• – addAttributes:range:
• – removeAttribute:range:

Related Sample Code

• CoreRecipes
• IBFragmentView
• iSpend
• TipWrapper

Declared In

NSAttributedString.h

addAttributes:range:

Adds the given collection of attributes to the characters in the specified range.

- (void)addAttributes:(NSDictionary *)attributes range:(NSRange)aRange

Parameters

attributes

A dictionary containing the attributes to add.

aRange

The range of characters to which the specified attributes apply.

Discussion

You may assign any name/value pair you wish to a range of characters, in addition to the standard attributes described in the “Constants” section of NSAttributedString Additions. Raises an NSInvalidArgumentException if attributes is nil and an NSRangeException if any part of aRange lies beyond the end of the receiver’s characters.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

See Also

• – addAttribute:value:range:
• – removeAttribute:range:

Related Sample Code

• TextLinks
• VertexPerformanceTest

Declared In

NSAttributedString.h

appendAttributedString:

Adds the characters and attributes of a given attributed string to the end of the receiver.

- (void)appendAttributedString:(NSAttributedString *)attributedString

Parameters

attributedString

The string whose characters and attributes are added.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

See Also

• – insertAttributedString:atIndex:
• + attributedStringWithAttachment: (NSAttributedString Additions)

Related Sample Code

• BackgroundExporter
• CoreRecipes
• iSpend
• OpenGL Screensaver

Declared In

NSAttributedString.h

beginEditing

Overridden by subclasses to buffer or optimize a series of changes to the receiver’s characters or attributes, until it receives a matching endEditing message, upon which it can consolidate changes and notify any observers that it has changed.

- (void)beginEditing

Discussion

You can nest pairs of beginEditing and endEditing messages.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

• CoreRecipes
• Quartz Composer WWDC 2005 TextEdit
• TextEditPlus
• VertexPerformanceTest

Declared In

NSAttributedString.h

deleteCharactersInRange:

Deletes the characters in the given range along with their associated attributes.

- (void)deleteCharactersInRange:(NSRange)aRange

Parameters

aRange

A range specifying the characters to delete.

Discussion

Raises an NSRangeException if any part of aRange lies beyond the end of the receiver’s characters.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

See Also

• – replaceCharactersInRange:withAttributedString:
• – replaceCharactersInRange:withString:

Declared In

NSAttributedString.h

endEditing

Overridden by subclasses to consolidate changes made since a previous beginEditing message and to notify any observers of the changes.

- (void)endEditing

Discussion

The NSMutableAttributedString implementation does nothing. NSTextStorage, for example, overrides this method to invoke fixAttributesInRange: and to inform its NSLayoutManager objects that they need to re-lay the text.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

See Also

• – processEditing (NSTextStorage)

Related Sample Code

• CoreRecipes
• Quartz Composer WWDC 2005 TextEdit
• TextEditPlus
• VertexPerformanceTest

Declared In

NSAttributedString.h

insertAttributedString:atIndex:

Inserts the characters and attributes of the given attributed string into the receiver at the given index.

- (void)insertAttributedString:(NSAttributedString *)attributedString atIndex:(NSUInteger)index

Parameters

attributedString

The string whose characters and attributes are inserted.

index

The index at which the characters and attributes are inserted.

Discussion

The new characters and attributes begin at the given index and the existing characters and attributes from the index to the end of the receiver are shifted by the length of the attributed string. Raises an NSRangeException if index lies beyond the end of the receiver’s characters.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

See Also

• – appendAttributedString:
• + attributedStringWithAttachment: (NSAttributedString Additions)

Related Sample Code

• CoreRecipes

Declared In

NSAttributedString.h

mutableString

Returns the character contents of the receiver as an NSMutableString object.

- (NSMutableString *)mutableString

Return Value

The mutable string object.

Discussion

The receiver tracks changes to this string and keeps its attribute mappings up to date.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

• Quartz Composer WWDC 2005 TextEdit
• TextEditPlus

Declared In

NSAttributedString.h

removeAttribute:range:

Removes the named attribute from the characters in the specified range.

- (void)removeAttribute:(NSString *)name range:(NSRange)aRange

Parameters

name

A string specifying the attribute name to remove.

aRange

The range of characters from which the specified attribute is removed.

Discussion

Raises an NSRangeException if any part of aRange lies beyond the end of the receiver’s characters.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

See Also

• – addAttribute:value:range:
• – addAttributes:range:

Declared In

NSAttributedString.h

replaceCharactersInRange:withAttributedString:

Replaces the characters and attributes in a given range with the characters and attributes of the given attributed string.

- (void)replaceCharactersInRange:(NSRange)aRange withAttributedString:(NSAttributedString *)attributedString

Parameters

aRange

The range of characters and attributes replaced.

attributedString

The attributed string whose characters and attributes replace those in the specified range.

Discussion

Raises an NSRangeException if any part of aRange lies beyond the end of the receiver’s characters.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

See Also

• – insertAttributedString:atIndex:

Declared In

NSAttributedString.h

replaceCharactersInRange:withString:

Replaces the characters in the given range with the characters of the given string.

- (void)replaceCharactersInRange:(NSRange)aRange withString:(NSString *)aString

Parameters

aRange

A range specifying the characters to replace.

aString

A string specifying the characters to replace those in aRange.

Discussion

The new characters inherit the attributes of the first replaced character from aRange. Where the length of aRange is 0, the new characters inherit the attributes of the character preceding aRange if it has any, otherwise of the character following aRange.

Raises an NSRangeException if any part of aRange lies beyond the end of the receiver’s characters.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

See Also

• – deleteCharactersInRange:

Related Sample Code

• iSpend
• Quartz Composer WWDC 2005 TextEdit
• TextEditPlus

Declared In

NSAttributedString.h

setAttributedString:

Replaces the receiver’s entire contents with the characters and attributes of the given attributed string.

- (void)setAttributedString:(NSAttributedString *)attributedString

Parameters

attributedString

The attributed string whose characters and attributes replace those in the receiver.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

See Also

• – appendAttributedString:

Declared In

NSAttributedString.h

setAttributes:range:

Sets the attributes for the characters in the specified range to the specified attributes.

- (void)setAttributes:(NSDictionary *)attributes range:(NSRange)aRange

Parameters

attributes

A dictionary containing the attributes to set.

aRange

The range of characters whose attributes are set.

Discussion

These new attributes replace any attributes previously associated with the characters in aRange. Raises an NSRangeException if any part of aRange lies beyond the end of the receiver’s characters.

To set attributes for a zero-length NSMutableAttributedString displayed in a text view, use the NSTextView method setTypingAttributes:.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

See Also

• – addAttributes:range:
• – removeAttribute:range:

Declared In

NSAttributedString.h

Constants

An attributed string identifies attributes by name, storing a value under the name in an NSDictionary object. You can assign any attribute name/value pair you wish to a range of characters, in addition to the standard attributes described in the “Constants” section of NSAttributedString Additions.

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