macOS Anyway to display a popup menu from a button?

[macosus]

Like Google Chrome and some Xcode and Interface Builder controls, is there some way to make a button display a menu? I'm using this as an alternative to a Menubar.

 

[Sydde]

You might try looking at the NSResponder method -menuForEvent: — this would almost certainly require subclassing NSButton, but customized behavior and effects are among the reasons that subclassing is there in the first place.

 

[DoodlyDoo]

NSPopover

 

[szymczyk]

Perform the following steps in Xcode (Xcode 4) or Interface Builder (Xcode 3) to attach a menu to a button:

1. Drag a pop-up button to the window.
2. Open the pop-up button’s attributes inspector.
3. Choose Pull Down from the Type pop-up menu
4. Choose a button type from the Style pop-up menu.
5. If you have an icon button, use the Image combo box to pick an image for the button.
6. If you have an icon button, deselect the Bordered checkbox.

 

[GorillaPaws]

Be sure to think through your rationale for doing this. There are many cases where this is a great UX feature, but it is potentially much less discoverable for the user and can lead to confusion. In many cases, it would probably be a good idea to make this functionality also accessible in the menu bar. It really depends on your specific use case, but I mention this because it may merit significant UX consideration. See Apple's HIG for further reference.