Execute an Action when the Enter-Key is pressed in a NSTextField?

Cocoa Problem Overview

I have a small problem right now. I want to execute a method when the Enter key is pressed in a NSTextField. The user should be able to enter his data and a calculation method should be executed as soon as he hits the enter key.

Cocoa Solutions

Solution 1 - Cocoa

You can do this by setting the text field's action. In IB, wire the text field's selector to your controller or whatever object presents the IBAction you want to use.

To set it in code, send the NSTextField a setTarget: message and a setAction: message. For example, if you're setting this on your controller object in code, and your textField outlet is called myTextField:

- (void)someAction:(id)sender
{
  // do something interesting when the user hits <enter> in the text field
}

// ...

[myTextField setTarget:self];
[myTextField setAction:@selector(someAction:)];

Solution 2 - Cocoa

You have to do only this

For some keys (Enter, Delete, Backspace, etc)

self.textfield.delegate = self;

and then implement this method

- (BOOL)control:(NSControl *)control textView:(NSTextView *)fieldEditor doCommandBySelector:(SEL)commandSelector
{
    NSLog(@"Selector method is (%@)", NSStringFromSelector( commandSelector ) );
    if (commandSelector == @selector(insertNewline:)) {
        //Do something against ENTER key

    } else if (commandSelector == @selector(deleteForward:)) {
        //Do something against DELETE key

    } else if (commandSelector == @selector(deleteBackward:)) {
        //Do something against BACKSPACE key

    } else if (commandSelector == @selector(insertTab:)) {
        //Do something against TAB key

    } else if (commandSelector == @selector(cancelOperation:)) {
        //Do something against Escape key
    }
    // return YES if the action was handled; otherwise NO
}

Solution 3 - Cocoa

In your delegate (NSTextFieldDelegate), add the following:

-(void)controlTextDidEndEditing:(NSNotification *)notification
{
    // See if it was due to a return
    if ( [[[notification userInfo] objectForKey:@"NSTextMovement"] intValue] == NSReturnTextMovement )
    {
        NSLog(@"Return was pressed!");
    }
}

Solution 4 - Cocoa

The Swift 3 / 4 / 5 version of @M.ShuaibImran's solution:

First subclass your ViewController to: NSTextFieldDelegate

class MainViewController: NSViewController, NSTextFieldDelegate {
  ...
}

Assign the textField delegate to the ViewController in your viewDidLoad():

self.textField.delegate = self

Include the NSTextFieldDelegate method that handles keyboard responders:

func control(_ control: NSControl, textView: NSTextView, doCommandBy commandSelector: Selector) -> Bool {
    if (commandSelector == #selector(NSResponder.insertNewline(_:))) {
        // Do something against ENTER key
        print("enter")
        return true
    } else if (commandSelector == #selector(NSResponder.deleteForward(_:))) {
        // Do something against DELETE key
        return true
    } else if (commandSelector == #selector(NSResponder.deleteBackward(_:))) {
        // Do something against BACKSPACE key
        return true
    } else if (commandSelector == #selector(NSResponder.insertTab(_:))) {
        // Do something against TAB key
        return true
    } else if (commandSelector == #selector(NSResponder.cancelOperation(_:))) {
        // Do something against ESCAPE key
        return true
    }
    
    // return true if the action was handled; otherwise false
    return false
}

Solution 5 - Cocoa

It's very easy and you can do it directly from UI editor

Right click the Text Feild, drag Action reference to the button as shown below in the screenshot

Now it will give you some option as shown in screen shot below, you need to select perform click

Now it should look like this

Note: The event will be raised as soon as you press Tab or Enter key. In case you want the action should only be raised when user presses the Enter key then you have to do a setting. Go to the Attribute inspector and change the Action property to Send on Enter only as shown in screen shot below

Solution 6 - Cocoa

NSTextFieldDelegate's – control:textView:doCommandBySelector: is your friend.

Look for the insertNewline: command.

Solution 7 - Cocoa

In Interface Builder - click on your NSTextField, go to the connections editor, drag from selector to your controller object - you're actions should come up!

Solution 8 - Cocoa

Best way to do that is to bind the NSTextField value with NSString property.

For Example,define a method:

(void)setTextFieldString:(NSString *)addressString {}

add bindings:

[textField bind:@"value" toObject:self withKeyPath:@"self.textFieldString" options:nil];

Enter any text and hit the return key, setTextFieldString will be called.

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	TalkingCode	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Cocoa	Jason Coco	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Cocoa	M.Shuaib Imran	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Cocoa	Raff	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Cocoa	drv	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Cocoa	Vikas Bansal	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Cocoa	iljawascoding	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Cocoa	Daniel Morris	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 8 - Cocoa	Sathish Kumar	View Answer on Stackoverflow