Wait for [NSAlert beginSheetModalForWindow:...];

Question

When I display an NSAlert like this, I get the response straight away:

int response;
NSAlert *alert = [NSAlert alertWithMessageText:... ...];
response = [alert runModal];

The problem is that this is application-modal and my application is document based. I display the alert in the current document's window by using sheets, like this:

int response;
NSAlert *alert = [NSAlert alertWithMessageText:... ...];
[alert beginSheetModalForWindow:aWindow
                  modalDelegate:self
                 didEndSelector:@selector(alertDidEnd:returnCode:contextInfo:)
                    contextInfo:&response];

//elsewhere
- (void) alertDidEnd:(NSAlert *) alert returnCode:(int) returnCode contextInfo:(int *) contextInfo
{
    *contextInfo = returnCode;
}

The only issue with this is that beginSheetModalForWindow: returns straight away so I cannot reliably ask the user a question and wait for a response. This wouldn't be a big deal if I could split the task into two areas but I can't.

I have a loop that processes about 40 different objects (that are in a tree). If one object fails, I want the alert to show and ask the user whether to continue or abort (continue processing at the current branch), but since my application is document based, the Apple Human Interface Guidelines dictate to use sheets when the alert is specific to a document.

How can I display the alert sheet and wait for a response?

Answer 1

We created a category on NSAlert to run alerts synchronously, just like application-modal dialogs:

NSInteger result;

// Run the alert as a sheet on the main window
result = [alert runModalSheet];

// Run the alert as a sheet on some other window
result = [alert runModalSheetForWindow:window];

The code is available via GitHub, and the current version posted below for completeness.

---

Header file NSAlert+SynchronousSheet.h:

#import <Cocoa/Cocoa.h>


@interface NSAlert (SynchronousSheet)

-(NSInteger) runModalSheetForWindow:(NSWindow *)aWindow;
-(NSInteger) runModalSheet;

@end

---

Implementation file NSAlert+SynchronousSheet.m:

#import "NSAlert+SynchronousSheet.h"


// Private methods -- use prefixes to avoid collisions with Apple's methods
@interface NSAlert ()
-(IBAction) BE_stopSynchronousSheet:(id)sender;   // hide sheet & stop modal
-(void) BE_beginSheetModalForWindow:(NSWindow *)aWindow;
@end


@implementation NSAlert (SynchronousSheet)

-(NSInteger) runModalSheetForWindow:(NSWindow *)aWindow {
    // Set ourselves as the target for button clicks
    for (NSButton *button in [self buttons]) {
        [button setTarget:self];
        [button setAction:@selector(BE_stopSynchronousSheet:)];
    }

    // Bring up the sheet and wait until stopSynchronousSheet is triggered by a button click
    [self performSelectorOnMainThread:@selector(BE_beginSheetModalForWindow:) withObject:aWindow waitUntilDone:YES];
    NSInteger modalCode = [NSApp runModalForWindow:[self window]];

    // This is called only after stopSynchronousSheet is called (that is,
    // one of the buttons is clicked)
    [NSApp performSelectorOnMainThread:@selector(endSheet:) withObject:[self window] waitUntilDone:YES];

    // Remove the sheet from the screen
    [[self window] performSelectorOnMainThread:@selector(orderOut:) withObject:self waitUntilDone:YES];

    return modalCode;
}

-(NSInteger) runModalSheet {
    return [self runModalSheetForWindow:[NSApp mainWindow]];
}


#pragma mark Private methods

-(IBAction) BE_stopSynchronousSheet:(id)sender {
    // See which of the buttons was clicked
    NSUInteger clickedButtonIndex = [[self buttons] indexOfObject:sender];

    // Be consistent with Apple's documentation (see NSAlert's addButtonWithTitle) so that
    // the fourth button is numbered NSAlertThirdButtonReturn + 1, and so on
    NSInteger modalCode = 0;
    if (clickedButtonIndex == NSAlertFirstButtonReturn)
        modalCode = NSAlertFirstButtonReturn;
    else if (clickedButtonIndex == NSAlertSecondButtonReturn)
        modalCode = NSAlertSecondButtonReturn;
    else if (clickedButtonIndex == NSAlertThirdButtonReturn)
        modalCode = NSAlertThirdButtonReturn;
    else
        modalCode = NSAlertThirdButtonReturn + (clickedButtonIndex - 2);

    [NSApp stopModalWithCode:modalCode];
}

-(void) BE_beginSheetModalForWindow:(NSWindow *)aWindow {
    [self beginSheetModalForWindow:aWindow modalDelegate:nil didEndSelector:nil contextInfo:nil];
}

@end