Butter is a framework for OS X that seeks to provide a set of commonly used controls which are full replacements for their cell-based AppKit counterparts. This framework is still a work in progress, but it is usable in production apps.

This framework seeks to provide the following:

• Image-based customization of controls for various states
• Block-based action handlers
• Complete independence of cell-based controls
• Customizable properties that would otherwise be hard to change

Butter is compatible with OS X 10.8+.

BTRControl is a subclass of BTRView that provides a base for all controls. It offers state-based customization with block-based (or alternatively target/action-based) control event handling. BTRControl is designed for subclassing.

BTRButton is a subclass of BTRControl, and is an extremely customizable. Here's an example:

BTRButton *button = [[BTRButton alloc] initWithFrame:rect];
[button setTitle:@"Hey!" forControlState:BTRControlStateNormal];
[button setBackgroundImage:image1 forControlState:BTRControlStateNormal];
[button setBackgroundImage:image2 forControlState:BTRControlStateHighlighted];
[button addBlock:^{ NSLog(@"hi!"); } forControlEvents:BTRControlEventClick];
button.animatesContents = YES; // animate the transition back from click

BTRActvityIndicator is a subclass of BTRView that provides a comprehensive API for creating any type of circular indeterminate activity indicator. Nearly all features of the indicator can be modified, and if more customization is desired a custom layer can be set to completely modify the appearance of the spinner. Short example:

BTRActivityIndicator *indicator = [[BTRActivityIndicator alloc] initWithFrame:rect];
indicator.progressShapeColor = newColor;
indicator.progressAnimationDuration = 4.f; // make it slow
indicator.progressShapeCount = 20; // give it more gears
[indicator startAnimating];

BTRImageView is a subclass of BTRView, and it provides a fast and lightweight alternative to NSImageView. The view is layer-hosted, meaning the sublayer that contains the image itself can safely have a transform applied. This opens up many possibilities for complex animations. BTRImageView can also handle animated images, such as GIFs.

BTRImageView *imageView = [[BTRImageView alloc] initWithImage:someGIF];
imageView.contentMode = BTRViewContentModeScaleAspectFit;
imageView.transform = some3DTransform;
imageView.animatesMultipleFrames = YES; // animate the GIF

BTRImageView is also capable of displaying stretchable images when combined with BTRImage.

BTRImage is a NSImage subclass that provides support for stretchable images.

NSEdgeInsets insets = NSEdgeInsetsMake(0, 5, 0, 5);
BTRImage *image = [BTRImage resizableImageNamed:@"epic" withCapInsets:insets];
self.imageView.image = image; // BTRImageView only

Note that BTRImage will not attempt to use the stretched images when manually drawing, or for any other purpose than setting it as the image of a BTRImageView.

There is also a convenience category for creating BTRImages out of NSImages, located in NSImage+BTRImageAdditions.h.

BTRTextField is a subclass of NSTextField. It takes all the pain out of customizing normal text fields. Background images for states, text shadow, placeholder text customization, custom text drawing frames, control event handlers, and more.

BTRTextField *textField = [[BTRTextField alloc] initWithFrame:rect];
[textField setBackgroundImage:image forControlState:BTRControlStateNormal];
textField.textShadow = someNSShadow;

The secure variant of BTRTextField.

BTRLabel is a subclass of BTRTextField that provides a common setup for labels, with no bezel, background drawing, editing, or selection.

BTRLabel *label = [[BTRLabel alloc] initWithFrame:rect];

This category contains some convenience animation additions for NSView.

NSView/BTRView *view = someView;
[view btr_animate:^{ // simplified
	view.frame = newFrame;
}];

[view btr_animateWithDuration:2
               animationCurve:BTRViewAnimationCurveEaseInOut
                   animations:^{
    view.frame = newFrame;
} completion:nil];

BTRView is a subclass of NSView, and it provides the base for many of the controls in Butter. It is layer-backed by default. It provides some convenience properties for common customization points.

BTRView *view = [[BTRView alloc] initWithFrame:rect];
view.backgroundColor = [NSColor redColor];
view.flipped = YES;
view.animatesContents = YES; // fades between redraws
view.viewController = someVC; // patch into the responder chain

BTRClipView implements a completely custom scrolling mechanism that is used for buttery-smooth scrolling in response to keyboard events, and calls to a custom -scrollRectToVisible:animated: method.

BTRScrollView makes it easy to use BTRClipView by swapping out the clip view at runtime.

BTRPopUpButton is the layer-backed Butter equivalent of NSPopUpButton. Like NSPopUpButton, it uses an NSMenu as the model for its content. Basic elements like the arrow image are customizable via properties, and many of the layout attributes are designed to be customizable via subclassing.

More controls will be added in due time if seen fit.

Butter is licensed under the MIT License. See the License.