NSRectFill considered harmful

One of the most unfortunate citizens of Cocoa's AppKit is NSRectFill(). Why? Because NSRectFill( box ) is a shortcut for NSRectFillUsingOperation( box, NSCompositeCopy ). And the "copy" mode means that no compositing takes place. So, if you try to fill a 50% opaque rectangle with

[[NSColor colorWithDeviceRed: 0 green: 0 blue: 0 alpha: 0.5] set];
NSRectFill( box )

[[NSColor colorWithDeviceRed: 0 green: 0 blue: 0 alpha: 0.5] set];
[NSBezierPath fillRect: box];

So, my suggestion is: Forget about those functions in NSGraphics.h whenever there's a method that does the same. You'll save yourself a lot of pain.

Reader Comments: (RSS Feed)

Cristian Draghici writes: True, but NSRectFill is much faster so if alpha is not an issue you still may want to use it. Can't find the actual reference to nsrectfill, the following about stroking a rectangle: http://gemma.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/CocoaPerformance/Articles/NSBezierPathTips.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20001877

Zbigniew Sobiecki writes: Looks like it respects alpha now.

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