For my cross-platform project (Mac & Windows), I coded a generic C++ collection view (i.e. table view) leveraging the NSStackView from the AppKIt in Objective-C (as I can mix ObjC and C++ together easily) on the Mac.

The individual rows are themselves a horizontal NSStackView, both for the header displaying the column titles and the data rows.

I also embed a search box and a scroll view to manage large number of data rows.

The actual view hierarchy is as following:

NSStackView(vertical)
  L NSSearchField
  L NSStackView(horizontal) - the header row
  L NSScrollView(vertical)
      L NSStackView(vertical)
           L NSStackView(horizontal) - the data row
           L ...

Here’s how it looks:

The collection view is within a split view on the right.
When I resize the left view, the collection view stick to the split line except for the header row (see below):

To display hierarchical information, I customized the NSStackView for both collection and list of rows with isFlipped returning YES.

Here’s my code:

@interface FlippedStackView : NSStackView
{
}

- ( id ) initWithBackground: ( BOOL ) value;

- ( BOOL ) isFlipped;

@end

@implementation FlippedStackView

- ( id ) initWithBackground: ( BOOL ) value
{
    self = [ super init ];
    if( self )
    {
        if( value == YES )
        {
            self.spacing = 0.0;
            [ self.layer setBackgroundColor:[ NSColor windowBackgroundColor ].CGColor ];
        }
    }
    
    return self;
}

- ( BOOL ) isFlipped
{
    return YES;
}

@end

// --------------------

@implementation MacUICollectionView

- ( id ) initWithBackground: ( BOOL ) value
{
    M_LOG_FUNCTION( MacUICollectionView::initWithBackground )
    
    self = [ super init ];
    if( self )
    {
        // General layout setting
        self.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;
        self.autoresizingMask = NSViewWidthSizable | NSViewHeightSizable;
        self.orientation = NSUserInterfaceLayoutOrientationVertical;
        self.wantsLayer = YES;
        self.spacing = 0.0;
        
        if( value == YES )
        {
            self.spacing = 0.0;
            [ self.layer setBackgroundColor:[ NSColor windowBackgroundColor ].CGColor ];
        }

        // Initialize search field and header values
        _searchField = nil;
        _header = nil;

        // Create the scroll view
        NSScrollView * scrollView = [[NSScrollView alloc] init ];
        scrollView.autoresizingMask = NSViewWidthSizable | NSViewHeightSizable;
        scrollView.hasVerticalScroller = YES;
        scrollView.autohidesScrollers = YES;
        scrollView.drawsBackground = NO;

        // Get the contentView of the NSScrollView (which is the NSClipView)
        [ [ scrollView contentView] setDrawsBackground: NO ];
        
        // Create stack view for rows
        _stackViewForRows = [ [ FlippedStackView alloc ] initWithBackground: false ]; // Customize frame size
        _stackViewForRows.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;
        _stackViewForRows.orientation = NSUserInterfaceLayoutOrientationVertical;
        _stackViewForRows.spacing = 0.0;

        // Add row stack view to scroll view
        scrollView.documentView = _stackViewForRows;
        
        [ self addView: scrollView inGravity:NSStackViewGravityTop ];
    }

    return self;
}

// --------------------

- ( BOOL ) isFlipped
{
    M_LOG_FUNCTION( MacUICollectionView::isFlipped )
    
    return YES;
}
// --------------------

- ( void ) displaySearchField: ( NSSearchField * ) value
{
    M_LOG_FUNCTION( MacUICollectionView::displaySearchField )
    
    if( _searchField == value )
        return;
    
    if( _searchField != nil )
        [ self removeView: _searchField ];

    if( value != nil )
    {
        [ self insertView: value atIndex: 0 inGravity: NSStackViewGravityLeading ];
        NSNumber * hMargin = @( ( CGFloat ) kMacUIStandardPadding );
        [ self addConstraints: [ NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat: @"|->=hMargin-[value]->=hMargin-|"
                                                                        options: 0
                                                                        metrics: NSDictionaryOfVariableBindings( hMargin )
                                                                          views: NSDictionaryOfVariableBindings( value ) ] ];
        [ self addConstraints: [ NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat: @"V:|->=hMargin-[value]->=hMargin-|"
                                                                        options: 0
                                                                        metrics: NSDictionaryOfVariableBindings( hMargin )
                                                                          views: NSDictionaryOfVariableBindings( value ) ] ];
    }
    _searchField = value;
}

// --------------------

- ( void ) displayHeader: ( NSView * ) value
{
    M_LOG_FUNCTION( MacUICollectionView::displayHeader )
    
    if( _header == value )
        return;

    if( _header != nil )
        // Remove the header
        [ self removeView: _header ];
    else
    {
        // Add the header
        [ self insertView: value atIndex: ( _searchField == nil ? 0 : 1 ) inGravity: NSStackViewGravityTop ];
    }

    _header = value;
}

// --------------------

- ( void ) addRow: ( NSView * ) value atIndex: ( int ) index
{
    M_LOG_FUNCTION( MacUICollectionView::addRow )
    
    [ _stackViewForRows insertView: value atIndex: index inGravity: NSStackViewGravityLeading ];
}

// --------------------

- ( void ) removeRow: ( NSView * ) value
{
    M_LOG_FUNCTION( MacUICollectionView::removeRow )
    
    [ _stackViewForRows removeView: value ];
}

@end

So, my question is: how do I force the header row’s NSStackView to stick on the right ? I tried several layout constraint instructions but without success…