Make specific NSTabViewItem have focus depending on context

Looks like my image was stripped from the post. Here is a link to the behaviour in question - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ef-Rj2NVqyrYxWoaR3YE3IoVmi_ir59Y

I would put some NSLog statements (print if using swift?) in the viewDidAppear and viewDidLayout so you can verify which one is being called last. That might help you determine where to put the makeFirstResponder. I have found that sometimes it is necessary to put a short delay before calling some things on setup to give everything time to settle in. You might also try

-(void)performSelectorOnMainThread:(SEL)aSelector 
  withObject:(id)arg 
  waitUntilDone:(BOOL)wait;

You might also experiment with putting the makeFirstResponder in the windowDidBecomeKey notification if this part of your code responds to that notification. The windowDidBecomeKey is usually one of the last things to fire when an app and its window is coming up. Keep in mind that this notification will fire each time the window becomes key.

The windowDidLoad might be another place to explore if it is relevant to this part of your code.

If it's too early in viewDidAppear, it will be even worse within windowDidLoad.

Hence my suggestion to use NSLog/print statements to verify and to also explore the possibility of using windowDidBecomeKey if it is relevant to this code.

Setting the Focus in viewDidLayout, seems a much nicer solution. Thanks!