NSUserInterfaceItemIdentification Protocol Reference
| Adopted by | |
| Framework | /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework |
| Availability | Available in OS X v10.7 and later. |
| Declared in | NSUserInterfaceItemIdentification.h |
Overview
The NSUserInterfaceItemIdentification protocol is used to associate a unique identifier with objects in your user interface. The protocol is adopted by AppKit interface objects to support window restoration, whereby information about window and other interface-related objects is preserved and used to restore the application’s interface during the next launch cycle.
Properties
identifier
A string that identifies the user interface item. (required)
Discussion
Identifiers are used during window restoration operations to uniquely identify the windows of the application. You can set the value of this string programmatically or in Interface Builder. If you create an item in Interface Builder and do not set a value for this string, a unique value is created for the item when the nib file is loaded. For programmatically created views, you typically set this value after creating the item but before adding it to a window.
You should not change the value of a window’s identifier after adding any views to the window. For views and controls in a window, the value you specify for this string must be unique on a per-window basis.
The slash (/), backslash (\), or colon (:) characters are reserved and must not be used in your custom identifiers. Similarly, Apple reserves all identifiers beginning with an underscore (_) character. Applications and frameworks should use a consistent prefix for their identifiers to avoid collisions with other frameworks. For a list of prefixes used by the system frameworks, see “OS X Frameworks” in Mac Technology Overview.
If you are subclassing a class from one of the system frameworks, do not override the accessor methods of this protocol.
Availability
- Available in OS X v10.7 and later.
Declared In
NSUserInterfaceItemIdentification.h© 2011 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Last updated: 2011-07-26)