Reference Library
This page lists new and recently changed documents, including Articles, Guides, Reference, Release Notes, Sample Code, Technical Notes, and Technical Q&As. Most documents have a revision history, which details additions and changes to that document since the previous version. Look for "Revision History" at the bottom of the document or in the document's table of contents.

Items are listed in reverse chronological order by publication date. To see the list sorted by the type of revision, click Sort by Revision Type. Items published for the first time (First Version) will be at the top of the list, followed by items with new or changed content (Content Update), followed by items with small fixes, such as typos and format errors, but no significant content changes (Minor Change).

New and updated Reference Library documents are announced in the bi-weekly Apple Developer Connection News, available as an option to ADC members. See the Membership Overview page for details on joining.
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2008-09-30 CALayerEssentials (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstrates the basics of setting up various Core Animation layers
First Version Sample Code Graphics & Imaging
2008-09-16 QTKit Capture - Video Compression Options And Preview (HTML)
First Version
First Version Technical Q&As QuickTime
2008-09-09 Xcode Project Management Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Provides practical descriptions of the major development tasks developers perform with Xcode. First public release.
First Version Guides Tools
2008-09-09 Xcode Workspace Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Provides an overview of the Xcode workspace, and shows how to use its components and features. First public release.
First Version Guides Tools
2008-09-08 Determining if an application uses Objective-C Garbage Collection (HTML)
First Version
First Version Technical Q&As Objective-C Language
2008-08-29 Squiggles (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstrates many Cocoa fundamentals in a Document-based Application featuring custom drawing and event-handling.
First Version Sample Code Design Guidelines, Events & Other Input, Graphics & Imaging, Objective-C Language, User Experience
2008-08-06 Mac OS X Code Signing In Depth (HTML)
First Version
First Version Technical Notes Security
2008-07-25 PortMapper (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstrates Bonjour's NAT port-mapping API, and provides a higher-level Objective-C interface to it.
First Version Sample Code Networking
2008-07-25 Reminders (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Dashboard widget with a plug-in that displays upcoming iCal events, to do items, and calendars.
First Version Sample Code Objective-C Language
2008-06-06 QTCoreVideo102 (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
An application demonstrating the use of QTKit, CoreVdeo, and OpenGL.
First Version Sample Code Graphics & Imaging, QuickTime
2008-06-06 QTCoreVideo103 (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstrates how to render a QuickTime Movie using OpenGL texture range and the Core Video pixel buffer pipeline.
First Version Sample Code Graphics & Imaging, QuickTime
2008-06-06 QTCoreVideo201 (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstrates how to render a QuickTime Movie using OpenGL FBO and the Core Video texture pipeline.
First Version Sample Code Graphics & Imaging, QuickTime
2008-06-06 QTCoreVideo202 (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstrates how to render a QuickTime Movie using OpenGL PBO and the Core Video pixel buffer pipeline.
First Version Sample Code Graphics & Imaging, QuickTime
2008-06-06 QTCoreVideo301 (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstrates adding of effects & filters to QuickTime Movies in realtime using GLSL shaders and the Core Video texture pipeline.
First Version Sample Code Graphics & Imaging, QuickTime
2008-06-06 SpotlightFortunes (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstrates how to provision a Spotlight importer plug-in for a custom UTI, and how to use a NSMetadataQuery with bindings to display live query results in a table view.
First Version Sample Code File Management, User Experience
2008-06-05 URL CacheInfo (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstrates resource caching behavior using the Cocoa URL loading system.
First Version Sample Code Networking, Performance
2008-06-04 DerivedProperty (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Illustrates use of Core Data derived properties to make searching against string data more efficient.
First Version Sample Code Data Management, Performance, Text & Fonts
2008-06-02 Mountains (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstrates localization and internationalization techniques and APIs
First Version Sample Code Internationalization
2008-05-27 Xcode Overview (HTML) (PDF) (日本語 HTML) (日本語 PDF)
New document that describes the Xcode IDE and its major components, and provides and overview of the development process.
First Version Guides Tools
2008-05-19 QTKit Capture - Disabling Audio Or Video When Capturing From a Muxed Device (HTML)
First Version
First Version Technical Q&As QuickTime
2008-04-15 Xcode Design Tools for Class Modeling (HTML) (PDF)
New document that describes the Xcode Design Tools for Class Modeling.
First Version Guides Design Guidelines, Tools
2008-04-15 Xcode Tools for Core Data (HTML) (PDF)
New document that describes the Xcode modeling tools for Core Data.
First Version Guides Data Management, Tools
2008-03-25 Drawing attributed strings that are both filled and stroked (HTML)
First Version
First Version Technical Q&As Text & Fonts
2008-03-17 NumberInput_IMKit_Sample (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Illustrates an input method that uses the Mac OS X 10.5 InputMethodKit framework.
First Version Sample Code Events & Other Input, Internationalization
2008-03-17 QTKit Capture - Extracting SMPTE Timecode information from a QTSampleBuffer (HTML)
First Version
First Version Technical Q&As QuickTime
2008-02-28 SBSendEmail (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Using the Scripting Bridge to tell Mail.app to send an email message with an optional attachment.
First Version Sample Code Interapplication Communication, Internet & Web, Scripting & Automation
2008-02-27 Common mistakes with delegation in Cocoa (HTML)
First Version
First Version Technical Q&As Design Guidelines, Objective-C Language
2008-02-27 Disabling text completion in an NSTextField (HTML)
First Version
First Version Technical Q&As Text & Fonts, User Experience
2008-02-27 NSDate - Natural language date parsing in early Leopard releases (HTML)
First Version
First Version Technical Q&As User Experience
2008-02-25 FSMegaInfo (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Prints information about various file system objects; helpful when debugging VFS plug-ins.
First Version Sample Code File Management
2008-02-22 QTCompressionOptionsWindow (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstrates how easy it is to manage QTCompressionOptions instances with a user interface.
First Version Sample Code QuickTime
2008-02-06 OpenGL Filter Basics Cocoa (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
How to use Objective-C and MVC design patterns in installing and utilizing filters in an OpenGL rendering pipeline
First Version Sample Code Games, Graphics & Imaging
2008-09-16 Disabling Processor Cores on a Multi-Core System (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
Added CHUD Processor preference pane. Removed obsolete content. Made editorial changes.
Content Update Technical Q&As Performance
2008-09-09 WebKit DOM Reference (HTML)
Updated for Safari 3.1.
Content Update Reference Internet & Web
2008-08-27 Getting the pixel data from a CGImage object (HTML)
Updated to refer to CGDataProviderCopyData(), available as of Mac OS X 10.5.
Content Update Technical Q&As Games, Graphics & Imaging
2008-08-08 Registering and unregistering for sleep and wake notifications (HTML)
Added information about forced/idle sleep, how to receive sleep/wake notification in Cocoa, and expanded IOKit sample to include wake messages and IOPMAssert.
Content Update Technical Q&As Resource Management
2008-08-08 Requirements for Quartz GL (HTML)
Document the QuartzGLEnable property list key and HIWindowSetBackingLocation(). Fixed typos.
Content Update Technical Q&As Games, Graphics & Imaging, Performance, User Experience
2008-07-25 Movie Overlay (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Updated for QTMovieView.
Content Update Sample Code QuickTime
2008-06-19 Debugging with GDB (HTML)
Content Update Guides Tools
2008-06-09 Core Image Kernel Language Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated for Mac OS X v10.5.
Content Update Reference Graphics & Imaging
2008-06-02 MyMovieFilter (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Updated to use a Core Animation layer-backed view.
Content Update Sample Code QuickTime
2008-05-15 AlbumToSlideshow (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Adds the resizing of images to fit in the generated XML sequence and allows for multiple albums with the same name.
Content Update Sample Code Objective-C Language
2008-05-09 WhackedTV (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Fixed two bugs: (1) "Select Output Format" in the audio dialog failed with error -206 if the source audio were set to 20 or 24 bits on an Intel Mac. The source format is 24-bits aligned low in 32-bits. WhackedTV was setting this as the default output format. But QuickTime movies can only contain packed samples. Added a utility function to conform the output format for movie-safety. (2) Began preferring the kQTSGAudioPropertyID_CodecSpecificSettingsArray property to the kQTSGAudioPropertyID_MagicCookie property. See QuickTimeComponents.h for an explanation of the differences between these properties, and why CodecSpecificSettingsArray should always be preferred over MagicCookie.
Content Update Sample Code Audio, QuickTime
2008-04-24 CIColorTracking (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
More comments. Fixed some errors in the project.
Content Update Sample Code Graphics & Imaging
2008-04-24 QTCoreVideo101 (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
added automatic texture coordinate generation for teapot video
Content Update Sample Code QuickTime
2008-03-11 AppleScript Language Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Updated to describe AppleScript features through Mac OS X v10.5 and AppleScript 2.0.
Content Update Guides Scripting & Automation
2008-03-11 CAAnimationGroup Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Clarified that the animations grouped within a CAAnimationGroup do not get delegate messages, but that the group does.
Content Update Reference Graphics & Imaging
2008-03-10 CarbonCocoaTempConverter (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Updated to produce a universal binary. Added code and comments for clarification.
Content Update Sample Code Events & Other Input, User Experience
2008-03-05 PhotoSearch (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Removed pre-Leopard workarounds for highlighting cells. Also replaced deprecated -selectRows:byExtendingSelection: and -columnsInRect: with their modern NSIndexSet replacements.
Content Update Sample Code Data Management, Events & Other Input, User Experience
2008-02-08 Low-Level Core Data Tutorial (HTML) (PDF)
Updated for Mac OS X v10.5.
Content Update Guides Data Management, Design Guidelines
2008-02-08 Threading Programming Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Performed a major rewrite and update of thread-related concepts and tasks.
Content Update Guides Performance, Process Management
2008-09-24 Programmatically causing restart, shutdown and/or logout (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
Updated source listing.
Minor Change Technical Q&As Events & Other Input, Process Management, Resource Management
2008-09-10 Observing Process Lifetimes Without Polling (HTML)
A major rewrite to eliminate use of deprecated APIs and to update the technote to reference the latest techniques.
Minor Change Technical Notes Process Management
2008-09-08 Expanding Tilde-based paths (HTML)
Simplified POSIX and CF versions using the embedded glob() function.
Minor Change Technical Q&As File Management
2008-08-08 Gathering all PostScript Printer Descriptions (PPDs) (HTML)
Note that this issue has been resolved for Mac OS X 10.5
Minor Change Technical Q&As Printing
2008-08-08 Using QTPixelBufferContextCreate with NewMovieFromProperties (HTML)
Editorial
Minor Change Technical Q&As QuickTime
2008-07-11 CAMediaTimingFunction Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Corrected descriptions of the predefined timing functions.
Minor Change Reference Graphics & Imaging
2008-07-11 File System Overview (HTML) (PDF)
Revised information about initial file permissions.
Minor Change Guides File Management
2008-07-11 Foundation Functions Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Corrected descriptions of the functions NSRoundUpToMultipleOfPageSize and NSRoundDownToMultipleOfPageSize.
Minor Change Reference Data Management
2008-07-11 NSExpression Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Corrected examples shown in the expressionForFunction:arguments: method description.
Minor Change Reference Data Management
2008-07-11 NSNotificationCenter Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Removed a statement that the observer parameter can be nil in the removeObserver:name:object: method.
Minor Change Reference Events & Other Input
2008-07-11 NSPanel Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Added a link to a document that describes panel behavior.
Minor Change Reference Events & Other Input, Graphics & Imaging, User Experience
2008-07-11 NSSavePanel Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Corrected singleton information in the overview of this class.
Minor Change Reference Events & Other Input, File Management, User Experience
2008-07-08 The Objective-C 2.0 Programming Language (HTML) (PDF)
Corrected typographical errors.
Minor Change Guides Objective-C Language, Tools
2008-06-19 Web Kit Constants Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated for Mac OS X v10.5.
Minor Change Reference User Experience
2008-06-19 WebBackForwardList Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated for Mac OS X v10.5.
Minor Change Reference User Experience
2008-06-19 WebFrame Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated for Mac OS X v10.5.
Minor Change Reference User Experience
2008-06-19 WebFrameLoadDelegate Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated for Mac OS X v10.5.
Minor Change Reference User Experience
2008-06-19 WebFrameView Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated for Mac OS X v10.5.
Minor Change Reference User Experience
2008-06-19 WebPreferences Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated for Mac OS X v10.5.
Minor Change Reference User Experience
2008-06-19 WebResourceLoadDelegate Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated for Mac OS X v10.5.
Minor Change Reference User Experience
2008-06-19 WebScripting Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated per Mac OS X v10.5.
Minor Change Reference User Experience
2008-06-19 WebScriptObject Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated for Mac OS X v10.5.
Minor Change Reference User Experience
2008-06-19 WebUIDelegate Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated for Mac OS X v10.5.
Minor Change Reference User Experience
2008-06-19 WebView Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated for Mac OS X v10.5.
Minor Change Reference User Experience
2008-06-09 Apple Human Interface Guidelines (HTML) (PDF)
Fixed minor errors.
Minor Change Guides Accessibility, Design Guidelines, User Experience
2008-06-09 Core Image Programming Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Added details on coordinate spaces.
Minor Change Guides Graphics & Imaging
2008-06-09 Image Kit Programming Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Added information about support for dragging image views.
Minor Change Guides Graphics & Imaging
2008-06-09 Image Unit Tutorial (HTML) (PDF)
Updated the table of input parameters to kernel routines.
Minor Change Guides Graphics & Imaging
2008-06-09 NSArray Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Made minor changes to the class overview to improve clarity.
Minor Change Reference Data Management
2008-06-09 NSCalendar Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Removed reference to NSCalendarDate, which is slated for deprecation. Added explanation of weekday ordinal unit.
Minor Change Reference Data Management, Internationalization
2008-06-09 NSDate Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Added a warning to methods related to NSCalendarDate that it is slated for deprecation.
Minor Change Reference Data Management
2008-06-09 NSDatePicker Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Added a reference to NSDatePickerCell in the delegate and setDelegate: methods.
Minor Change Reference User Experience
2008-06-09 NSDatePickerCell Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Added information concerning support for time intervals.
Minor Change Reference User Experience
2008-06-09 NSGarbageCollector Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated discussion of disableCollectorForPointer:.
Minor Change Reference Objective-C Language
2008-06-09 NSObject Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated sample code in +resolveInstanceMethod: to properly call super.
Minor Change Reference Design Guidelines, Objective-C Language
2008-06-09 NSOpenGLContext Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Corrected description of NSOpenGLCPSwapInterval.
Minor Change Reference Graphics & Imaging
2008-06-09 NSPropertyListSerialization Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Updated dataFromPropertyList: and propertyListFromData: to remove note about Mac OS X v10.5 behavior.
Minor Change Reference Data Management
2008-06-05 NSDictionaryController Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Corrected typos.
Minor Change Reference Data Management, Design Guidelines
2008-06-05 NSDictionaryControllerKeyValuePair Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Corrected typos.
Minor Change Reference Data Management
2008-06-05 Xcode Quick Tour Guide for Mac OS X (HTML) (PDF)
Made minor updates to several chapters. Changed the title from "Xcode Quick Tour Guide."
Minor Change Guides Tools
2008-06-03 Getting a Packet Trace (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
Streamlined product descriptions and reorganized the Miscellaneous notes. Restructured entire document and added additional packages. Added additional Hub/Switch information.
Minor Change Technical Q&As Internet & Web, Networking
2008-05-06 Core Animation Programming Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Corrected typos.
Minor Change Guides Graphics & Imaging
2008-05-06 NSText Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Added a note explaining why NSTextDidEndEditingNotification may be sent without a matching NSTextDidBeginEditingNotification.
Minor Change Reference Text & Fonts
2008-05-06 URL Loading System (HTML) (PDF)
Made minor editorial changes.
Minor Change Guides Internet & Web, Networking
2008-05-04 NSCalendarDate Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Added note that use is discouraged.
Minor Change Reference Data Management
2008-05-02 Xcode Unit Testing Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Updated for Xcode 3.0.
Minor Change Guides Design Guidelines
2008-04-30 CARenderer Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Corrected description in the Overview.
Minor Change Reference Graphics & Imaging
2008-04-24 QTKit Frequently Asked Questions (HTML)
Added how to get a movie frame as an image, plus updates for existing Q&As about creating a movie and adding images, adding a QTTrack, QTMovie object not fully formed and movie unexpectedly draws to upper left of screen.
Minor Change Technical Notes QuickTime
2008-04-14 Determining console user login status (HTML)
A complete rewrite to account for fast user switching, and to simplify the code.
Minor Change Technical Q&As Process Management