Construct and manage a graphical, event-driven user interface for your macOS app using AppKit.

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NSWindowController subclass in Swift
In trying to convert some Objective-C to Swift, I have a subclass of NSWindowController and want to write a convenience initializer. The documentation says You can also implement an NSWindowController subclass to avoid requiring client code to get the corresponding nib’s filename and pass it to init(windowNibName:) or init(windowNibName:owner:) when instantiating the window controller. The best way to do this is to override windowNibName to return the nib’s filename and instantiate the window controller by passing nil to init(window:). My attempt to do that looks like this: class EdgeTab: NSWindowController { override var windowNibName: NSNib.Name? { "EdgeTab" } required init?(coder: NSCoder) { super.init(coder: coder) } convenience init() { self.init( window: nil ) } } But I'm getting an error message saying "Incorrect argument label in call (have 'window:', expected 'coder:')". Why the heck is the compiler trying to use init(coder:) instead of init(window:)?
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How to disable native Full Screen and implement custom "Zoom to Fill" with minimum window constraints in MacOs SwiftUI / Appkit
I am creating a macOs SwiftUI document based app, and I am struggling with the Window sizes and placements. Right now by default, a normal window has the minimize and full screen options which makes the whole window into full screen mode. However, I don't want to do this for my app. I want to only allow to fill the available width and height, i.e. exclude the status bar and doc when the user press the fill window mode, and also restrict to resize the window beyond a certain point ( which ideally to me is 1200 x 700 because I am developing on macbook air 13.3-inch in which it looks ideal, but resizing it below that makes the entire content inside messed up ). I want something like this below instead of the default full screen green When the user presses the button, it should position centered with perfect aspect ratio from my content ( or the one I want like 1200 x 700 ) and can be able to click again to fill the available width and height excluding the status bar and docs. Here is my entire @main code :- @main struct PhiaApp: App { @NSApplicationDelegateAdaptor(AppDelegate.self) var appDelegate var body: some Scene { DocumentGroup(newDocument: PhiaProjectDocument()) { file in ContentView( document: file.$document, rootURL: file.fileURL ) .configureEditorWindow(disableCapture: true) .background(AppColors.background) .preferredColorScheme(.dark) } .windowStyle(.hiddenTitleBar) .windowToolbarStyle(.unified) .defaultLaunchBehavior(.suppressed) Settings { SettingsView() } } } struct WindowAccessor: NSViewRepresentable { var callback: (NSWindow?) -> Void func makeNSView(context: Context) -> NSView { let view = NSView() DispatchQueue.main.async { [weak view] in callback(view?.window) } return view } func updateNSView(_ nsView: NSView, context: Context) { } } extension View { func configureEditorWindow(disableCapture: Bool = true) -> some View { self.background( WindowAccessor { window in guard let window else { return } if let screen = window.screen ?? NSScreen.main { let visible = screen.visibleFrame window.setFrame(visible, display: true) window.minSize = visible.size } window.isMovable = true window.isMovableByWindowBackground = false window.sharingType = disableCapture ? .captureBlocked : .captureAllowed } ) } } This is a basic setup I did for now, this automatically fills the available width and height on launch, but user can resize and can go beyond my desired min width and height which makes the entire content inside messy. As I said, I want a native way of doing this, respect the content aspect ratio, don't allow to enter full screen mode, only be able to fill the available width and height excluding the status bar and doc, also don't allow to resize below my desired width and height.
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How does Apple achieve this effect?
Hi everyone, I'm new to building apps on Swift and recently I've been wondering how does Apple get this blur effect behind the control center on Mac OS Tahoe. I think it would be nice to use in an app that I'm making but I can't seem to find it in the docs. Is it available through AppKit? I would appreciate some help on this
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QLPreviewPanel takes forever to load content preview in macOS 26
After upgrading to macOS 26, I noticed that showing a Quicklook preview in my app is very slow. Showing small text files is fine, but some other files I've tried, such as a Numbers document, take about 30 seconds (during which the indeterminate loading indicator appears) before the preview is shown. When showing the preview of an app, such as Xcode, the panel opens immediately with a placeholder image for the Xcode icon, and the actual Xcode icon is shown only after about 25 seconds. During this time many logs appear: FPItemsFromURLsWithTimeout timed out (5.000000s) for: file:///.file/id=6571367.2/ (/) FPItemsFromURLsWithTimeout timed out (5.000000s) for: file:///.file/id=6571367.23684/ (/Users) FPItemsFromURLsWithTimeout timed out (5.000000s) for: file:///.file/id=6571367.248032/ (/Users/n{9}k) FPItemsFromURLsWithTimeout timed out (5.000000s) for: file:///.file/id=6571367.248084/ (/Users/n{9}k/Downloads) Failed to add registration dmf.policy.monitor.app with error: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4099 "The connection to service named com.apple.dmd.policy was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 159 - Sandbox restriction." UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=The connection to service named com.apple.dmd.policy was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 159 - Sandbox restriction.} Failed to register application policy monitor with identifier 69DDBDB4-0736-42FA-BA7A-C8D7EA049E29 for types {( applicationcategories, websites, categories, applications )} with error: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4099 "The connection to service named com.apple.dmd.policy was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 159 - Sandbox restriction." UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=The connection to service named com.apple.dmd.policy was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 159 - Sandbox restriction.} FPItemsFromURLsWithTimeout timed out (5.000000s) for: file:///.file/id=6571367.155797561/ (~/Downloads/X{3}e.app) It seems that Quicklook tries to access each parent directory of the previewed file, and each one fails after 5 seconds. Why is Quicklook all of a sudden so slow? It used to be almost instant in macOS 15. I created FB20268201. import Cocoa import Quartz @main class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate, QLPreviewPanelDataSource, QLPreviewPanelDelegate { var url: URL? func applicationDidFinishLaunching(_ notification: Notification) { let openPanel = NSOpenPanel() openPanel.runModal() url = openPanel.urls[0] QLPreviewPanel.shared()!.makeKeyAndOrderFront(nil) } override func acceptsPreviewPanelControl(_ panel: QLPreviewPanel!) -> Bool { return true } override func beginPreviewPanelControl(_ panel: QLPreviewPanel!) { panel.dataSource = self panel.delegate = self } override func endPreviewPanelControl(_ panel: QLPreviewPanel!) { panel.dataSource = nil panel.delegate = nil } func numberOfPreviewItems(in panel: QLPreviewPanel!) -> Int { return 1 } func previewPanel(_ panel: QLPreviewPanel!, previewItemAt index: Int) -> QLPreviewItem! { return url as? QLPreviewItem } }
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NSWorkspace openURL fails on file in iCloud Drive
When I pass a file path url of a file in iCloud Drive to -[NSWorkspace openURLs:withApplicationAtURL:configuration:completionHandler:], it fails. There is no exception, and the completion handler isn't called. This is in a sandboxed app on macOS 26.1. NSWorkspaceOpenConfiguration* config = NSWorkspaceOpenConfiguration.configuration; config.activates = YES; config.promptsUserIfNeeded = YES; NSLog(@"performDrag 2 with %@", filePathObs); [NSWorkspace.sharedWorkspace openURLs: filePathObs withApplicationAtURL: appURL configuration: config completionHandler: ^(NSRunningApplication * _Nullable app, NSError * _Nullable error) { NSLog(@"performDrag 3"); if (error != nil) { NSLog(@"%@\n%@", error, filePathObs); } NSLog(@"complete performDrag"); }]; NSLog(@"performDrag 4"); In the debug log, the performDrag 2 and performDrag 4 messages appear. I also looked in the Console log, but the only messages that mention my app don't mean anything to me. AFIsDeviceGreymatterEligible Missing entitlements for os_eligibility lookup 6c Reentrant message: kDragIPCCompleted, current message: kDragIPCLeaveApplication
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NSBox Basically Not Visible At All on macOS Tahoe in Light Mode?
I noticed that I cannot even tell that an NSBox is being used on macOS Tahoe when the system is in light mode. The 'box' background can't be seen so it makes it appear that the subviews in the box aren't positioned correctly (because they are inset from the subview outside the box). There is no visual indicator that that subviews inside this box are grouped together because well, you can't see the box at all. In Interface Builder the box looks fine at Design Time in "Light Mode". In Dark Mode the box looks fine at design time and at run time. Just figured I'd throw that out there.
Topic: UI Frameworks SubTopic: AppKit Tags:
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NSSheetMoveHelper Sends Parent Windows Flying If Sheet Window Frame is Resized on macOS Tahoe
So I noticed this: A sheet window is presented. The sheet window has some UI that makes it expandable say a little arrow expandable button. Click the little expandable button. Now the sheet window controller calls - (void)setFrame:display:animate: on its window to resize. The parent window flies across the screen to the lower left corner. I'm on Tahoe 26.1. Seems to be related to NSSheetMoveHelper. Not sure how long this bug has been around. Workaround is to call -setFrame:display:animate: and pass NO to the animate flag. Then the sheet window resizes (but not animated which doesn't look as good as the old behavior but better than suddenly disappearing). I think Apple may already knows about this bug b/c in an Apple app on Tahoe I see a sheet resizing being done with no animation...
Topic: UI Frameworks SubTopic: AppKit Tags:
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Detecting marked range in UI/NSTextViews at the time of shouldChangeTextIn
We have submitted a feedback for this issue: FB21230723 We're building a note-taking app for iOS and macOS that uses both UITextView and NSTextView. When performing text input that involves a marked range (such as Japanese input) in a UITextView or NSTextView with a UITextViewDelegate or NSTextViewDelegate set, the text view's marked range (markedTextRange / markedRange()) has not yet been updated at the moment when shouldChangeTextIn is invoked. UITextViewDelegate.textView(_:shouldChangeTextIn:replacementText:) NSTextViewDelegate.textView(_:shouldChangeTextIn:replacementString:) The current behavior is this when entering text in Japanese: (same for NSTextView) func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool { print(textView.markedTextRange != nil) // prints out false DispatchQueue.main.async { print(textView.markedTextRange != nil) // prints out true } } However, we need the value of markedTextRange right away in order to determine whether to return true or false from this method. Is there any workaround for this issue?
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Resources for Retro style Games wanting 90 degree Window corners
I've been thinking of bringing some older games back to the modern Mac. Rewriting old titles in Swift but using the original data files that assume use of non-rounded corners Windows. Many of these games require all the Window space of a 90 degree cornered Window. Can anyone point me at some useful workarounds or Is Apple simply deaf to the needs of this type of product?
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Layout recursion error message
Hi all, when I launch my macOS app from Xcode 16 on ARM64, appKit logs me this error on the debug console: It's not legal to call -layoutSubtreeIfNeeded on a view which is already being laid out. If you are implementing the view's -layout method, you can call -[super layout] instead. Break on _NSDetectedLayoutRecursion(void) to debug. This will be logged only once. This may break in the future. _NSDetectedLayoutRecursion doesn't help a lot, giving me these assembly codes from a call to a subclassed window method that looks like this: -(void) setFrame:(NSRect)frameRect display:(BOOL)flag { if (!_frameLocked) [super setFrame:frameRect display:flag]; } I have no direct call to -layoutSubtreeIfNeeded from a -layout implementation in my codes. I have a few calls to this method from update methods, however even if I comment all of them, the error is still logged... Finally, apart from that log, I cannot observe any layout error when running the program. So I wonder if this error can be safely ignored? Thanks!
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How can I show a movable webcam preview above all windows in macOS without activating the app
I'm building a macOS app using SwiftUI, and I want to create a draggable floating webcam preview window Right now, I have something like this: import SwiftUI import AVFoundation struct WebcamPreviewView: View { let captureSession: AVCaptureSession? var body: some View { ZStack { if let session = captureSession { CameraPreviewLayer(session: session) .clipShape(RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: 50)) .overlay( RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: 50) .strokeBorder(Color.white.opacity(0.2), lineWidth: 2) ) } else { VStack(spacing: 8) { Image(systemName: "video.slash.fill") .font(.system(size: 40)) .foregroundColor(.white.opacity(0.6)) Text("No Camera") .font(.caption) .foregroundColor(.white.opacity(0.6)) } } } .shadow(color: .black.opacity(0.3), radius: 10, x: 0, y: 5) } } struct CameraPreviewLayer: NSViewRepresentable { let session: AVCaptureSession func makeNSView(context: Context) -> NSView { let view = NSView() view.wantsLayer = true let previewLayer = AVCaptureVideoPreviewLayer(session: session) previewLayer.videoGravity = .resizeAspectFill previewLayer.frame = view.bounds view.layer = previewLayer return view } func updateNSView(_ nsView: NSView, context: Context) { if let previewLayer = nsView.layer as? AVCaptureVideoPreviewLayer { previewLayer.frame = nsView.bounds } } } This is my SwiftUI side code to show the webcam, and I am trying to create it as a floating window which appears on top of all other apps windows etc. however, even when the webcam is clicked, it should not steal the focus from other apps, the other apps should be able to function properly as they already are. import Cocoa import SwiftUI class WebcamPreviewWindow: NSPanel { private static let defaultSize = CGSize(width: 200, height: 200) private var initialClickLocation: NSPoint = .zero init() { let screenFrame = NSScreen.main?.visibleFrame ?? .zero let origin = CGPoint( x: screenFrame.maxX - Self.defaultSize.width - 20, y: screenFrame.minY + 20 ) super.init( contentRect: CGRect(origin: origin, size: Self.defaultSize), styleMask: [.borderless], backing: .buffered, defer: false ) isOpaque = false backgroundColor = .clear hasShadow = false level = .screenSaver collectionBehavior = [ .canJoinAllSpaces, .fullScreenAuxiliary, .stationary, .ignoresCycle ] ignoresMouseEvents = false acceptsMouseMovedEvents = true hidesOnDeactivate = false becomesKeyOnlyIfNeeded = false } // MARK: - Focus Prevention override var canBecomeKey: Bool { false } override var canBecomeMain: Bool { false } override var acceptsFirstResponder: Bool { false } override func makeKey() { } override func mouseDown(with event: NSEvent) { initialClickLocation = event.locationInWindow } override func mouseDragged(with event: NSEvent) { let current = event.locationInWindow let dx = current.x - initialClickLocation.x let dy = current.y - initialClickLocation.y let newOrigin = CGPoint( x: frame.origin.x + dx, y: frame.origin.y + dy ) setFrameOrigin(newOrigin) } func show<Content: View>(with view: Content) { let host = NSHostingView(rootView: view) host.autoresizingMask = [.width, .height] host.frame = contentLayoutRect contentView = host orderFrontRegardless() } func hide() { orderOut(nil) contentView = nil } } This is my Appkit Side code make a floating window, however, when the webcam preview is clicked, it makes it as the focus app and I have to click anywhere else to loose the focus to be able to use the rest of the windows.
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AppKit Logging Internal inconsistency Errors on NSMenu on macOS 26.1
Appkit starting logging these warnings in macOS 26.1 about my app's MainMenu. **Internal inconsistency in menus - menu <NSMenu: 0xb91b2ff80> Title: AppName Supermenu: 0xb91a50b40 (Main Menu), autoenable: YES Previous menu: 0x0 (None) Next menu: 0x0 (None) Items: () believes it has [<NSMenuSubclassHereThisIsTheMenuBarMenuForMyApp:] 0xb91a50b40> Title: Main Menu Supermenu: 0x0 (None), autoenable: YES Previous menu: 0x0 (None) Next menu: 0x0 (None) Items: ( ) as a supermenu, but the supermenu does not seem to have any item with that submenu ** I don't what that means. The supermenu is the menu that represents the menu used for my app's menu bar (as described by NSMenuSubclassHereThisIsTheMenuBarMenuForMyApp Everything seems to work fine but log looks scary. Please don't throw!
Topic: UI Frameworks SubTopic: AppKit Tags:
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[macOS Sequoia] Using RegisterEventHotkey with option and shift modifiers doesn't working anymore
Hello. In my app, I use RegisterEventHotkey to implement global keyboard shortcuts to trigger actions. Up until macOS Sequoia, I was able to use a keyboard shortcut with option and shift as the modifiers, like option shift 2 (⌥ ⇧ 2). Now, on macOS Sequoia, using RegisterEventHotkey to register a hotkey with those exact modifiers (option and shift), regardless of the key, fails with the error -9868 (eventInternalErr). Is this a documented and wanted change, or is this a bug? Other modifier keys (just command, command option, command shift, command control, control shift, etc), all work. Any insight into this would be appreciated. (Feedback filed: FB15163561) Thank you, Matthias
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macOS Tahoe: NSView -cacheDisplayInRect:toBitmapImageRep: Doesn't Work Unless View is Added to Window
Previously I was able to "snapshot" view that were not part of any window hierarchy using the following: NSImage *buttonImage = [NSImage imageWithSystemSymbolName:@"49.circle.fill" accessibilityDescription:nil]; NSButton *aButton = [NSButton buttonWithImage:buttonImage target:nil action:nil]; [aButton sizeToFit]; NSBitmapImageRep *rep = [aButton bitmapImageRepForCachingDisplayInRect:aButton.bounds]; if (rep == nil) { NSLog(@"Failed to get bitmap image rep."); return; } [aButton cacheDisplayInRect:aButton.bounds toBitmapImageRep:rep]; NSData *tiffData = rep.TIFFRepresentation; NSImage *snapShotOfImage = [[NSImage alloc]initWithData:tiffData]; Now on macOS Tahoe I get a non nil image, but the image is blank. However if I add aButton NSWindow's view hiearchy just before the call to -cacheDisplayInRect:toBitmapImageRep: I do get a proper image. Is this behavior intended or is this considered a bug? Is it documented anywhere that a view must be in a NSWindow for -cacheDisplayInRect:toBitmapImageRep: to work? Thanks
Topic: UI Frameworks SubTopic: AppKit Tags:
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How to dynamically update an existing AVComposition when users add a new custom video clip?
I’m building a macOS video editor that uses AVComposition and AVVideoComposition. Initially, my renderer creates a composition with some default video/audio tracks: @Published var composition: AVComposition? @Published var videoComposition: AVVideoComposition? @Published var playerItem: AVPlayerItem? Then I call a buildComposition() function that inserts all the default video segments. Later in the editing workflow, the user may choose to add their own custom video clip. For this I have a function like: private func handlePickedVideo(_ url: URL) { guard url.startAccessingSecurityScopedResource() else { print("Failed to access security-scoped resource") return } let asset = AVURLAsset(url: url) let videoTracks = asset.tracks(withMediaType: .video) guard let firstVideoTrack = videoTracks.first else { print("No video track found") url.stopAccessingSecurityScopedResource() return } renderer.insertUserVideoTrack(from: asset, track: firstVideoTrack) url.stopAccessingSecurityScopedResource() } What I want to achieve is the same behavior professional video editors provide, after the composition has already been initialized and built, the user should be able to add a new video track and the composition should update live, meaning the preview player should immediately reflect the changes without rebuilding everything from scratch manually. How can I structure my AVComposition / AVMutableComposition and my rendering pipeline so that adding a new clip later updates the existing composition in real time (similar to Final Cut/Adobe Premiere), instead of needing to rebuild everything from zero? You can find a playable version of this entire setup at :- https://github.com/zaidbren/SimpleEditor
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Nov ’25
Fetching Tinted Folder Icons in macOS Tahoe using Swift
In macOS Tahoe, users can tint folders or add symbols. But when trying to access that customized icon in Swift, the system always returns the default folder icon. NSWorkspace.shared.icon(forFile: url.path) try url.resourceValues(forKeys: [.effectiveIconKey]).effectiveIcon try url.resourceValues(forKeys: [.customIconKey]).customIconKey All of these give back the standard folder icon without any of the user-applied customization. So the question is: Is there any API or workaround in Swift to retrieve the actual customized folder icon (including tint and symbol) as displayed in Finder on macOS Tahoe?
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Nov ’25
Unable to Display NSProgressIndicator on macOS Unlock (First Lock) Screen
I'm Trying to add an NSProgressIndicator on the unlock (first lock screen ) in macOS ( the screen with the lock icon ) I already added a label and it works fine and after entering the password on the second (authentication) page I can able to add ProgressIndicator but not on first screen. But Whenever I try to add a Progress indicator, the entire screen turns Black and nothing is displayed Is NSProgressIndicator supported on the first unlock Screen ? Or does macOS block animated UI on this screen Any Guidance would be helpful Thanks
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Nov ’25
How to check if a sandboxed app already has the access permission to a URL
I want to check whether a sandboxed application already has access permission to a specific URL. Based on my investigation, the following FileManager method seems to be able to determine it: FileManager.default.isReadableFile(atPath: fileURL.path) However, the method name and description don't explicitly mention this use case, so I'm not confident there aren't any oversights. Also, since this method takes a String path rather than a URL, I'd like to know if there's a more modern API available. I want to use this information to decide whether to prompt the user about the Sandbox restriction in my AppKit-based app.
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Nov ’25
NSCollectionLayoutBoundarySupplementaryItem background blur covering the entire layout section
My app has the following UI layout: NSSplitViewController as the windows contentViewController NSPageController in the content (right) split item NSTabViewController as the root items of the NSPageController NSViewController with a collection view in the first tab of that NSTabViewController The collection view is using a NSCollectionViewCompositionalLayout in which the sections are set up to have a header using NSCollectionLayoutBoundarySupplementaryItem with pinToVisibleBounds=true and alignment=top With macOS 26, the pinned supplementary item automatically gets a blurred/semi-transparent background that seamlessly integrates with the toolbar. When the window's title bar has a NSTitlebarAccessoryViewController added, the said semi-transparent background gets a bottom hard edge and a hairline to provide more visual separation from the main content. During runtime, my NSPageController transitions from the NSTabViewController to another view controller. When transitioning back, the semi-transparent blur bleeds into the entire section. This happens no matter if there's a NSTitlebarAccessoryViewController added or not. It doesn't happen 100% of the cases, it seems to depend on section size, header visibility and/or scroll position. But it happens more often than not. Most of the time, a second or so after the back transition - shortly after pageControllerDidEndLiveTransition: of the NSPageControllerDelegate is called - the view updates and the supplementary views are back to normal. Sometimes, the issue also appears not when transitioning using NSPageController, but simply by scrolling through the collection view. Anyone has an idea what is happening here? Below are two screenshots of both the "ok" and "not ok" state I'm on macOS 26.0.1 and I'm using XCode 26.0.1
Topic: UI Frameworks SubTopic: AppKit Tags:
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Nov ’25