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

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Correct way to run modal session?
My assumption has always been that [NSApp runModalForWindow:] runs a modal window in NSModalPanelRunLoopMode. However, while -[NSApplication _doModalLoop:peek:] seems to use NSModalPanelRunLoopMode when pulling out the next event to process via nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:, the current runloop doesn't seem to be running in that mode, so during -[NSApplication(NSEventRouting) sendEvent:] of the modal-specific event, NSRunLoop.currentRunLoop.currentMode returns kCFRunLoopDefaultMode. From what I can tell, this means that any event processing code that e.g. uses [NSTimer addTimer:forMode:] based on the current mode will register a timer that will not fire until the modal session ends. Is this a bug? Or if not, is the correct way to run a modal session something like this? [NSRunLoop.currentRunLoop performInModes:@[NSModalPanelRunLoopMode] block:^{ [NSApp runModalForWindow:window]; }]; [NSRunLoop.currentRunLoop limitDateForMode:NSModalPanelRunLoopMode]; Alternatively, if the mode of the runloop should stay the same, I've seen suggestions to run modal sessions like this: NSModalSession session = [NSApp beginModalSessionForWindow:theWindow]; for (;;) { if ([NSApp runModalSession:session] != NSModalResponseContinue) break; [NSRunLoop.currentRunLoop limitDateForMode:NSModalPanelRunLoopMode]; } [NSApp endModalSession:session]; Which would work around the fact that the timer/callbacks were scheduled in the "wrong" mode. But running NSModalPanelRunLoopMode during a modal session seems a bit scary. Won't that potentially break the modality?
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Crash when assigning NSImage to `@objc dynamic var` property
Xcode downloaded a crash report for my app which I don't quite understand. It seems the following line caused the crash: myEntity.image = newImage where myEntity is of type MyEntity: class MyEntity: NSObject, Identifiable { @objc dynamic var image: NSImage! ... } The code is called on the main thread. According to the crash report, thread 0 makes that assignment, and at the same time thread 16 is calling [NSImageView asynchronousPreparation:prepareResultUsingParameters:]. What could cause such a crash? Could I be doing something wrong or is this a bug in macOS? crash.crash
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NSStatus Images missing in 15.4 Beta
In macOS 15.4 (24E5238a) and Xcode 16.2, the NSStatus images appear to be missing. To reproduce, add an NSImageView to a Nib or StoryBoard and set the default image to any of the NSStatus images: NSStatusAvailable, NSStatusPartiallyAvailable, etc. Instead of the expected Green, Yellow dots, no image is displayed. The same occurs when setting images programatically. Is the plan to remove these images, or is this just temporary?
Topic: UI Frameworks SubTopic: AppKit Tags:
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NSTextView doesn't correctly redraw when deleting text and setting attribute at the same time
It seems that NSTextView has an issue with deleting text and setting any attribute at the same time, when it also has a textContainerInset. With the code below, after 1 second, the empty line in the text view is automatically deleted and the first line is colored red. The top part of the last line remains visible at its old position. Selecting the whole text and then deselecting it again makes the issue disappear. Is there a workaround? I've created FB16897003. class ViewController: NSViewController { @IBOutlet var textView: NSTextView! override func viewDidAppear() { textView.textContainerInset = CGSize(width: 0, height: 8) let _ = textView.layoutManager textView.textStorage!.setAttributedString(NSAttributedString(string: "1\n\n2\n3\n4")) textView.textStorage!.addAttribute(.foregroundColor, value: NSColor.labelColor, range: NSRange(location: 0, length: textView.textStorage!.length)) DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 1) { [self] in textView.selectedRange = NSRange(location: 3, length: 0) textView.deleteBackward(nil) textView.textStorage!.beginEditing() textView.textStorage!.addAttribute(.foregroundColor, value: NSColor.red, range: NSRange(location: 0, length: 2)) textView.textStorage!.endEditing() } } }
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Blocking app quit
Hello, I'm currently coding a productivity app which help user to focus while studying through restricting access to website and app they have selected, however for now, they can really easily make this uselles trhough quitting the app using command + Q or force quit the app in the activity monitor. Do you know how could I block user to quit the app while she is running, and it is allowed by apple guideline ?
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Remove bottom border in a row in AppKit's NSTableView
I just made a simple AppKit app, but don't know how to remove borders of rows when they're swiped. SwiftUI's list does not have this problem though. Attaching gif demo and code: import SwiftUI struct NSTableViewWrapper: NSViewRepresentable { @State var data: [String] class Coordinator: NSObject, NSTableViewDataSource, NSTableViewDelegate { var parent: NSTableViewWrapper weak var tableView: NSTableView? init(parent: NSTableViewWrapper) { self.parent = parent } func numberOfRows(in tableView: NSTableView) -> Int { self.tableView = tableView return parent.data.count } func tableView(_ tableView: NSTableView, viewFor tableColumn: NSTableColumn?, row: Int) -> NSView? { let cell = tableView.makeView(withIdentifier: NSUserInterfaceItemIdentifier("Cell"), owner: nil) as? NSTextField ?? NSTextField(labelWithString: "") cell.identifier = NSUserInterfaceItemIdentifier("Cell") cell.stringValue = parent.data[row] cell.isBordered = false return cell } func tableView(_ tableView: NSTableView, rowActionsForRow row: Int, edge: NSTableView.RowActionEdge) -> [NSTableViewRowAction] { guard edge == .trailing else { return [] } let deleteAction = NSTableViewRowAction(style: .destructive, title: "Delete") { action, index in self.deleteRow(at: index, in: tableView) } return [deleteAction] } private func deleteRow(at index: Int, in tableView: NSTableView) { guard index < parent.data.count else { return } NSAnimationContext.runAnimationGroup({ context in context.duration = 0.3 tableView.removeRows(at: IndexSet(integer: index), withAnimation: .slideUp) }, completionHandler: { DispatchQueue.main.async { self.parent.data.remove(at: index) tableView.reloadData() } }) } } func makeCoordinator() -> Coordinator { return Coordinator(parent: self) } func makeNSView(context: Context) -> NSScrollView { let scrollView = NSScrollView() let tableView = NSTableView() let column = NSTableColumn(identifier: NSUserInterfaceItemIdentifier("Column")) column.width = 200 tableView.addTableColumn(column) tableView.delegate = context.coordinator tableView.dataSource = context.coordinator tableView.backgroundColor = .clear tableView.headerView = nil tableView.rowHeight = 50 tableView.style = .inset scrollView.documentView = tableView scrollView.hasVerticalScroller = true scrollView.additionalSafeAreaInsets = .init(top: 0, left: 0, bottom: 6, right: 0) return scrollView } func updateNSView(_ nsView: NSScrollView, context: Context) { (nsView.documentView as? NSTableView)?.reloadData() } } struct ContentView: View { @State private var itemsString = Array(0..<40).map(\.description) var body: some View { NSTableViewWrapper(data: itemsString) } } func createAppWindow() { let window = NSWindow( contentRect: .zero, styleMask: [.titled], backing: .buffered, defer: false ) window.title = "NSTableView from AppKit" window.contentViewController = NSHostingController(rootView: ContentView()) window.setContentSize(NSSize(width: 759, height: 300)) window.center() window.makeKeyAndOrderFront(nil) } class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate { func applicationDidFinishLaunching(_ notification: Notification) { createAppWindow() } } let delegate = AppDelegate() NSApplication.shared.delegate = delegate NSApplication.shared.run()
Topic: UI Frameworks SubTopic: AppKit Tags:
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AppKit: presentAsModalWindow doesn't center the presented window on macOS 15
When I present a view controller, whose view is a SwiftUI View, via presentAsModalWindow(_:) the presented window is no longer centered horizontally to the screen, but rather its origin is there. I know this issue occurs for macOS 15.2+, but can't tell if it is from 15.0+. I couldn't find any documentation on why was this changed. Here's an example code that represents my architecture: class RootViewController: NSViewController { private lazy var button: NSButton = NSButton( title: "Present", target: self, action: #selector(presentView)) override func viewDidLoad() { super.viewDidLoad() // Add button to tree } @objc func presentView() { presentAsModalWindow(PresentedViewController()) } } class PresentedViewController: NSViewController { override loadView() { view = NSHostingView(rootView: MyView()) } } struct MyView: View { /* impl */ }
Topic: UI Frameworks SubTopic: AppKit Tags:
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Reliable APIs to check if a Hotkey/Shortcut is already in use?
In our application we have two usecases for a Hotkey/Shortcut identification API/method. We have some predefined shortcuts that will ship with our MacOS application. They may or may not change dynamically, based on what the user has already set as shortcuts/hotkeys, and also to avoid any important system wide shortcuts that the user may or may not have changed. We allow the user to customize the shortcuts/hotkeys in our application, so we want to show what shortcuts the user already has in use system-wide and across their OS experience. This gives rise to the need for an API that lets us know which shortcut/hotkeys are currently being used by the user and also the current system wide OS shortcuts in use. Please let me know if there are any APIs in AppKit or SwiftUI we can use for the above
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NSTextView and TextField becomes non clickable after a alert/menu is shown
I have a NSViewController as the root view and have a switui view embedded in it via NSHostingView. override func loadView() { self.view = NSHostingView(rootView: SwiftUiView()) } } In the SwiftUiView, I have a TextField and an NSTextView embedded using NSViewRepresentable, along with a few buttons. There is also a menu: Menu { ForEach(menuItems), id: \.self) { item in Button { buttonClicked() } label: { Text(item) } } } label: { Image("DropDown") .contentShape(Rectangle()) .frame(maxWidth: .infinity) .frame(maxHeight: .infinity) } The NSTextView and TextField work fine, and I can type in them until I click on the menu or show an alert. After that, I can no longer place my cursor in the text fields. I am able to select the text but not type in it. When I click on the NSTextView or TextField, nothing happens. At first, I thought it was just a cursor visibility issue and tried typing, but I received an alert sound. I've been trying to fix this for a couple of days and haven't found any related posts. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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VoiceOver cursor focus tracking
In some places of our app we make use of NSAccessibilityElement subclasses to vend some extra items to accessibility clients. We need to know which item has the VoiceOver focus so we can keep track of it. setAccessibilityFocused: does not get called when accessibility clients focus NSAccessibilityElements. This method is only called when accessibility clients focus view-based accessibility elements (i.e. when a NSView subclass gets focused). At the same time we need to programmatically move VoiceOver focus to those items when something happens. Those accessibility elements inherit from NSObject so we can't make them first responder. Is this the expected behavior? What are our options in terms of reacting to VoiceOver cursor moving around? What are our options in terms of programmatically moving the VoiceOver cursor to a different element? Here's a sample project that demonstrates the first part of the issue: https://github.com/vendruscolo/apple-rdars/tree/master/DTS12368714%20-%20NSAccessibilityElement%20focus%20tracking If you run the app, a window will show up. It contains a button and a red square. If you enable VoiceOver you'll be able to move the cursor over the red square, and a message will be logged. You'll also notice there's an extra element after the red square. That element is available to VoiceOver, however when it gets focuses, no message gets logged.
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How to override NSWindow in a pure SwiftUI Application
So I am looking to use a custom NSWindow application (so I can implement some enhanced resizing/dragging behavior which is only possible overriding NSWindow). The problem is my whole application is currently SwiftUI-based (see the project here: https://github.com/msdrigg/Roam/blob/50a2a641aa5f2fccb4382e14dbb410c1679d8b0c/Roam/RoamApp.swift). I know there is a way to make this work by dropping my @main SwiftUI app and replacing it with a SwiftUI root view hosted in a standard AppKit root app, but that feels like I'm going backwards. Is there another way to get access (and override) the root NSWindow for a SwiftUI app?
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NSHostingController menu not activated
I'm attempting to write a macOS version of https://stackoverflow.com/a/74935849/2178159. From my understanding, I should be able to set the menu property of an NSResponder and it will automatically show on right click. I've tried a couple things: A: set menu on an NSHostingController's view - when I do this and right or ctrl click, nothing happens. B: set menu on NSHostingController directly - when I do this I get a crash Abstract method -[NSResponder setMenu:] called from class _TtGC7SwiftUI19NSHostingControllerGVS_21_ViewModifier_...__. Subclasses must override C: manually call NSMenu.popup in a custom subclasses of NSHostingController or NSView's rightMouseDown method - nothing happens. extension View { func contextMenu(menu: NSMenu) -> some View { modifier(ContextMenuViewModifier(menu: menu)) } } struct ContextMenuViewModifier: ViewModifier { let menu: NSMenu func body(content: Content) -> some View { Interaction_UI( view: { content }, menu: menu ) .fixedSize() } } private struct Interaction_UI<Content: View>: NSViewRepresentable { typealias NSViewType = NSView @ViewBuilder var view: Content let menu: NSMenu func makeNSView(context: Context) -> NSView { let v = NSHostingController(rootView: view) // option A - no effect v.view.menu = menu // option B - crash v.menu = menu return v.view } func updateNSView(_ nsView: NSViewType, context: Context) { // part of option A nsView.menu = menu } }
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How do we retrieve UnknownFSObjectIcon.icns these days?
In the good old days, it was possible to retrieve dynamically the UnknownFSObjectIcon.icns icon using: [[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] iconForFileType:NSFileTypeForHFSTypeCode(kUnknownFSObjectIcon)]; Now, this solution is considered to be deprecated (but is still working) by recent macOS SDKs. [Q] What is the modern equivalent of this solution? Notes: Yes, reading the file directly works but is more fragile than using a System API. Yes, Xcode suggests to use the iconForContentType: method but I haven't found which UTType should be used.
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Are SwiftUI animations in UIKit & AppKit intentionally deprecated?
Is there some reason UIKit's and AppKit's animate(with:changes:completion:) methods are marked deprecated in iOS 18 when they were also first made available in iOS18? If they are indeed already deprecated, is there a replacement method we are supposed to use? This method allows the developer to use SwiftUI animations to animate UIKit and AppKit views.
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SwiftUI Vs AppKit for a complex and dynamic UI
I'm looking to develop a very rich networking macOS app (like social media apps) operated by very large number of users, each user is able to create a number of windows, operate/view each of them, able to customize the app to his liking etc. The UI is expected to be very rich and dynamic. The question is, should I choose AppKit or SwiftUI? I have a basic understanding of SwiftUI, its declarative way of defining UI layouts and populating it with data. Not sure if SwiftUI can handle a very rich and dynamic UI customised by large number of users. Any thoughts? What works best in this scenario? What is Apple's recommendation?
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Feb ’25