Topic

AppKit

A collection of 8 issues

Using the Dump Menu Debug Feature on macOS 27 Beta

The AppKit Debug menu is a debugging tool that has been shipping as part of the framework and hence macOS itself for a few years. The Dump Menu debug feature is a new addition in macOS 27 that I think could be useful.

The Curious Case of NSPanel's Nonactivating Style Mask Flag

While working on a behavior that required dynamically switching between the nonactivating panel behavior and one that is more similar to the regular window behavior, I discovered a subtle but significant issue in AppKit: changing the NSWindowStyleMaskNonactivatingPanel flag after an NSPanel has been initialized doesn't fully update the

Building a Universal Mini vMac Application

This project demonstrates a collection of techniques for consolidating various Mini vMac variations into one application, enabling better code reuse and simplifying maintenance.

Mysterious Runtime Crashes in Swift 6 Language Mode

Swift 6 language mode promises compile-time stricter concurrency checking, aimed at preventing and eliminating data races, runtime memory corruption, as well as other common but hard to debug issues. While adopting the new language mode can be a bit of a challenge for larger or less modular projects, Swift 6

NSDrawer, Child Windows, and Modern macOS Applications

NSDrawer is undoubtedly one of the more creative and iconic use cases for so-called "child windows" on macOS. Despite that, drawers have been deprecated in macOS 10.13 and seemingly forgotten since then. You can hardly find any use of drawers in any macOS applications these days. Visiting

A Time Capsule from NeXT Computer, Inc.

A couple of months ago I took a trip to Fortuna, CA – a roughly 5 hour drive from my home in San Jose – to pick up a Macintosh Quadra 700 for my modest albeit growing collection of vintage hardware. From what I gathered, the person selling the machine finds and

SwiftUI FocusedValue, macOS Menus, and the Responder Chain

On macOS, you can use the SwiftUI FocusedValue API to achieve a behavior similar to that of the Responder Chain, including autoenabling menu items.

Vibrancy, NSAppearance, and Visual Effects in Modern AppKit and SwiftUI Apps

When working with NSVisualEffectView and vibrancy on macOS, it is somewhat common to find yourself in a situation where UI elements are not being rendered as you’d expect them to. Here are the possible problems the addition of vibrancy can cause, reasons behind them, and the tools at our disposal.