Objective-C

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Objective-C is a programming language for writing iOS, iPad OS, and macOS apps.

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Programming Languages Resources
This topic area is about the programming languages themselves, not about any specific API or tool. If you have an API question, go to the top level and look for a subtopic for that API. If you have a question about Apple developer tools, start in the Developer Tools & Services topic. For Swift questions: If your question is about the SwiftUI framework, start in UI Frameworks > SwiftUI. If your question is specific to the Swift Playground app, ask over in Developer Tools & Services > Swift Playground If you’re interested in the Swift open source effort — that includes the evolution of the language, the open source tools and libraries, and Swift on non-Apple platforms — check out Swift Forums If your question is about the Swift language, that’s on topic for Programming Languages > Swift, but you might have more luck asking it in Swift Forums > Using Swift. General: Forums topic: Programming Languages Swift: Forums subtopic: Programming Languages > Swift Forums tags: Swift Developer > Swift website Swift Programming Language website The Swift Programming Language documentation Swift Forums website, and specifically Swift Forums > Using Swift Swift Package Index website Concurrency Resources, which covers Swift concurrency How to think properly about binding memory Swift Forums thread Other: Forums subtopic: Programming Languages > Generic Forums tags: Objective-C Programming with Objective-C archived documentation Objective-C Runtime documentation Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
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Oct ’25
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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macOS Tahoe 26.3 - System Is Playing NSBeep At Inappropriate Times When Text Editing Ends Via -cancelOperation: (field editor)
When I end editing pressing the escape key, the system sometimes plays NSBeep(). I noticed this with NSBrowser. Every time I press escape to end editing the system beeps. At first I thought it was somewhere in my app but I set a symbolic breakpoint and discovered it was not coming from my code. I filed FB22127038. Since then I discovered that NSBeep playing at inappropriate times is not exclusive to NSBrowser. It appears if there is a NSTableView in the window and you just press the escape key (even if you aren't editing anything) AppKit beeps. It can be traced to: #0 0x0000000199e3184c in NSBeep () #1 0x000000019aa03fac in -[NSWindow doCommandBySelector:] () #2 0x000000019ac1d01c in -[NSTableView(NSTableViewViewBased) cancelOperation:] ()
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NSURL - is it intended behavior for -URLByAppendingPathComponent: to allow appending multiple path components in one call?
The documentation for NSURL -URLByAppendingPathComponent: states: "Returns a new URL by appending a path component to the original URL." Path component is singular. But this "works" : NSURL *testURL = [applicationsDirectory URLByAppendingPathComponent:@"Evil/../../" isDirectory:YES]; So my questions are: One) Was it always this way? I can't recall if it was like this before the Foundation rewrite and I just never stumbled across? and Two) Is it intended behavior? The API seems to suggest that you append one path component on the url with this method. But I guess you can append as many as you want?
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NSBrowser -deselectAll: broken on macOS Tahoe 26.4
So if I have a selection in NSBrowser. I hit Option+Command+A to invoke "Deselect" the selection in the parent for the last column drops its selections, as expected. But the column doesn't drop off the browser. The delegate method (void)browser:(NSBrowser *)browser didChangeLastColumn:(NSInteger)oldLastColumn toColumn:(NSInteger)column NS_SWIFT_UI_ACTOR; Never fires (since the column isn't dropped off). But we have. dangling last column with no selection in the previous column. Now if there's enough room for me to deselect by clicking the background, the last column drops off, as expected. This seems to be fairly new? Anyone else experiencing this? These 26point updates seem to keep punching me in the face. And yes. deselect all seems somewhat broken in Column view in the Finder as well, but in a seemingly different way. In Finder it just seems to change the selection color like it deactivated the window but doesn't drop the selection. For me, the selection IS dropped but the column remains visible. Maybe they are using Cocoa bindings or something that resyncs the selection after the mess up. I dk.
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copyfile Sometimes Fails to copy .DS_Store when Copying a Folder But Does Not Report Usable Error
Testing copyfile on a folder on an external volume (which takes a bit a of time) I'm running into an issue where copyfile gets to the end of the operation and then just fails. In the callback I can see that the failure occurs on a .DS_Store file inside the folder. So for a .DS_Store it is simple enough for me to just ignore the error and return COPYFILE_SKIP but the somewhat more concerning issue here is that the true error reason is seemingly not reported? In the callback if I read errno it is 0. When copyfile returns it returns -1 after I return COPYFILE_QUIT (and errno is 0) so I don't know what the error is or the appropriate way to handle it. For .DS_Store just skipping seems reasonable but when copying a folder it may be appropriate to get the true failure reason. But checking the last path component of source path seems like a hack way to handle errors. If a file in the copying folder with important user data I can't just silently skip it - it isn't clear to me how I should properly proceed in a situation where I can't get the actual reason for the failure.
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NSWorkspace - macOS Tahoe 26.4 -activateFileViewerSelectingURLs: Crashes When Called Off The Main Thread
So I just installed the 26.4 update and unfortunately I have to debug this newly introduced issue (that may work its way into a separate thread). In my debugging steps I'm testing something related to files and I used -activateFileViewerSelectingURLs: to show the file in Finder. Now I am off the main thread. I added this line for testing purposes and I get a crash: NSWindow should only be instantiated on the main thread!' terminating due to uncaught exception of type NSException. So apparently - NSWorkspace is calling through to NSServices APIs and for some reason the system wants to present an NSError, which is a subtopic and other bug on its own because the 'Show in Finder" functionality actually WORKS but it crashed my app! #22in +[NSAlert alertWithError:] () #23in -[NSApplication(NSErrorPresentation) presentError:] () #24 +[NSServicesMenuHandler _performServiceFromEntry:withPasteboard:withRequestor:withInvocationSourceType:withCarbonFocus:withSendTypes:withReturnTypes:canReleasePasteboardImmediately:] () #25 +[NSServicesMenuHandler _performServiceWithoutAlternatesFromEntry:withPasteboard:withRequestor:withInvocationSourceType:] () #26 +[NSServicesMenuHandler _performServiceFromEntry:withPasteboard:withRequestor:withInvocationSourceType:] () #27 [NSWorkspace activateFileViewerSelectingURLs:] What error it is trying to present.. I have no idea. I'm not sure if I actually have a code path that calls this method off the main thread but I guess I'll have to check. This clearly goes against the documentation. NSWorkspace documentation clearly states: -activateFileViewerSelectingURLs: Discussion You can safely call this method from any thread of your app. Is this new in 26.4? I'm not sure but I just noticed. I definitely use other NSWorkspace methods off the main thread in areas of my app. Like -activateFileViewerSelectingURLs: the documentation for those other methods claims you can safely call them off the main thread. So now I'm concerned.
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Static library links on device but fails on iOS Simulator
I’m working on an iOS workspace with: a static library project: M800SDK a test app project: TestAppObj I was able to build M800SDK for iOS Simulator on Apple Silicon as a simulator static library, and I also verified the architectures in the produced .a file. However, when I link the app target against that simulator build and try to build TestAppObj for iOS Simulator, I get the following linker errors: Undefined symbols for architecture arm64: _OBJC_CLASS_$_TokenMngr clang++: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 Additional context: The library links and works correctly when building the app for a physical iPhone. And the public header TokenMngr.h is found correctly by the app target. The app target is compiled as Objective-C++ where needed. The library is linked in the app target under “Link Binary With Libraries”. Could you help me understand: Is it possible to run on iOS Simulator ? the recommended way to package and consume this library for iOS Simulator on Apple Silicon? Also I am aware i can also build the library for : Any iOS Simulator Device (arm64, x86_64) And specify that on Build Phases in Link : Link Binary With Libraries adding the .a Before i do that i ensure the .a is arm64, x86_64 using the command : lipo -info libM800SDK.a end it returns : Architectures in the fat file: libM800SDK.a are: x86_64 arm64 However, even after confirming those architectures and linking the library to the app target, the app still does not link correctly for iOS Simulator. In some cases, Xcode reports errors suggesting that the build is targeting iOS Simulator, but that one of the linked binaries was built for iPhoneOS instead. This is where I am confused: I understand that lipo -info only shows the CPU architectures present in the library, but not whether a given arm64 slice was built for iPhoneOS or for iOS Simulator
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NSProgress - way to publish progress to make the file url unselectable in Finder?
So I'm in the middle of an asynchronous file operation. I publish an NSProgress and it displays wonderfully in Finder. But it is a folder and while the operation is in progress the user should not be allowed to enter it, modify it, etc, while the work is being done. I want to do this to protect the user from doing something silly. But Finder does not prevent the selection with the published progress. And while it would be kind of dumb to do - the user can just go about adding/removing contents to the folder while it has progress. If I remember correctly publishing an NSProgress did use to prevent the file from being selectable in Finder until either the progress finished or my app is quit (or maybe not)? But now the user is free to select, edit, modify during progress which could cause problems if the user does something unexpectedly silly. Is there a way to mark the file 'unselectable' with the published progress? Thanks in advance.
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Clarification on clonefile / copyfile support of clone directories?
The man page of copyfile sates the following: COPYFILE_CLONE [..] Note also that there is no support for cloning directories" COPYFILE_CLONE_FORCE [...] Note also that there is no support for cloning directories: if a directory is provided as the source, an error will be returned. Now the man page for clonefile: > Cloning directories with these functions is strongly discouraged. Use copyfile(3) to clone directories instead. -- So am I to enumerate the content of a directory build subfolders along the way in the target destination and clone each file inside individually? If I recall NSFileManager seems to clone a large directory instantly (edit actually I remembered wrong NSFileManager does not do this. Finder seems to copy instead of clone as well). On further inspection, clonefile states that it can do this, but it is discouraged. Interesting. I wonder why. If src names a directory, the directory hierarchy is cloned as if each item was cloned individually. However, the use of clonefile(2) to clone directory hierarchies is strongly discouraged. Use copyfile(3) instead for copying directories. P.S. - Forgive me if I posting this in the wrong category, I couldn't find a "category" in the list of available categories on these forums that seems appropriate for this question.
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NSFileManager getRelationship:ofDirectoryAtURL:toItemAtURL:error: returning NSURLRelationshipSame for Different Directories
I'll try to ask a question that makes sense this time :) . I'm using the following method on NSFileManager: (BOOL) getRelationship:(NSURLRelationship *) outRelationship ofDirectoryAtURL:(NSURL *) directoryURL toItemAtURL:(NSURL *) otherURL error:(NSError * *) error; Sets 'outRelationship' to NSURLRelationshipContains if the directory at 'directoryURL' directly or indirectly contains the item at 'otherURL', meaning 'directoryURL' is found while enumerating parent URLs starting from 'otherURL'. Sets 'outRelationship' to NSURLRelationshipSame if 'directoryURL' and 'otherURL' locate the same item, meaning they have the same NSURLFileResourceIdentifierKey value. If 'directoryURL' is not a directory, or does not contain 'otherURL' and they do not locate the same file, then sets 'outRelationship' to NSURLRelationshipOther. If an error occurs, returns NO and sets 'error'. So this method falsely returns NSURLRelationshipSame for different directories. One is empty, one is not. Really weird behavior. Two file path urls pointing to two different file paths have the same NSURLFileResourceIdentifierKey? Could it be related to https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/813641 ? One url in the check lived at the same file path as the other url at one time (but no longer does). No symlinks or anything going on. Just plain directory urls. And YES calling -removeCachedResourceValueForKey: with NSURLFileResourceIdentifierKey causes proper result of NSURLRelationshipOther to be returned. And I'm doing the check on a background queue.
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URLByResolvingAliasFileAtURL: Appears to Be Broken - resolves to the the wrong folder
So if I create an Alias of a folder in Finder and hand the alias to my app (I also moved the alias file to a new folder, but I did not move the original folder)...so then my app resolves the alias using: NSURL +URLByResolvingAliasFileAtURL: What happens? The resolved URL points to a completely different folder. Well not completely different. It resolves to a folder that happens to share same last path component as the original folder...but this folder is inside the same parent folder the alias file is in. It does not resolve to the original folder I created the alias of. So then once my app touches the alias with +URLByResolvingAliasFileAtURL: the alias now resolves to this new (wrong) location (even in Finder). Couple details: My app is not sandboxed. I have permission to access the original folder in my app (but even if I didn't the alias shouldn't be mutated just by merely resolving it). Only seems to happen if the folder I move the alias to happens to contain a sibling folder that has the same title as the original folder. Like it's just deleting the last path component of the alias and then appending the last path component of the original filename and just going with that. I hope that makes sense. I tried creating the alias myself using -bookmarkDataWithOptions: and going the other way (to Finder) but Finder must be resolving the alias using a different API because it resolves to the original location as expected.
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Calling a Objc method directly from C
I would like to avoid the middle man and call Objective C directly from C Currently I do this This is called from a dispatch table in a pure C file _ctx->mt_render_funcs.mtlEnd(_ctx); Which calls this routine in a obj c file .m void mtlEnd(MTRenderContext mt_ctx) { // Call the Objective-C method using Objective-C syntax [(__bridge id) mt_ctx->mt_render_funcs.mtlObj mtlEnd]; } Which ends up here... in ObjC #pragma mark mtlEnd (void)mtlEnd { // vertex buffer size_t size; size = sizeof(Vertex4ColorNormalTex) * _ctx->vert_eng.current_vertex; [_currentRenderEncoder setVertexBytes:_ctx->vert_eng.vertices length: size atIndex: VertexInputIndexVertices]; [_currentRenderEncoder drawPrimitives:(MTLPrimitiveType)_ctx->vert_eng.prim_type vertexStart:0 vertexCount:_ctx->vert_eng.current_vertex]; } It would simplify this to get rid of one call and call ObjC directly. The other idea is I want to use GCD and put a lock / unlock on the call from C to ensure thread safety so I can use GCD to dispatch a thread to do the ObjC routines. I want to stick with C as the foundation so it can be used directly from C or a FFI interface from other languages. But Metal works well in ObjC and I would prefer to use that. Thanks ahead of time.
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Mar ’26
NSURL Does Not Honor NSURLHasHiddenExtensionKey When I set it via -setResourceValue:forKey:error:
I set the value of NSURLHasHiddenExtensionKey. I provide a textfield to rename a file and I set this flag based on whether the user has deleted or left on the path extension. So -setResourceValue:forKey:error: returns YES, does not populate the error, but does not honor the value I just set it to. I'm always setting it off the main thread on the same serial queue. Works the first time I rename the file then it just starts failing (silently). For example: NSError *setError = nil; if ([theURL setResourceValue:@(NO) forKey:NSURLHasHiddenExtensionKey error:&setError]) { [theURL removeAllCachedResourceValues]; NSNumber *freshRead = nil; NSError *getError = nil; if ([theURL getResourceValue:&freshRead forKey:NSURLHasHiddenExtensionKey error:&getError]) { if (freshRead.boolValue) { NSLog(@"it is yes when it should be NO."); } } if (getError != nil) { NSLog(@"Get error: %@",getError); } } if (setError != nil) { NSLog(@"Set error: %@",setError); } While I get that it is possible for there to be other apps setting this value at the same time as my app, doesn't really seem possible in my local environment right now. No errors log out but "it is yes when it should be NO." does log out.
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Mar ’26
Creating a Temporary Directory with NSFileManager - NSItemReplacementDirectory creates folder in user-facing location?
So I'm reworking couple things in my app. And I noticed I had this old code that does the following: Creates a temporary directory. Writes a file in the temporary directory. After the file is written moves the file out of the temporary location and places it in its final destination. Okay so I was not creating the temporary directory using the recommended API. I was simply doing something like this: NSURL *tempDirectory = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:[NSTemporaryDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:[NSProcessInfo processInfo].globallyUniqueString]]; // Create tempDirectory and write files inside it. Now I just changed the code to use the recommended API which takes the the volume of the target destination into account: -URLForDirectory:inDomain:appropriateForURL:create:error:) and I pass in NSItemReplacementDirectory and a url to appropriateForURL so the destination volume is taken into account. Now I have external storage mounted and I use the recommended approach. I discovered NSFileManager simply writes a directory right in a user facing location titled: **(A Document Being Saved By App Name) ** and the folder is not hidden. Is this intended behavior for this API? Are temporary files supposed to be user facing? I know it is good practice to clean up temporary stuff when you are done but in crashes or just forgetting to clean up will leave these behind which isn't the behavior I expect for "temporary files." Also if the user is viewing the folder in Finder they'll see these A Document Being Saved By App Name folders appear and disappear in the window as my app does this work.
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Feb ’26
App Launchscreen Size NOT Correct on iPadOS 26
Hello, We’re seeing an iPad-specific Launch Screen issue related to multitasking window sizes. Environment Device: iPad (iPadOS 26) Device orientation: Landscape App is launched in a small window where the app window is portrait-shaped (width < height) Issue When the iPad is in landscape but the app is launched as a portrait-shaped small window, the LaunchScreen.storyboard appears to be rendered/layouted as landscape, not matching the actual window geometry. As a result, the Launch Screen content is clipped / partially missing (we see blank/empty area at the bottom during launch). After the app finishes launching, our first view controller uses the correct window size and the UI looks fine — the problem is mainly during the Launch Screen phase. What we checked LaunchScreen.storyboard uses Auto Layout and is expected to adapt to screen/window size. This only reproduces when the device orientation and the app window aspect ratio don’t match (landscape device + portrait-shaped app window, or vice versa). When device orientation and window shape are aligned, the Launch Screen displays correctly. Question Is it expected that iPadOS renders LaunchScreen.storyboard based on the interface orientation / size class rather than the actual window bounds in multitasking scenarios? If not expected, what is the recommended way to ensure the Launch Screen matches the app’s actual window size/aspect ratio at launch (without using code, since Launch Screen is static)? Are there any additional diagnostics or recommended steps to help us investigate and confirm the root cause (e.g., specific logs, APIs/values to capture at launch such as UIWindowScene bounds, interfaceOrientation, size classes, or any guidance on how Launch Screen snapshots are chosen/cached in multitasking)? Thank you.
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Feb ’26
NSURL - Are Cached Resource Values Really Automatically Removed After Each Pass Through the Run Loop?
The documentation says: The caching behavior of the NSURL and CFURL APIs differ. For NSURL, all cached values (not temporary values) are automatically removed after each pass through the run loop. You only need to call the removeCachedResourceValueForKey: method when you want to clear the cache within a single execution of the run loop. The CFURL functions, on the other hand, do not automatically clear cached resource values. The client has complete control over the cache lifetimes, and you must use CFURLClearResourcePropertyCacheForKey or CFURLClearResourcePropertyCache to clear cached resource values. https://aninterestingwebsite.com/documentation/foundation/nsurl/removeallcachedresourcevalues()?language=objc Is this really true? In my experience I've had to explicitly remove cached resource values via -removeAllCachedResourceValues or removeCachedResourceValueForKey: otherwise the URL contains stale values. For example on a URL that no longer exists I attempted to read NSURLIsHiddenKey and the last value was already cached. Instead of getting a NSFileNoSuchFileError I get the old cache value unless explicitly call -removeCachedResourceValueForKey: first and I'm fairly certain the value was cached on a previous run loop churn.
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Jan ’26
Cannot see appended AttributedString in NSTextView
When I appendAttributedString to [textView textStorage] it does not appear on the scrollable TextView. However when I NSLog the [textView textStorage] the Attributed string is outputted, and is therefore stored in the textView, see below. Occurs every time I ask to see the AttributedString I send to the textView. [textView textStorage] attributedString I need to see the attributedString displayed on the ScrollableTextView, but I don't know why I cannot see it.
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Jan ’26
macOS Tahoe WKWebView - NSPrintOperation EXC_BREAKPOINT with Lots of Error Logging
Running print operation on WKWebView I hit EXC_BREAKPOINT and there is all kinds of console spew that looks concerning: ERROR: The NSPrintOperation view's frame was not initialized properly before knowsPageRange: returned. (WKPrintingView) ** CGContextClipToRect: invalid context 0x0. If you want to see the backtrace, please set CG_CONTEXT_SHOW_BACKTRACE environmental variable.** WebContent[7743] networkd_settings_read_from_file Sandbox is preventing this process from reading networkd settings file at "/Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkd.plist", please add an exception. CRASHSTRING: XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID from launchservicesd CRASHSTRING: rdar://problem/28724618 Process unable to create connection because the sandbox denied the right to lookup com.apple.coreservices.launchservicesd and so this process cannot talk to launchservicesd. WebContent[7921] The sandbox in this process does not allow access to RunningBoard. Safe to ignore all this?
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Jan ’26
Changing Dock Icon for my Qt app
Hello, I'm trying to make a white-Label sort of thing for my app, that is: a script runs before the app launches, sets a certain LaunchAgent command that sets and environment variable, and based on that variable's value tha main app's icon changes to a certain logo (change only happens in the dock because changing the icon on disk breaks the signature) When the app launches it takes a noticeable time until the dock icon changes to what I want, so I worked around that by setting the app's plist property to hide the dock icon and then when the app is launched I call an objc++ function to display the icon in the dock again (this time it displays as the new icon) The showing happens through [NSApp setActivationPolicy:NSApplicationActivationPolicyRegular]; The problem happens when I try to close the app, it returns back to the old logo before closing which is what I want to prevent. I tried hiding the app dock icon before closing but even the hiding itself changes the icon before hiding The hiding happens through [NSApp setActivationPolicy:NSApplicationActivationPolicyProhibited]; My goal is that the main app icon doesn't appear to the user through the dock, and that the icon that is only visible is the other one that changes during runtime The reason for this is that I have an app that should be visible differently depending on an environment variable that I set using an installer app. The app is the same for all users with very minor UI adjustments depending on that env variable's value. So instead of creating different versions of the app I'd like to have just 1 version that adjusts differently depending on the env variable's value. Somehow this is the only step left to have a smooth experience Feel free to ask more clarification questions I'd be happy to help Thank you
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Jan ’26
Programming Languages Resources
This topic area is about the programming languages themselves, not about any specific API or tool. If you have an API question, go to the top level and look for a subtopic for that API. If you have a question about Apple developer tools, start in the Developer Tools & Services topic. For Swift questions: If your question is about the SwiftUI framework, start in UI Frameworks > SwiftUI. If your question is specific to the Swift Playground app, ask over in Developer Tools & Services > Swift Playground If you’re interested in the Swift open source effort — that includes the evolution of the language, the open source tools and libraries, and Swift on non-Apple platforms — check out Swift Forums If your question is about the Swift language, that’s on topic for Programming Languages > Swift, but you might have more luck asking it in Swift Forums > Using Swift. General: Forums topic: Programming Languages Swift: Forums subtopic: Programming Languages > Swift Forums tags: Swift Developer > Swift website Swift Programming Language website The Swift Programming Language documentation Swift Forums website, and specifically Swift Forums > Using Swift Swift Package Index website Concurrency Resources, which covers Swift concurrency How to think properly about binding memory Swift Forums thread Other: Forums subtopic: Programming Languages > Generic Forums tags: Objective-C Programming with Objective-C archived documentation Objective-C Runtime documentation Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
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Activity
Oct ’25
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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macOS Tahoe 26.3 - System Is Playing NSBeep At Inappropriate Times When Text Editing Ends Via -cancelOperation: (field editor)
When I end editing pressing the escape key, the system sometimes plays NSBeep(). I noticed this with NSBrowser. Every time I press escape to end editing the system beeps. At first I thought it was somewhere in my app but I set a symbolic breakpoint and discovered it was not coming from my code. I filed FB22127038. Since then I discovered that NSBeep playing at inappropriate times is not exclusive to NSBrowser. It appears if there is a NSTableView in the window and you just press the escape key (even if you aren't editing anything) AppKit beeps. It can be traced to: #0 0x0000000199e3184c in NSBeep () #1 0x000000019aa03fac in -[NSWindow doCommandBySelector:] () #2 0x000000019ac1d01c in -[NSTableView(NSTableViewViewBased) cancelOperation:] ()
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NSURL - is it intended behavior for -URLByAppendingPathComponent: to allow appending multiple path components in one call?
The documentation for NSURL -URLByAppendingPathComponent: states: "Returns a new URL by appending a path component to the original URL." Path component is singular. But this "works" : NSURL *testURL = [applicationsDirectory URLByAppendingPathComponent:@"Evil/../../" isDirectory:YES]; So my questions are: One) Was it always this way? I can't recall if it was like this before the Foundation rewrite and I just never stumbled across? and Two) Is it intended behavior? The API seems to suggest that you append one path component on the url with this method. But I guess you can append as many as you want?
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6d
NSBrowser -deselectAll: broken on macOS Tahoe 26.4
So if I have a selection in NSBrowser. I hit Option+Command+A to invoke "Deselect" the selection in the parent for the last column drops its selections, as expected. But the column doesn't drop off the browser. The delegate method (void)browser:(NSBrowser *)browser didChangeLastColumn:(NSInteger)oldLastColumn toColumn:(NSInteger)column NS_SWIFT_UI_ACTOR; Never fires (since the column isn't dropped off). But we have. dangling last column with no selection in the previous column. Now if there's enough room for me to deselect by clicking the background, the last column drops off, as expected. This seems to be fairly new? Anyone else experiencing this? These 26point updates seem to keep punching me in the face. And yes. deselect all seems somewhat broken in Column view in the Finder as well, but in a seemingly different way. In Finder it just seems to change the selection color like it deactivated the window but doesn't drop the selection. For me, the selection IS dropped but the column remains visible. Maybe they are using Cocoa bindings or something that resyncs the selection after the mess up. I dk.
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copyfile Sometimes Fails to copy .DS_Store when Copying a Folder But Does Not Report Usable Error
Testing copyfile on a folder on an external volume (which takes a bit a of time) I'm running into an issue where copyfile gets to the end of the operation and then just fails. In the callback I can see that the failure occurs on a .DS_Store file inside the folder. So for a .DS_Store it is simple enough for me to just ignore the error and return COPYFILE_SKIP but the somewhat more concerning issue here is that the true error reason is seemingly not reported? In the callback if I read errno it is 0. When copyfile returns it returns -1 after I return COPYFILE_QUIT (and errno is 0) so I don't know what the error is or the appropriate way to handle it. For .DS_Store just skipping seems reasonable but when copying a folder it may be appropriate to get the true failure reason. But checking the last path component of source path seems like a hack way to handle errors. If a file in the copying folder with important user data I can't just silently skip it - it isn't clear to me how I should properly proceed in a situation where I can't get the actual reason for the failure.
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1w
NSWorkspace - macOS Tahoe 26.4 -activateFileViewerSelectingURLs: Crashes When Called Off The Main Thread
So I just installed the 26.4 update and unfortunately I have to debug this newly introduced issue (that may work its way into a separate thread). In my debugging steps I'm testing something related to files and I used -activateFileViewerSelectingURLs: to show the file in Finder. Now I am off the main thread. I added this line for testing purposes and I get a crash: NSWindow should only be instantiated on the main thread!' terminating due to uncaught exception of type NSException. So apparently - NSWorkspace is calling through to NSServices APIs and for some reason the system wants to present an NSError, which is a subtopic and other bug on its own because the 'Show in Finder" functionality actually WORKS but it crashed my app! #22in +[NSAlert alertWithError:] () #23in -[NSApplication(NSErrorPresentation) presentError:] () #24 +[NSServicesMenuHandler _performServiceFromEntry:withPasteboard:withRequestor:withInvocationSourceType:withCarbonFocus:withSendTypes:withReturnTypes:canReleasePasteboardImmediately:] () #25 +[NSServicesMenuHandler _performServiceWithoutAlternatesFromEntry:withPasteboard:withRequestor:withInvocationSourceType:] () #26 +[NSServicesMenuHandler _performServiceFromEntry:withPasteboard:withRequestor:withInvocationSourceType:] () #27 [NSWorkspace activateFileViewerSelectingURLs:] What error it is trying to present.. I have no idea. I'm not sure if I actually have a code path that calls this method off the main thread but I guess I'll have to check. This clearly goes against the documentation. NSWorkspace documentation clearly states: -activateFileViewerSelectingURLs: Discussion You can safely call this method from any thread of your app. Is this new in 26.4? I'm not sure but I just noticed. I definitely use other NSWorkspace methods off the main thread in areas of my app. Like -activateFileViewerSelectingURLs: the documentation for those other methods claims you can safely call them off the main thread. So now I'm concerned.
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70
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1w
Static library links on device but fails on iOS Simulator
I’m working on an iOS workspace with: a static library project: M800SDK a test app project: TestAppObj I was able to build M800SDK for iOS Simulator on Apple Silicon as a simulator static library, and I also verified the architectures in the produced .a file. However, when I link the app target against that simulator build and try to build TestAppObj for iOS Simulator, I get the following linker errors: Undefined symbols for architecture arm64: _OBJC_CLASS_$_TokenMngr clang++: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 Additional context: The library links and works correctly when building the app for a physical iPhone. And the public header TokenMngr.h is found correctly by the app target. The app target is compiled as Objective-C++ where needed. The library is linked in the app target under “Link Binary With Libraries”. Could you help me understand: Is it possible to run on iOS Simulator ? the recommended way to package and consume this library for iOS Simulator on Apple Silicon? Also I am aware i can also build the library for : Any iOS Simulator Device (arm64, x86_64) And specify that on Build Phases in Link : Link Binary With Libraries adding the .a Before i do that i ensure the .a is arm64, x86_64 using the command : lipo -info libM800SDK.a end it returns : Architectures in the fat file: libM800SDK.a are: x86_64 arm64 However, even after confirming those architectures and linking the library to the app target, the app still does not link correctly for iOS Simulator. In some cases, Xcode reports errors suggesting that the build is targeting iOS Simulator, but that one of the linked binaries was built for iPhoneOS instead. This is where I am confused: I understand that lipo -info only shows the CPU architectures present in the library, but not whether a given arm64 slice was built for iPhoneOS or for iOS Simulator
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101
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1w
NSProgress - way to publish progress to make the file url unselectable in Finder?
So I'm in the middle of an asynchronous file operation. I publish an NSProgress and it displays wonderfully in Finder. But it is a folder and while the operation is in progress the user should not be allowed to enter it, modify it, etc, while the work is being done. I want to do this to protect the user from doing something silly. But Finder does not prevent the selection with the published progress. And while it would be kind of dumb to do - the user can just go about adding/removing contents to the folder while it has progress. If I remember correctly publishing an NSProgress did use to prevent the file from being selectable in Finder until either the progress finished or my app is quit (or maybe not)? But now the user is free to select, edit, modify during progress which could cause problems if the user does something unexpectedly silly. Is there a way to mark the file 'unselectable' with the published progress? Thanks in advance.
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575
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2w
Clarification on clonefile / copyfile support of clone directories?
The man page of copyfile sates the following: COPYFILE_CLONE [..] Note also that there is no support for cloning directories" COPYFILE_CLONE_FORCE [...] Note also that there is no support for cloning directories: if a directory is provided as the source, an error will be returned. Now the man page for clonefile: > Cloning directories with these functions is strongly discouraged. Use copyfile(3) to clone directories instead. -- So am I to enumerate the content of a directory build subfolders along the way in the target destination and clone each file inside individually? If I recall NSFileManager seems to clone a large directory instantly (edit actually I remembered wrong NSFileManager does not do this. Finder seems to copy instead of clone as well). On further inspection, clonefile states that it can do this, but it is discouraged. Interesting. I wonder why. If src names a directory, the directory hierarchy is cloned as if each item was cloned individually. However, the use of clonefile(2) to clone directory hierarchies is strongly discouraged. Use copyfile(3) instead for copying directories. P.S. - Forgive me if I posting this in the wrong category, I couldn't find a "category" in the list of available categories on these forums that seems appropriate for this question.
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5
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280
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3w
NSFileManager getRelationship:ofDirectoryAtURL:toItemAtURL:error: returning NSURLRelationshipSame for Different Directories
I'll try to ask a question that makes sense this time :) . I'm using the following method on NSFileManager: (BOOL) getRelationship:(NSURLRelationship *) outRelationship ofDirectoryAtURL:(NSURL *) directoryURL toItemAtURL:(NSURL *) otherURL error:(NSError * *) error; Sets 'outRelationship' to NSURLRelationshipContains if the directory at 'directoryURL' directly or indirectly contains the item at 'otherURL', meaning 'directoryURL' is found while enumerating parent URLs starting from 'otherURL'. Sets 'outRelationship' to NSURLRelationshipSame if 'directoryURL' and 'otherURL' locate the same item, meaning they have the same NSURLFileResourceIdentifierKey value. If 'directoryURL' is not a directory, or does not contain 'otherURL' and they do not locate the same file, then sets 'outRelationship' to NSURLRelationshipOther. If an error occurs, returns NO and sets 'error'. So this method falsely returns NSURLRelationshipSame for different directories. One is empty, one is not. Really weird behavior. Two file path urls pointing to two different file paths have the same NSURLFileResourceIdentifierKey? Could it be related to https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/813641 ? One url in the check lived at the same file path as the other url at one time (but no longer does). No symlinks or anything going on. Just plain directory urls. And YES calling -removeCachedResourceValueForKey: with NSURLFileResourceIdentifierKey causes proper result of NSURLRelationshipOther to be returned. And I'm doing the check on a background queue.
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519
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3w
URLByResolvingAliasFileAtURL: Appears to Be Broken - resolves to the the wrong folder
So if I create an Alias of a folder in Finder and hand the alias to my app (I also moved the alias file to a new folder, but I did not move the original folder)...so then my app resolves the alias using: NSURL +URLByResolvingAliasFileAtURL: What happens? The resolved URL points to a completely different folder. Well not completely different. It resolves to a folder that happens to share same last path component as the original folder...but this folder is inside the same parent folder the alias file is in. It does not resolve to the original folder I created the alias of. So then once my app touches the alias with +URLByResolvingAliasFileAtURL: the alias now resolves to this new (wrong) location (even in Finder). Couple details: My app is not sandboxed. I have permission to access the original folder in my app (but even if I didn't the alias shouldn't be mutated just by merely resolving it). Only seems to happen if the folder I move the alias to happens to contain a sibling folder that has the same title as the original folder. Like it's just deleting the last path component of the alias and then appending the last path component of the original filename and just going with that. I hope that makes sense. I tried creating the alias myself using -bookmarkDataWithOptions: and going the other way (to Finder) but Finder must be resolving the alias using a different API because it resolves to the original location as expected.
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2
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172
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3w
Calling a Objc method directly from C
I would like to avoid the middle man and call Objective C directly from C Currently I do this This is called from a dispatch table in a pure C file _ctx->mt_render_funcs.mtlEnd(_ctx); Which calls this routine in a obj c file .m void mtlEnd(MTRenderContext mt_ctx) { // Call the Objective-C method using Objective-C syntax [(__bridge id) mt_ctx->mt_render_funcs.mtlObj mtlEnd]; } Which ends up here... in ObjC #pragma mark mtlEnd (void)mtlEnd { // vertex buffer size_t size; size = sizeof(Vertex4ColorNormalTex) * _ctx->vert_eng.current_vertex; [_currentRenderEncoder setVertexBytes:_ctx->vert_eng.vertices length: size atIndex: VertexInputIndexVertices]; [_currentRenderEncoder drawPrimitives:(MTLPrimitiveType)_ctx->vert_eng.prim_type vertexStart:0 vertexCount:_ctx->vert_eng.current_vertex]; } It would simplify this to get rid of one call and call ObjC directly. The other idea is I want to use GCD and put a lock / unlock on the call from C to ensure thread safety so I can use GCD to dispatch a thread to do the ObjC routines. I want to stick with C as the foundation so it can be used directly from C or a FFI interface from other languages. But Metal works well in ObjC and I would prefer to use that. Thanks ahead of time.
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Mar ’26
NSURL Does Not Honor NSURLHasHiddenExtensionKey When I set it via -setResourceValue:forKey:error:
I set the value of NSURLHasHiddenExtensionKey. I provide a textfield to rename a file and I set this flag based on whether the user has deleted or left on the path extension. So -setResourceValue:forKey:error: returns YES, does not populate the error, but does not honor the value I just set it to. I'm always setting it off the main thread on the same serial queue. Works the first time I rename the file then it just starts failing (silently). For example: NSError *setError = nil; if ([theURL setResourceValue:@(NO) forKey:NSURLHasHiddenExtensionKey error:&setError]) { [theURL removeAllCachedResourceValues]; NSNumber *freshRead = nil; NSError *getError = nil; if ([theURL getResourceValue:&freshRead forKey:NSURLHasHiddenExtensionKey error:&getError]) { if (freshRead.boolValue) { NSLog(@"it is yes when it should be NO."); } } if (getError != nil) { NSLog(@"Get error: %@",getError); } } if (setError != nil) { NSLog(@"Set error: %@",setError); } While I get that it is possible for there to be other apps setting this value at the same time as my app, doesn't really seem possible in my local environment right now. No errors log out but "it is yes when it should be NO." does log out.
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1
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73
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Mar ’26
Creating a Temporary Directory with NSFileManager - NSItemReplacementDirectory creates folder in user-facing location?
So I'm reworking couple things in my app. And I noticed I had this old code that does the following: Creates a temporary directory. Writes a file in the temporary directory. After the file is written moves the file out of the temporary location and places it in its final destination. Okay so I was not creating the temporary directory using the recommended API. I was simply doing something like this: NSURL *tempDirectory = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:[NSTemporaryDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:[NSProcessInfo processInfo].globallyUniqueString]]; // Create tempDirectory and write files inside it. Now I just changed the code to use the recommended API which takes the the volume of the target destination into account: -URLForDirectory:inDomain:appropriateForURL:create:error:) and I pass in NSItemReplacementDirectory and a url to appropriateForURL so the destination volume is taken into account. Now I have external storage mounted and I use the recommended approach. I discovered NSFileManager simply writes a directory right in a user facing location titled: **(A Document Being Saved By App Name) ** and the folder is not hidden. Is this intended behavior for this API? Are temporary files supposed to be user facing? I know it is good practice to clean up temporary stuff when you are done but in crashes or just forgetting to clean up will leave these behind which isn't the behavior I expect for "temporary files." Also if the user is viewing the folder in Finder they'll see these A Document Being Saved By App Name folders appear and disappear in the window as my app does this work.
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3
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125
Activity
Feb ’26
App Launchscreen Size NOT Correct on iPadOS 26
Hello, We’re seeing an iPad-specific Launch Screen issue related to multitasking window sizes. Environment Device: iPad (iPadOS 26) Device orientation: Landscape App is launched in a small window where the app window is portrait-shaped (width < height) Issue When the iPad is in landscape but the app is launched as a portrait-shaped small window, the LaunchScreen.storyboard appears to be rendered/layouted as landscape, not matching the actual window geometry. As a result, the Launch Screen content is clipped / partially missing (we see blank/empty area at the bottom during launch). After the app finishes launching, our first view controller uses the correct window size and the UI looks fine — the problem is mainly during the Launch Screen phase. What we checked LaunchScreen.storyboard uses Auto Layout and is expected to adapt to screen/window size. This only reproduces when the device orientation and the app window aspect ratio don’t match (landscape device + portrait-shaped app window, or vice versa). When device orientation and window shape are aligned, the Launch Screen displays correctly. Question Is it expected that iPadOS renders LaunchScreen.storyboard based on the interface orientation / size class rather than the actual window bounds in multitasking scenarios? If not expected, what is the recommended way to ensure the Launch Screen matches the app’s actual window size/aspect ratio at launch (without using code, since Launch Screen is static)? Are there any additional diagnostics or recommended steps to help us investigate and confirm the root cause (e.g., specific logs, APIs/values to capture at launch such as UIWindowScene bounds, interfaceOrientation, size classes, or any guidance on how Launch Screen snapshots are chosen/cached in multitasking)? Thank you.
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231
Activity
Feb ’26
NSURL - Are Cached Resource Values Really Automatically Removed After Each Pass Through the Run Loop?
The documentation says: The caching behavior of the NSURL and CFURL APIs differ. For NSURL, all cached values (not temporary values) are automatically removed after each pass through the run loop. You only need to call the removeCachedResourceValueForKey: method when you want to clear the cache within a single execution of the run loop. The CFURL functions, on the other hand, do not automatically clear cached resource values. The client has complete control over the cache lifetimes, and you must use CFURLClearResourcePropertyCacheForKey or CFURLClearResourcePropertyCache to clear cached resource values. https://aninterestingwebsite.com/documentation/foundation/nsurl/removeallcachedresourcevalues()?language=objc Is this really true? In my experience I've had to explicitly remove cached resource values via -removeAllCachedResourceValues or removeCachedResourceValueForKey: otherwise the URL contains stale values. For example on a URL that no longer exists I attempted to read NSURLIsHiddenKey and the last value was already cached. Instead of getting a NSFileNoSuchFileError I get the old cache value unless explicitly call -removeCachedResourceValueForKey: first and I'm fairly certain the value was cached on a previous run loop churn.
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7
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662
Activity
Jan ’26
Cannot see appended AttributedString in NSTextView
When I appendAttributedString to [textView textStorage] it does not appear on the scrollable TextView. However when I NSLog the [textView textStorage] the Attributed string is outputted, and is therefore stored in the textView, see below. Occurs every time I ask to see the AttributedString I send to the textView. [textView textStorage] attributedString I need to see the attributedString displayed on the ScrollableTextView, but I don't know why I cannot see it.
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2
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459
Activity
Jan ’26
macOS Tahoe WKWebView - NSPrintOperation EXC_BREAKPOINT with Lots of Error Logging
Running print operation on WKWebView I hit EXC_BREAKPOINT and there is all kinds of console spew that looks concerning: ERROR: The NSPrintOperation view's frame was not initialized properly before knowsPageRange: returned. (WKPrintingView) ** CGContextClipToRect: invalid context 0x0. If you want to see the backtrace, please set CG_CONTEXT_SHOW_BACKTRACE environmental variable.** WebContent[7743] networkd_settings_read_from_file Sandbox is preventing this process from reading networkd settings file at "/Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkd.plist", please add an exception. CRASHSTRING: XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID from launchservicesd CRASHSTRING: rdar://problem/28724618 Process unable to create connection because the sandbox denied the right to lookup com.apple.coreservices.launchservicesd and so this process cannot talk to launchservicesd. WebContent[7921] The sandbox in this process does not allow access to RunningBoard. Safe to ignore all this?
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4
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293
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Jan ’26
Changing Dock Icon for my Qt app
Hello, I'm trying to make a white-Label sort of thing for my app, that is: a script runs before the app launches, sets a certain LaunchAgent command that sets and environment variable, and based on that variable's value tha main app's icon changes to a certain logo (change only happens in the dock because changing the icon on disk breaks the signature) When the app launches it takes a noticeable time until the dock icon changes to what I want, so I worked around that by setting the app's plist property to hide the dock icon and then when the app is launched I call an objc++ function to display the icon in the dock again (this time it displays as the new icon) The showing happens through [NSApp setActivationPolicy:NSApplicationActivationPolicyRegular]; The problem happens when I try to close the app, it returns back to the old logo before closing which is what I want to prevent. I tried hiding the app dock icon before closing but even the hiding itself changes the icon before hiding The hiding happens through [NSApp setActivationPolicy:NSApplicationActivationPolicyProhibited]; My goal is that the main app icon doesn't appear to the user through the dock, and that the icon that is only visible is the other one that changes during runtime The reason for this is that I have an app that should be visible differently depending on an environment variable that I set using an installer app. The app is the same for all users with very minor UI adjustments depending on that env variable's value. So instead of creating different versions of the app I'd like to have just 1 version that adjusts differently depending on the env variable's value. Somehow this is the only step left to have a smooth experience Feel free to ask more clarification questions I'd be happy to help Thank you
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5
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577
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Jan ’26