Re: Docklet(ing) API & 10.1: Where ????
Re: Docklet(ing) API & 10.1: Where ????
- Subject: Re: Docklet(ing) API & 10.1: Where ????
- From: email@hidden
- Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2001 12:05:58 +0100
So if I follow the point that's being made, Apple are saying that their new
Dock API will allow apps to customize their Dock menu, and the private
Dockling API has been abandoned by Apple, although it still works in Mac OS
10.1.
Instead of writing Docklings, Apple are saying that we should write a small
app that uses the new Dock API to provide custom menu items from your Dock
tile, and the suggestion has been made that you can have this launch from
as a StartupItem. I have a number of points to make on this.
1. From what I understand StartupItems are for launching daemons and will
launch prior to login, at a time when the Dock hasn't even started.
2. Perhaps someone else can comment, but I thought items launched from the
StartupItems folder "had" to be daemons, and as such, they cannot have
UI's. Daemons do not even appear in the Dock with a default icon, as a
non-daemon would.
3. In order to launch from the StartupItems folder the executable to be
launched must be placed in a sub-folder of StartupItems and have the same
name of the folder it exists in. I tried a number of different approaches
but I could not get this to accept an app package as a startup item. It
seems the executable must exist at the top level of the sub-folder and
therefore StartupItems cannot be app packages (bundles). The bundle support
for StartupItems items is limited to localizing the startup string
displayed during boot up.
4. Even if you could launch non-daemons from the StartupItems folder,
unless app packages (bundles) are supported by the StartupItems folder it
would be too limiting not to have the advantages of the bundles for
localization alone. I don't fancy having to write a non-bundle program that
uses the bundle API to load my "real" app. Is that even a viable solution?
Noel Fegan
American Power Conversion