Re: How do I get the NSApplication of other running applications?
Re: How do I get the NSApplication of other running applications?
- Subject: Re: How do I get the NSApplication of other running applications?
- From: "Finlay Dobbie" <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2006 18:32:29 -0400
On 09/09/06, Dustin Voss <email@hidden> wrote:
On 7 Sep 2006, at 3:27 PM, Alan Smith wrote:
> Okay. Um... Put bluntly, I'm trying to "reinvent" the Dock. Many have
> done this before but I'm just barely using Apple's Dock as a template.
You can't replace the Dock. You can write a Dock supplement, though.
Let's re-phrase that:
It would be theoretically possible to replace the Dock, but you would
have to reverse engineer the existing Dock and determine how it
communicates with a number of other parts of the system (windowserver,
loginwindow, and applications via the frameworks).
This would be an arduous task for a seasoned programmer intricately
familiar with the operating system's internals. It would also be very
fragile, as these are all implementation details of the operating
system that you should not be concerning yourself with, and which may
(and almost certainly have) change at any time.
If you're coming to the table asking basic questions like "how do I
get the NSApplication of another process" or "what is this Mach port
you speak of" then you're way out of your depth. So far out of your
depth that you are not in any way equipped to tackle the task. You're
already barking up the wrong trees entirely, and that should indicate
something to you.
If you're interested in how OS X works, buy Amit Singh's book (Mac OS
X Internals: A Systems Approach). Read it. However, from your
questions and approach to the problem, I would infer that you don't
have the base skillset to understand and digest that information - I
may be wrong, however. If you don't have the base skillset (i.e.
strong computer science skills), you are looking at several years of
experience you need to develop, then several months of reverse
engineering OS X. By which point we might not even have a Dock.
So, hopefully by now you can see that what you are trying to
accomplish is probably infeasible. You will either need to rethink
your approach to what you wish to accomplish, or give up entirely.
(I apologise if this comes off as an attack, it's really not meant to
be. These are just the cold, hard facts.)
-- Finlay
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