Mar 10, 2020 Last I checked, the $1.99 app sat atop the Mac App Store’s productivity category. Another, Moom, lets you customize your window behavior. I weaned myself off Magnet and went all-in with Moom because of its flexibility. You can buy Moom for $10 directly from its developer, Many Tricks, or through the Mac App Store. Users can override the default value and by going to Settings Display Scale and layout settings page. General recommendations Small. Set left and right window margins to 12px to create a visual separation between the left and right edges of the app window. Dock app bars to the bottom of the window for improved reachability.
To use a keyboard shortcut, press and hold one or more modifier keys and then press the last key of the shortcut. For example, to use Command-C (copy), press and hold the Command key, then the C key, then release both keys. Mac menus and keyboards often use symbols for certain keys, including modifier keys:
On keyboards made for Windows PCs, use the Alt key instead of Option, and the Windows logo key instead of Command.
Some keys on some Apple keyboards have special symbols and functions, such as for display brightness , keyboard brightness , Mission Control, and more. If these functions aren't available on your keyboard, you might be able to reproduce some of them by creating your own keyboard shortcuts. To use these keys as F1, F2, F3, or other standard function keys, combine them with the Fn key.
Cut, copy, paste, and other common shortcuts
- Command-X: Cut the selected item and copy it to the Clipboard.
- Command-C: Copy the selected item to the Clipboard. This also works for files in the Finder.
- Command-V: Paste the contents of the Clipboard into the current document or app. This also works for files in the Finder.
- Command-Z: Undo the previous command. You can then press Shift-Command-Z to Redo, reversing the undo command. In some apps, you can undo and redo multiple commands.
- Command-A: Select All items.
- Command-F: Find items in a document or open a Find window.
- Command-G: Find Again: Find the next occurrence of the item previously found. To find the previous occurrence, press Shift-Command-G.
- Command-H: Hide the windows of the front app. To view the front app but hide all other apps, press Option-Command-H.
- Command-M: Minimize the front window to the Dock. To minimize all windows of the front app, press Option-Command-M.
- Command-O: Open the selected item, or open a dialog to select a file to open.
- Command-P: Print the current document.
- Command-S: Save the current document.
- Command-T: Open a new tab.
- Command-W: Close the front window. To close all windows of the app, press Option-Command-W.
- Option-Command-Esc: Force quit an app.
- Command–Space bar: Show or hide the Spotlight search field. To perform a Spotlight search from a Finder window, press Command–Option–Space bar. (If you use multiple input sources to type in different languages, these shortcuts change input sources instead of showing Spotlight. Learn how to change a conflicting keyboard shortcut.)
- Control–Command–Space bar: Show the Character Viewer, from which you can choose emoji and other symbols.
- Control-Command-F: Use the app in full screen, if supported by the app.
- Space bar: Use Quick Look to preview the selected item.
- Command-Tab: Switch to the next most recently used app among your open apps.
- Shift-Command-5: In macOS Mojave or later, take a screenshot or make a screen recording. Or use Shift-Command-3 or Shift-Command-4 for screenshots. Learn more about screenshots.
- Shift-Command-N: Create a new folder in the Finder.
- Command-Comma (,): Open preferences for the front app.
Sleep, log out, and shut down shortcuts
You might need to press and hold some of these shortcuts for slightly longer than other shortcuts. This helps you to avoid using them unintentionally.
- Power button: Press to turn on your Mac or wake it from sleep. Press and hold for 1.5 seconds to put your Mac to sleep.* Continue holding to force your Mac to turn off.
- Option–Command–Power button* or Option–Command–Media Eject : Put your Mac to sleep.
- Control–Shift–Power button* or Control–Shift–Media Eject : Put your displays to sleep.
- Control–Power button* or Control–Media Eject : Display a dialog asking whether you want to restart, sleep, or shut down.
- Control–Command–Power button:* Force your Mac to restart, without prompting to save any open and unsaved documents.
- Control–Command–Media Eject : Quit all apps, then restart your Mac. If any open documents have unsaved changes, you will be asked whether you want to save them.
- Control–Option–Command–Power button* or Control–Option–Command–Media Eject : Quit all apps, then shut down your Mac. If any open documents have unsaved changes, you will be asked whether you want to save them.
- Control-Command-Q: Immediately lock your screen.
- Shift-Command-Q: Log out of your macOS user account. You will be asked to confirm. To log out immediately without confirming, press Option-Shift-Command-Q.
* Does not apply to the Touch ID sensor.
Finder and system shortcuts
- Command-D: Duplicate the selected files.
- Command-E: Eject the selected disk or volume.
- Command-F: Start a Spotlight search in the Finder window.
- Command-I: Show the Get Info window for a selected file.
- Command-R: (1) When an alias is selected the Finder: show the original file for the selected alias. (2) In some apps, such as Calendar or Safari, refresh or reload the page. (3) In Software Update preferences, check for software updates again.
- Shift-Command-C: Open the Computer window.
- Shift-Command-D: Open the desktop folder.
- Shift-Command-F: Open the Recents window, showing all of the files you viewed or changed recently.
- Shift-Command-G: Open a Go to Folder window.
- Shift-Command-H: Open the Home folder of the current macOS user account.
- Shift-Command-I: Open iCloud Drive.
- Shift-Command-K: Open the Network window.
- Option-Command-L: Open the Downloads folder.
- Shift-Command-N: Create a new folder.
- Shift-Command-O: Open the Documents folder.
- Shift-Command-P: Show or hide the Preview pane in Finder windows.
- Shift-Command-R: Open the AirDrop window.
- Shift-Command-T: Show or hide the tab bar in Finder windows.
- Control-Shift-Command-T: Add selected Finder item to the Dock (OS X Mavericks or later)
- Shift-Command-U: Open the Utilities folder.
- Option-Command-D: Show or hide the Dock.
- Control-Command-T: Add the selected item to the sidebar (OS X Mavericks or later).
- Option-Command-P: Hide or show the path bar in Finder windows.
- Option-Command-S: Hide or show the Sidebar in Finder windows.
- Command–Slash (/): Hide or show the status bar in Finder windows.
- Command-J: Show View Options.
- Command-K: Open the Connect to Server window.
- Command-L: Make an alias of the selected item.
- Command-N: Open a new Finder window.
- Option-Command-N: Create a new Smart Folder.
- Command-T: Show or hide the tab bar when a single tab is open in the current Finder window.
- Option-Command-T: Show or hide the toolbar when a single tab is open in the current Finder window.
- Option-Command-V: Move: Move the files in the Clipboard from their original location to the current location.
- Command-Y: Use Quick Look to preview the selected files.
- Option-Command-Y: View a Quick Look slideshow of the selected files.
- Command-1: View the items in the Finder window as icons.
- Command-2: View the items in a Finder window as a list.
- Command-3: View the items in a Finder window in columns.
- Command-4: View the items in a Finder window in a gallery.
- Command–Left Bracket ([): Go to the previous folder.
- Command–Right Bracket (]): Go to the next folder.
- Command–Up Arrow: Open the folder that contains the current folder.
- Command–Control–Up Arrow: Open the folder that contains the current folder in a new window.
- Command–Down Arrow: Open the selected item.
- Right Arrow: Open the selected folder. This works only when in list view.
- Left Arrow: Close the selected folder. This works only when in list view.
- Command-Delete: Move the selected item to the Trash.
- Shift-Command-Delete: Empty the Trash.
- Option-Shift-Command-Delete: Empty the Trash without confirmation dialog.
- Command–Brightness Up: Turn target display mode on or off.
- Command–Brightness Down: Turn video mirroring on or off when your Mac is connected to more than one display.
- Option–Brightness Up: Open Displays preferences. This works with either Brightness key.
- Control–Brightness Up or Control–Brightness Down: Change the brightness of your external display, if supported by your display.
- Option–Shift–Brightness Up or Option–Shift–Brightness Down: Adjust the display brightness in smaller steps. Add the Control key to this shortcut to make the adjustment on your external display, if supported by your display.
- Option–Mission Control: Open Mission Control preferences.
- Command–Mission Control: Show the desktop.
- Control–Down Arrow: Show all windows of the front app.
- Option–Volume Up: Open Sound preferences. This works with any of the volume keys.
- Option–Shift–Volume Up or Option–Shift–Volume Down: Adjust the sound volume in smaller steps.
- Option–Keyboard Brightness Up: Open Keyboard preferences. This works with either Keyboard Brightness key.
- Option–Shift–Keyboard Brightness Up or Option–Shift–Keyboard Brightness Down: Adjust the keyboard brightness in smaller steps.
- Option key while double-clicking: Open the item in a separate window, then close the original window.
- Command key while double-clicking: Open a folder in a separate tab or window.
- Command key while dragging to another volume: Move the dragged item to the other volume, instead of copying it.
- Option key while dragging: Copy the dragged item. The pointer changes while you drag the item.
- Option-Command while dragging: Make an alias of the dragged item. The pointer changes while you drag the item.
- Option-click a disclosure triangle: Open all folders within the selected folder. This works only when in list view.
- Command-click a window title: See the folders that contain the current folder.
- Learn how to use Command or Shift to select multiple items in the Finder.
- Click the Go menu in the Finder menu bar to see shortcuts for opening many commonly used folders, such as Applications, Documents, Downloads, Utilities, and iCloud Drive.
Document shortcuts
The behavior of these shortcuts may vary with the app you're using.
- Command-B: Boldface the selected text, or turn boldfacing on or off.
- Command-I: Italicize the selected text, or turn italics on or off.
- Command-K: Add a web link.
- Command-U: Underline the selected text, or turn underlining on or off.
- Command-T: Show or hide the Fonts window.
- Command-D: Select the Desktop folder from within an Open dialog or Save dialog.
- Control-Command-D: Show or hide the definition of the selected word.
- Shift-Command-Colon (:): Display the Spelling and Grammar window.
- Command-Semicolon (;): Find misspelled words in the document.
- Option-Delete: Delete the word to the left of the insertion point.
- Control-H: Delete the character to the left of the insertion point. Or use Delete.
- Control-D: Delete the character to the right of the insertion point. Or use Fn-Delete.
- Fn-Delete: Forward delete on keyboards that don't have a Forward Delete key. Or use Control-D.
- Control-K: Delete the text between the insertion point and the end of the line or paragraph.
- Fn–Up Arrow: Page Up: Scroll up one page.
- Fn–Down Arrow: Page Down: Scroll down one page.
- Fn–Left Arrow: Home: Scroll to the beginning of a document.
- Fn–Right Arrow: End: Scroll to the end of a document.
- Command–Up Arrow: Move the insertion point to the beginning of the document.
- Command–Down Arrow: Move the insertion point to the end of the document.
- Command–Left Arrow: Move the insertion point to the beginning of the current line.
- Command–Right Arrow: Move the insertion point to the end of the current line.
- Option–Left Arrow: Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word.
- Option–Right Arrow: Move the insertion point to the end of the next word.
- Shift–Command–Up Arrow: Select the text between the insertion point and the beginning of the document.
- Shift–Command–Down Arrow: Select the text between the insertion point and the end of the document.
- Shift–Command–Left Arrow: Select the text between the insertion point and the beginning of the current line.
- Shift–Command–Right Arrow: Select the text between the insertion point and the end of the current line.
- Shift–Up Arrow: Extend text selection to the nearest character at the same horizontal location on the line above.
- Shift–Down Arrow: Extend text selection to the nearest character at the same horizontal location on the line below.
- Shift–Left Arrow: Extend text selection one character to the left.
- Shift–Right Arrow: Extend text selection one character to the right.
- Option–Shift–Up Arrow: Extend text selection to the beginning of the current paragraph, then to the beginning of the following paragraph if pressed again.
- Option–Shift–Down Arrow: Extend text selection to the end of the current paragraph, then to the end of the following paragraph if pressed again.
- Option–Shift–Left Arrow: Extend text selection to the beginning of the current word, then to the beginning of the following word if pressed again.
- Option–Shift–Right Arrow: Extend text selection to the end of the current word, then to the end of the following word if pressed again.
- Control-A: Move to the beginning of the line or paragraph.
- Control-E: Move to the end of a line or paragraph.
- Control-F: Move one character forward.
- Control-B: Move one character backward.
- Control-L: Center the cursor or selection in the visible area.
- Control-P: Move up one line.
- Control-N: Move down one line.
- Control-O: Insert a new line after the insertion point.
- Control-T: Swap the character behind the insertion point with the character in front of the insertion point.
- Command–Left Curly Bracket ({): Left align.
- Command–Right Curly Bracket (}): Right align.
- Shift–Command–Vertical bar (|): Center align.
- Option-Command-F: Go to the search field.
- Option-Command-T: Show or hide a toolbar in the app.
- Option-Command-C: Copy Style: Copy the formatting settings of the selected item to the Clipboard.
- Option-Command-V: Paste Style: Apply the copied style to the selected item.
- Option-Shift-Command-V: Paste and Match Style: Apply the style of the surrounding content to the item pasted within that content.
- Option-Command-I: Show or hide the inspector window.
- Shift-Command-P: Page setup: Display a window for selecting document settings.
- Shift-Command-S: Display the Save As dialog, or duplicate the current document.
- Shift–Command–Minus sign (-): Decrease the size of the selected item.
- Shift–Command–Plus sign (+): Increase the size of the selected item. Command–Equal sign (=) performs the same function.
- Shift–Command–Question mark (?): Open the Help menu.
Other shortcuts
For more shortcuts, check the shortcut abbreviations shown in the menus of your apps. Every app can have its own shortcuts, and shortcuts that work in one app might not work in another.
- Apple Music shortcuts: Choose Help > Keyboard shortcuts from the menu bar in the Music app.
- Other shortcuts: Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Keyboard, then click Shortcuts.
Learn more
- Create your own shortcuts and resolve conflicts between shortcuts
- Change the behavior of the function keys or modifier keys
This article covers working with windows and panels in a Xamarin.Mac application. It describes creating windows and panels in Xcode and Interface Builder, loading them from storyboards and .xib files, and working with them programmatically.
When working with C# and .NET in a Xamarin.Mac application, you have access to the same Windows and Panels that a developer working in Objective-C and Xcode does. Because Xamarin.Mac integrates directly with Xcode, you can use Xcode's Interface Builder to create and maintain your Windows and Panels (or optionally create them directly in C# code).
Based on its purpose, a Xamarin.Mac application can present one or more Windows on screen to manage and coordinate the information it displays and works with. The principal functions of a window are:
- To provide an area in which Views and Controls can be placed and managed.
- To accept and respond to events in response to user interaction with both the keyboard and mouse.
Windows can be used in a Modeless state (such as a text editor that can have multiple documents open at once) or Modal (such as an Export dialog that must be dismissed before the application can continue).
Panels are a special kind of Window (a subclass of the base
NSWindow
class), that typically serve an auxiliary function in an application, such as utility windows like Text format inspectors and system Color Picker.In this article, we'll cover the basics of working with Windows and Panels in a Xamarin.Mac application. It is highly suggested that you work through the Hello, Mac article first, specifically the Introduction to Xcode and Interface Builder and Outlets and Actions sections, as it covers key concepts and techniques that we'll be using in this article.
You may want to take a look at the Exposing C# classes / methods to Objective-C section of the Xamarin.Mac Internals document as well, it explains the
Register
and Export
commands used to wire-up your C# classes to Objective-C objects and UI Elements.Introduction to windows
As stated above, a Window provides an area in which Views and Controls can be placed and managed and responds to events based on user interaction (either via keyboard or mouse).
According to Apple, there are five main types of Windows in a macOS App:
- Document Window - A document window contains file-based user data such as a spreadsheet or a text document.
- App Window - An app window is the main window of an application that is not document-based (like the Calendar app on a Mac).
- Panel - A panel floats above other windows and provides tools or controls that users can work with while documents are open. In some cases, a panel can be translucent (such as when working with large graphics).
- Dialog - A dialog appears in response to a user action and typically provides ways users can complete the action. A dialog requires a response from the user before it can be closed. (See Working with Dialogs)
- Alerts - An alert is a special type of dialog that appears when a serious problem occurs (such as an error) or as a warning (such as preparing to delete a file). Because an alert is a dialog, it also requires a user response before it can be closed. (See Working with Alerts)
For more information, see the About Windows section of Apple's macOS design themes.
Main, key, and inactive windows
Windows in a Xamarin.Mac application can look and behave differently based on how the user is currently interacting with them. The foremost Document or App Window that is currently focus of the user’s attention is called the Main Window. In most instances this Window will also be the Key Window (the window that is currently accepting user input). But this isn't always the case, for example, a Color Picker could be open and be the Key window that the user is interacting with to change the state of an item in the Document Window (which would still be the Main Window).
The Main and Key Windows (if they are separate) are always active, Inactive Windows are open windows that are not in the foreground. For example, a text editor application could have more than one document open at a time, only the Main Window would be active, all others would be inactive.
For more information, see the About Windows section of Apple's macOS design themes.
Naming windows
A Window can display a Title Bar and when the Title is displayed, it's usually the name of the application, the name of the document being worked on or the function of the window (such as Inspector). Some applications don't display a Title Bar because they are recognizable by sight and don't work with documents.
Apple suggest the following guidelines:
- Use your application name for the title of a main, non-document window.
- Name a new document window
untitled
. For the first new document, don't append a number to the Title (such asuntitled 1
). If the user creates another new document before saving and titling the first, call that windowuntitled 2
,untitled 3
, etc.
For more information, see the Naming Windows section of Apple's macOS design themes.
Full-screen windows
In macOS, an application's window can go full screen hiding everything including the Application Menu Bar (which can be revealed by moving the cursor to the top of the screen) to provide distraction free interaction with it's content.
Apple suggests the following guidelines:
- Determine whether it makes sense for a window to go full screen. Applications that provide brief interactions (such as a Calculator) shouldn't provide a full screen mode.
- Show the toolbar if the full-screen task requires it. Typically the toolbar is hidden while in full screen mode.
- The full-screen window should have all the features users need to complete the task.
- If possible, avoid Finder interaction while the user is in a full-screen window.
- Take advantage of the increased screen space without shifting the focus away from the main task.
For more information, see the Full-Screen Windows section of Apple's macOS design themes.
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126450821/520207806.png)
Panels
A Panel is an auxiliary window that contains controls and options that affect the active document or selection (such as the system Color Picker):
Panels can be either App-Specific or Systemwide. App-Specific Panels float over the top of the application's document windows and disappear when the application is in the background. Systemwide Panels (such as the Fonts panel), float on top of all open windows no matter the application.
Apple suggests the following guidelines:
- In general, use a standard panel, transparent panels should only be used sparingly and for graphically intensive tasks.
- Consider using a panel to give users easy access to important controls or information that directly affects their task.
- Hide and show panels as required.
- Panels should always include title bar.
- Panels should not include an active minimize button.
Inspectors
Most modern macOS applications present auxiliary controls and options that affect the active document or selection as Inspectors that are part of the Main Window (like the Pages app shown below), instead of using Panel Windows:
For more information, see the Panels section of Apple's macOS design themes and our MacInspector sample app for a full implementation of an Inspector Interface in a Xamarin.Mac app.
Creating and maintaining windows in Xcode
When you create a new Xamarin.Mac Cocoa application, you get a standard blank, window by default. This windows is defined in a
.storyboard
file automatically included in the project. To edit your windows design, in the Solution Explorer, double click the Main.storyboard
file:This will open the window design in Xcode's Interface Builder:
In the Attribute Inspector, there are several properties that you can use to define and control your window:
- Title - This is the text that will be displayed in the window's titlebar.
- Autosave - This is the key that will be used to ID the window when it's position and settings are automatically saved.
- Title Bar - Does the window display a title bar.
- Unified Title and Toolbar - If the window includes a Toolbar, should it be part of the title bar.
- Full Sized Content View - Allows the content area of the window to be under the Title bar.
- Shadow - Does the window have a shadow.
- Textured - Textured windows can use effects (like vibrancy) and can be moved around by dragging anywhere on their body.
- Close - Does the window have a close button.
- Minimize - Does the window have a minimize button.
- Resize - Does the window have a resize control.
- Toolbar Button - Does the window have a hide/show toolbar button.
- Restorable - Is the window's position and settings automatically saved and restored.
- Visible At Launch - Is the window automatically shown when the
.xib
file is loaded. - Hide On Deactivate - Is the window hidden when the application enters the background.
- Release When Closed - Is the window purged from memory when it is closed.
- Always Display Tooltips - Are the tooltips constantly displayed.
- Recalculates View Loop - Is the view order recalculated before the window is drawn.
- Spaces, Exposé and Cycling - All define how the window behaves in those macOS environments.
- Full Screen - Determines if this window can enter the full screen mode.
- Animation - Controls the type of animation available for the window.
- Appearance - Controls the appearance of the window. For now there is only one appearance, Aqua.
See Apple's Introduction to Windows and NSWindow documentation for more details.
Setting the default size and location
To set the initial position of your window and to control it's size, switch to the Size Inspector:
From here you can set the initial size of the window, give it a minimum and maximum size, set the initial location on the screen and control the borders around the window.
Setting a custom main window controller
To be able to create Outlets and Actions to expose UI elements to C# code, the Xamarin.Mac app will need to be using a Custom Window Controller.
Do the following:
- Open the app's Storyboard in Xcode's Interface Builder.
- Select the
NSWindowController
in the Design Surface. - Switch to the Identity Inspector view and enter
WindowController
as the Class Name: - Save your changes and return to Visual Studio for Mac to sync.
- A
WindowController.cs
file will be added to your Project in the Solution Explorer in Visual Studio for Mac: - Reopen the Storyboard in Xcode's Interface Builder.
- The
WindowController.h
file will be available for use:
Adding UI elements
To define the content of a window, drag controls from the Library Inspector onto the Interface Editor. Please see our Introduction to Xcode and Interface Builder documentation for more information about using Interface Builder to create and enable controls.
As an example, let's drag a Toolbar from the Library Inspector onto the window in the Interface Editor:
Next, drag in a Text View and size it to fill the area under the toolbar:
Since we want the Text View to shrink and grow as the window's size changes, let's switch to the Constraint Editor and add the following constraints:
By clicking the four Red I-Beams at the top of the editor and clicking Add 4 Constraints, we are telling the text view to stick to the given X,Y coordinates and grow or shrink horizontally and vertically as the window is resized.
Finally, expose the Text View to code using an Outlet (making sure to select the
ViewController.h
file):Save your changes and switch back to Visual Studio for Mac to sync with Xcode.
For more information about working with Outlets and Actions, please see our Outlet and Action documentation.
Standard window workflow
For any window that you create and work with in your Xamarin.Mac application, the process is basically the same as what we have just done above:
- For new windows that are not the default added automatically to your project, add a new window definition to the project. This will be discussed in detail below.
- Double-click the
Main.storyboard
file to open the window design for editing in Xcode's Interface Builder. - Drag a new Window into the User Interface's design and hook the window into Main Window using Segues (for more information see the Segues section of our Working with Storyboards documentation).
- Set any required window properties in the Attribute Inspector and the Size Inspector.
- Drag in the controls required to build your interface and configure them in the Attribute Inspector.
- Use the Size Inspector to handle the resizing for your UI Elements.
- Expose the window's UI elements to C# code via Outlets and Actions.
- Save your changes and switch back to Visual Studio for Mac to sync with Xcode.
Now that we have a basic window created, we'll look at the typical processes a Xamarin.Mac application does when working with windows.
Displaying the default window
By default, a new Xamarin.Mac application will automatically display the window defined in the
MainWindow.xib
file when it is started:Since we modified the design of that window above, it now includes a default Toolbar and Text View control. The following section in the
Info.plist
file is responsible for displaying this window:The Main Interface dropdown is used to select the Storyboard that will be used as the main app UI (in this case
Main.storyboard
).A View Controller is automatically added to the project to control that Main Windows that is displayed (along with its primary View). It is defined in the
ViewController.cs
file and attached to the File's Owner in Interface Builder under the Identity Inspector:For our window, we'd like it to have a title of
untitled
when it first opens so let's override the ViewWillAppear
method in the ViewController.cs
to look like the following:Note
The window's
Title
property is set in the ViewWillAppear
method instead of the ViewDidLoad
method because, while the view might be loaded into memory, it is not yet fully instantiated. Accessing the Title
property in the ViewDidLoad
method we will get a null
exception since the window hasn't been constructed and wired-up to the property yet.Mac App Default Window Size Chart
Programmatically closing a window
There might be times that you wish to programmatically close a window in a Xamarin.Mac application, other than having the user click the window's Close button or using a menu item. macOS provides two different ways to close an
NSWindow
programmatically: PerformClose
and Close
.PerformClose
Calling the
PerformClose
method of an NSWindow
simulates the user clicking the window's Close button by momentarily highlighting the button and then closing the window.If the application implements the
NSWindow
's WillClose
event, it will be raised before the window is closed. If the event returns false
, then the window will not be closed. If the window does not have a Close button or cannot be closed for any reason, the OS will emit the alert sound.For example:
Would attempt to close the
MyWindow
NSWindow
instance. If it was successful, the window will be closed, else the alert sound will be emitted and the will stay open.Close
Calling the
Close
method of an NSWindow
does not simulates the user clicking the window's Close button by momentarily highlighting the button, it simply closes the window.A window does not have to be visible to be closed and an
NSWindowWillCloseNotification
notification will be posted to the default Notification Center for the window being closed.The
Close
method differs in two important ways from the PerformClose
method:- It does not attempt to raise the
WillClose
event. - It does not simulate the user clicking the Close button by momentarily highlighting the button.
For example:
Would to close the
MyWindow
NSWindow
instance.Modified windows content
In macOS, Apple has provided a way to inform the user that the contents of a Window (
NSWindow
) has been modified by the user and needs to be saved. If the Window contains modified content, a small black dot will be displayed in it's Close widget:If the user attempts to close the Window or quit the Mac App while there are unsaved changes to the Window's content, you should present a Dialog Box or Modal Sheet and allow the user to save their changes first:
Marking a window as modified
To mark a Window as having modified content, use the following code:
And once the change has been saved, clear the modified flag using:
Saving changes before closing a window
To watch for the user closing a Window and allowing them to save modified content beforehand, you will need to create a subclass of
NSWindowDelegate
and override its WindowShouldClose
method. For example:Use the following code to attach an instance of this delegate to the window:
Saving changes before closing the app
Finally, your Xamarin.Mac App should check to see if any of its Windows contain modified content and allow the user to save the changes before quitting. To do this, edit your
AppDelegate.cs
file, override the ApplicationShouldTerminate
method and make it look like the following:Working with multiple windows
Most document based Mac applications can edit multiple documents at the same time. For example, a text editor can have multiple text files open for edit at the same time. By default, a new Xamarin.Mac application has a File menu with a New item automatically wired-up to the
newDocument:
Action.The code below will activate this new item and allow the user to open multiple copies of the Main Window to edit multiple documents at once.
Edit the
AppDelegate.cs
file and add the following computed property:Use this to track the number of unsaved files so we can give feedback to the user (per Apple's guidelines as discussed above).
Next, add the following method:
This code creates a new version of our Window Controller, loads the new Window, makes it the Main and Key Window, and sets it title. Now if we run our application, and select New from the File menu a new editor window will be opened and displayed:
If we open the Windows menu, you can see the application is automatically tracking and handling our open windows:
For more information on working with Menus in a Xamarin.Mac application, please see our Working with Menus documentation.
Getting the currently active window
In a Xamarin.Mac application that can open multiple windows (documents), there are times when you will need to get the current, topmost window (the key window). The following code will return the key window:
It can be called in any class or method that needs to access the current, key window. If no window is currently open, it will return
null
.Accessing all app windows
There might be times where you need to access all of the windows that your Xamarin.Mac app currently has open. For example, to see if a file that the user wants to open is already open in an exiting window.
The
NSApplication.SharedApplication
maintains a Windows
property that contains an array of all open windows in your app. You can iterate over this array to access all of the app's current windows. For example:In the example code we are casting each returned window to the custom
ViewController
class in our app and the testing the value of a custom Path
property against the path of a file the user wants to open. If the file is already open, we are bringing that window to the front.Adjusting the window size in code
There are times when the application needs to resize a window in code. To resize and reposition a window, you adjust it's
Frame
property. When adjusting a window's size, you usually need to also adjust it's origin, to keep the window in the same location because of macOS's coordinate system.Unlike iOS where the upper left hand corner represents (0,0), macOS uses a mathematic coordinate system where the lower left hand corner of the screen represents (0,0). In iOS the coordinates increase as you move downward towards the right. In macOS, the coordinates increase in value upwards to the right.
The following example code resizes a window:
Important
When you adjust a windows size and location in code, you need to make sure you respect the minimum and maximum sizes that you have set in Interface Builder. This will not be automatically honored and you will be able to make the window bigger or smaller than these limits.
Monitoring window size changes
There might be times where you need to monitor changes in a Window's size inside of your Xamarin.Mac app. For example, to redraw content to fit the new size.
To monitor size changes, first ensure that you have assigned a custom class for the Window Controller in Xcode's Interface Builder. For example,
MasterWindowController
in the following:Next, edit the custom Window Controller class and monitor the
DidResize
event on the Controller's Window to be notified of live size changes. For example:Optionally, you can use the
DidEndLiveResize
event to only be notified after the user has finished changing the Window's size. For Example:Setting a window’s title and represented file
When working with windows that represent documents,
NSWindow
has a DocumentEdited
property that if set to true
displays a small dot in the Close Button to give the user an indication that the file has been modified and should be saved before closing.Let's edit our
ViewController.cs
file and make the following changes:We are also monitoring the
WillClose
event on the window and checking the state of the DocumentEdited
property. If it is true
we need to give the user the ability to save the changes to the file. If we run our app and enter some text, the dot will be displayed:If you try to close the window, you get an alert:
If you are loading a document from a file, set the title of the window to the file's name using the
window.SetTitleWithRepresentedFilename (Path.GetFileName(path));
method (given that path
is a string representing the file being opened). Additionally, you can set the URL of the file using the window.RepresentedUrl = url;
method.If the URL is pointing to a file type known by the OS, its icon will be displayed in the title bar. If the user right clicks on the icon, the path to the file will be shown.
Edit the
AppDelegate.cs
file and add the following method:Now if we run our app, select Open... from the File menu, select a text file from the Open Dialog box and open it:
The file will be displayed and the title will be set with the icon of the file:
Adding a new window to a project
How To Set Default App In Mac
Aside from the main document window, a Xamarin.Mac application might need to display other types of windows to the user, such as Preferences or Inspector Panels.
To add a new window, do the following:
- In the Solution Explorer, double-click the
Main.storyboard
file to open it for editing in Xcode's Interface Builder. - Drag a new Window Controller from the Library and drop it on the Design Surface:
- In the Identity Inspector, enter
PreferencesWindow
for the Storyboard ID: - Design your interface:
- Open the App Menu (
MacWindows
), select Preferences..., Control-Click and drag to the new window: - Select Show from the popup menu.
- Save your changes and return to Visual Studio for Mac to sync with Xcode.
If we run the code and select the Preferences... from the Application Menu, the window will be displayed:
Working with panels
As stated at the start of this article, a panel floats above other windows and provides tools or controls that users can work with while documents are open.
Just like any other type of window that you create and work with in your Xamarin.Mac application, the process is basically the same:
- Add a new window definition to the project.
- Double-click the
.xib
file to open the window design for editing in Xcode's Interface Builder. - Set any required window properties in the Attribute Inspector and the Size Inspector.
- Drag in the controls required to build your interface and configure them in the Attribute Inspector.
- Use the Size Inspector to handle the resizing for your UI Elements.
- Expose the window's UI elements to C# code via Outlets and Actions.
- Save your changes and switch back to Visual Studio for Mac to sync with Xcode.
In the Attribute Inspector, you have the following options specific to Panels:
- Style - Allow you to adjust the style of the panel from: Regular Panel (looks like a standard window), Utility Panel (has a smaller Title bar), HUD Panel (is translucent and the title bar is part of the background).
- Non Activating - Determines in the panel becomes the key window.
- Document Modal - If Document Modal, the panel will only float above the application's windows, else it floats above all.
To add a new Panel, do the following:
- In the Solution Explorer, right-click on the Project and select Add > New File....
- In the New File dialog box, select Xamarin.Mac > Cocoa Window with Controller:
- Enter
DocumentPanel
for the Name and click the New button. - Double-click the
DocumentPanel.xib
file to open it for editing in Interface Builder: - Delete the existing Window and drag a Panel from the Library Inspector in the Interface Editor:
- Hook the panel up to the File's Owner - window - Outlet:
- Switch to the Identity Inspector and set the Panel's class to
DocumentPanel
: - Save your changes and return to Visual Studio for Mac to sync with Xcode.
- Edit the
DocumentPanel.cs
file and change the class definition to the following:public partial class DocumentPanel : NSPanel
- Save the changes to the file.
Edit the
AppDelegate.cs
file and make the DidFinishLaunching
method look like the following:If we run our application, the panel will be displayed:
Important
Panel Windows have been deprecated by Apple and should be replaced with Inspector Interfaces. For a full example of creating an Inspector in a Xamarin.Mac app, please see our MacInspector sample app.
Summary
This article has taken a detailed look at working with Windows and Panels in a Xamarin.Mac application. We saw the different types and uses of Windows and Panels, how to create and maintain Windows and Panels in Xcode's Interface Builder and how to work with Windows and Panels in C# code.