TweetFollow Us on Twitter

Sprocket Drag Mgr
Volume Number:11
Issue Number:4
Column Tag:Getting Started

Sprocket and the Drag Manager

Adding an important technology to Sprocket

By Dave Mark, MacTech Magazine Regular Contributing Author

Note: Source code files accompanying article are located on MacTech CD-ROM or source code disks.

This month’s column uses Sprocket to take the Drag Manager out for a quick spin.

I know we were originally scheduled to talk about Sprocket’s menuing model, but we just couldn’t bring everything together in time. We’ll definitely get to it next month.

If you’ve never used the Drag Manager before, bring up the Scrapbook and scroll over to your favorite PICT. Now click on the PICT and drag it out of the Scrapbook window. If you have the Drag Manager installed on your Mac (more on that in a second), you’ll notice a grey rectangle (representing the PICT) following your mouse. Drag the rectangle over any open Finder window. Each time your mouse enters a window, a hilighting rectangle is drawn, telling you that this window is the focus of this drag. If you move the mouse outside the window, the focus rectangle disappears. This focus lets you know which window is to receive the object you are dragging around. If you release the mouse button inside one of your Finder windows (or on the desktop), a clipping file will be created. The clipping file contains the picture you just dragged from the Scrapbook. If you double-click on a clipping file, the Finder displays its contents in a window. If you drag the clipping file around, it acts just like its contents. That is, if you drag a PICT clipping file, it is exactly as if you were dragging the PICT contained in the file. Try it. Drag a Scrapbook PICT onto the desktop, then drag the resulting clipping file back into the Scrapbook.

About the Drag Manager

Under System 7.5 or later, the Drag Manager is built right in. Earlier systems required the installation of the Dragging Enabler extension or its replacement, the Macintosh Drag and Drop extension (version 1.1 is the latest). No matter what System you have, you’ll also need the Clipping Extension if you want the Finder to work with clipping files.

Apple has released a Drag Manager SDK, which contains everything you’ll need to work with the Drag Manager, including some great sample code and two critical DocViewer documents. The first of these, the Drag Manager Programmer’s Guide is basically an Inside Macintosh chapter on the Drag Manager. The second document, Drag and Drop H.I. Guidelines, tells you how the Drag Manager is supposed to look to the user.

If you’ve never worked with the Drag Manager before, there are two excellent articles that will help ease you into the Drag Manager way of thinking. The first of these, was written by Steve Kiene and appears in the June 1994 issue of MacTech Magazine (write to custservice@xplain.com to see if you can order the back issue). The article is called “Macintosh Drag and Drop” and it takes you through the basic Drag Manager concepts and terminology. The second article, “Drag and Drop From the Finder” by Dave Evans and Greg Robbins appeared in the December 1993 issue of develop (issue 16). This article has a slightly different slant than the MacTech article. If you can, read them both before you dive into the Programmer’s Guide. You might also want to check out the article “Implementing Elegant Drag & Drop for Styled Text Fields”, by David Simmons, in the November 1994 issue of MacTech. The article is based on SmallTalk, but is very readable even if you don’t speak the language.

This Month’s Program

This month’s program provides a basic demonstration of the Drag Manager. First, we’ll create a new class called TPictureWindow. A TPictureWindow is a simple, non-growable, non-zoomable, non-scrollable window with a PICT centered in it. The TPictureWindow supports dragging in both directions. That is, you can drag a picture into a TPictureWindow and you can drag a picture from a TPictureWindow as well.

Once our TPictureWindow class is added to our project, we’ll modify our code so that a TPictureWindow is the default document type instead of a TDocWindow. This means that when you select New from the File menu, you’ll create a TPictureWindow instead of a TDocWindow.

Important note: We’ve changed our default Sprocket project from SprocketSample to SprocketStarter. From now on, all of our Sprocket-based programs will start from the latest baseline of SprocketStarter and add the resources, classes, and changes that relate to that month’s topic.

SprocketDragger

This month’s program is based on the files in the folder “SprocketStarter,95.02.01”. In order to distinguish it from the original, I renamed the modified SprocketStarter folder to be “SprocketDragger,95.02.01”. That’s the only reference to SprocketDragger you’ll see. To keep things as clear and as simple as possible, the file names were not changed when I went from SprocketStarter to SprocketDragger. This way, when you want to compare the old and new versions of SetupApplication(), for example, you’ll be comparing two different versions of SprocketStarter.cp.

Both “SprocketStarter,95.02.01” and “SprocketDragger,95.02.01” are based on the Sprocket files found in “Sprocket,95.02.01”. Since Symantec still hasn’t released a product that uses the new Universal Headers, all of this code was built using CodeWarrior CW5.

Building and Running SprocketDragger

Depending on whether you have a PowerMac or not, launch either SprocketStarter.68K.µ or SprocketStarterPPC.µ. You’ll need CodeWarrior CW5 (at least) to build either project. Two likely places where you might run into trouble: the Language and AccessPaths preference panes. Select Preferences from the Edit menu. Scroll to and click on the Access Paths icon. Be sure that an access path leading to your latest Sprocket folder is listed in the User: area (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Be sure a path to your Sprocket folder is added to the User: area.

Next, scroll to and click on the Language icon. Check to be sure that the file listed in the Prefix File field goes with the “.pch++” in your project (Figure 2). For example, if the precompiled header source file SprocketStarterHeadersPPC.pch++ is included in your project, CodeWarrior will build a file called SprocketStarterHeadersPPC. By specifying that file in the Language pane, you are asking CodeWarrior to include that precompiled header in each file it compiles. Why precompile? Since the header is mostly #include files, which likely won’t change during your development cycle, compiling them in advance will definitely speed up your build time. Take a minute to double-click on the “.pch++” file included in your project.

Figure 2. Be sure that the Prefix Header field points to the right
precompiled header for your machine.

By the way, if you get 3 link warnings concerning a possible duplicate ‘ckid’ resource, just ignore them. You’re seeing a CodeWarrior bug that comes up when you include your resource file in the project file. The bug won’t affect program execution.

Once CodeWarrior finishes compiling, it will run SprocketDragger. A splash screen will appear (however briefly) and a picture window will appear (Figure 3). An empty floating window will also appear, but since we don’t use that window, just ignore it. Better yet, can you figure out how to get rid of the floating window entirely? Hint: It is an object of class TToolWindow and it is created in the file SprocketStarter.cp.

Figure 3. The TPictureWindow that appears when SprocketDragger starts up.

The picture window displays the default picture defined by the TPictureWindow class. Basically, this picture appears when a TPictureWindow has not had a PICT dragged to it yet. With SprocketDragger still running, go to the Finder and drag an icon from the Finder onto the TPictureWindow. The TPictureWindow does not react to a non-PICT drag.

Now bring up the Scrapbook and drag a picture from the Scrapbook onto the picture window. This time, a highlighting rectangle appears around the border of the window, indicating that the window is willing to accept this data. If you release the drag inside the picture window, the picture you just dragged will appear in the window.

If you have the Clipping extension installed, try dragging the picture in the picture window into a Finder window. My favorite is to drag from the picture window into the trash. No matter what Finder window you select, a clipping file will appear containing the dragged PICT. Try dragging an image from the Scrapbook to the desktop to create a clipping file, then drag the clipping file onto the picture window. Once again, the highlighting rectangle appears in the picture window as the focus of your drag enters the window. This indicates that the picture window is accepting the drag. And why not, since the clipping file looks just like a PICT to the picture window.

Try dragging a picture from the picture window into a window that can’t receive a drag. For example, try running Microsoft Word or any other non-drag-friendly application and drag from the picture window into the Word window. When you release the mouse, the dragging outline will zoom back to the original window, indicating that the drag was rejected.

Next, select New from the File menu to create a second picture window. When the window appears, drag it to the side so you can see both picture windows at the same time. Notice that the windows are numbered so you can tell them apart. Assuming you now have a different picture in each window, try dragging from one window to the other.

There are a lot of other ways you can test out your new dragging environment. For now, though, let’s get into the resources and source code that makes this all possible.

SprocketDragger Resources

SprocketDragger added two new resources to the file SprocketStarter.rsrc. A PICT with a resource ID of 1025 was added to give us a default picture to display in windows that hadn’t received a drag yet. A WIND with a resource ID of 1028 acted as a template for the TPictureWindow window.

Modify SprocketStarter.cp

The first source code change I made was in the file SprocketStarter.cp. I modified the routine CreateNewDocument() to create a TPictureWindow instead of a TDocWindow:

OSErr
CreateNewDocument(void)
 {
 TPictureWindow  *aNewWindow = new TPictureWindow();
 
 if (aNewWindow)
 return noErr;
 else
 return memFullErr;
 }

Remember, Sprocket calls CreateNewDocument() whenever an ‘oapp’ Apple event is received or when New is selected from the File menu. Since we haven’t gotten into Sprocket’s menu model yet, we didn’t implement a separate, TPictureWindow test menu.

Add the TPictureWindow Class

Once those changes were made, the only other thing left to do was to create the TPictureWindow class and add it to the project. As you’d expect, the TPictureWindow class was implemented in the files PictureWindow.cp and PictureWindow.h. As we go through the source code in these two files, you’ll see how we took advantage of the Drag Manager code already built into Sprocket.

PictureWindow.h

PictureWindow.h starts off in the usual way, by defining a constant to prevent an infinite include loop and by including the declarations associated with its base class, TWindow.

#ifndef _PICTUREWINDOW_
#define _PICTUREWINDOW_

#ifndef _WINDOW_
#include"Window.h"
#endif

The TWindow class implements all the basic features that make up a general window object. The TDocWindow class (the one with the spinning cursor which we worked with last month) is based on the TWindow class. The TPictureWindow class borrows heavily from the design of the TDocWindow class and is also based on the TWindow class.

class TPictureWindow : public TWindow
{
  public:
 TPictureWindow();
 virtual  ~TPictureWindow();

 virtual WindowPtr MakeNewWindow( WindowPtr behindWindow );

 virtual void    Draw(void);
 
 virtual void    ClickAndDrag( EventRecord *eventPtr );
 
 virtualOSErr    DragEnterWindow( DragReference dragRef );
 virtualOSErr    DragInWindow( DragReference dragRef );
 virtualOSErr    DragLeaveWindow( DragReference dragRef );
 virtualOSErr    HandleDrop( DragReference dragRef );
 
// Non-TWindow methods...
 virtual PicHandle LoadDefaultPicture();
 virtual void    CenterPict( PicHandle picture, 
 Rect *destRectPtr );
 virtual Boolean IsPictFlavorAvailable( 
 DragReference dragRef );
 virtual Boolean IsMouseInContentRgn( 
 DragReference dragRef );

The TPictureWindow class uses 4 data members. fgWindowTitleCount is a static member, which means that a single unsigned long is shared among all TPictureWindow objects. fgWindowTitleCount is incremented every time you create a new TPictureWindow and provides the number you see in the TPictureWindow title bar.

protected:
 static unsigned longfgWindowTitleCount;

fCanAcceptDrag gets set to true if the current drag contains data that is acceptable to the TPictureWindow (in other words, PICT data). fDraggedPicHandle starts off as nil but points to a PICT if one is dragged into the window. fIsWindowHighlighted is true if the window’s drag highlighting is currently turned on.

 BooleanfCanAcceptDrag;
 PicHandlefDraggedPicHandle;
 BooleanfIsWindowHighlighted;
};

#endif

PictureWindow.cp

PictureWindow.cp starts off with a pair of constants that define the resource IDs for the WIND template and the default PICT.

const short kPictureWindowTemplateID = 1028;
const short kDefaultPICTResID = 1025;

“PictureWindow.h” contains the TPictureWindow class declaration. <ToolUtils.h> contains the declaration of the routines NumToString() and GetPicture().

#include "PictureWindow.h"
#include <ToolUtils.h>

Before we get into the TPictureWindow methods, we’ll initialize the static that tracks the index used in the window titles. We can’t initialize the static inside a method, becuase the initialization would be redone every time a new TPictureWindow was created (or the initializing method got called).

unsigned long    TPictureWindow::fgWindowTitleCount = 0;

The TPictureWindow constructor first initializes fDraggedPicHandle (since we don’t have a dragged-in picture yet). It then bumps fgWindowTitleCount so our first window starts with the number 1 instead of 0. Finally, it calls the inherited CreateWindow() to create a new window. CreateWindow() belongs to the TWindow class and calls the MakeNewWindow() method, which we have overridden (ours is right below the destructor).

TPictureWindow::TPictureWindow()
{
 fDraggedPicHandle = nil;

 TPictureWindow::fgWindowTitleCount++;
 this->CreateWindow();
}

The destructor doesn’t do anything. If we intended SprocketDragger to be a “real” application, we’d free up the memory allocated to any received picture, assuming fDraggedPicHandle was not nil.

TPictureWindow::~TPictureWindow()
{
}

MakeNewWindow() creates a new window based on our picture window WIND template. Basically, this method was lifted from the TDocWindow class.

WindowPtr
TPictureWindow::MakeNewWindow( WindowPtr behindWindow )
{
 WindowPtraWindow;
 Str255 titleString;
 GrafPtrsavedPort;
 
 GetPort(&savedPort);
 
 aWindow = GetNewColorOrBlackAndWhiteWindow( 
 kPictureWindowTemplateID,
 nil, behindWindow );
 
 if (aWindow)
 {
 GetWTitle(aWindow,titleString);
 if (StrLength(titleString) != 0)
 {
 Str255 numberString;
 
 NumToString( fgWindowTitleCount, numberString );
 BlockMove(&numberString[1],&titleString[titleString[0]+1],
 numberString[0]);
 titleString[0] += numberString[0];
 }
 SetWTitle(aWindow,titleString);

 SetPort(aWindow);

 ShowWindow(aWindow);
 }
 SetPort(savedPort);

 return aWindow;
}

The Draw method gets called in response to an update event. Draw() checks to see if we have a dragged in PICT. If so, we draw it, otherwise we draw the default picture. CenterPict() is an old centering routine I stole from volume I of the Primer.

void
TPictureWindow::Draw(void)
{
 PicHandlepic;
 Rect   r;
 
 r = fWindow->portRect;
 EraseRect( &r );
 
 if ( fDraggedPicHandle == nil )
 pic = this->LoadDefaultPicture();
 else
 pic = fDraggedPicHandle;

 this->CenterPict( pic, &r );
 DrawPicture( pic, &r );
}

ClickAndDrag() gets called when a click occurs in the window’s content region and is immediately followed by a drag. This means that the user is trying to drag a picture from our window. The drag might go outside our application, to another part of our application, or even to another part of our window. We’ll start a new drag by calling NewDrag().

void
TPictureWindow::ClickAndDrag( EventRecord *eventPtr )
{
 OSErr  err;
 DragReference   dragRef;
 RgnHandledragRegion, tempRgn;
 Rect   itemBounds;
 Handle flavorDataHandle;
    
    err = NewDrag( &dragRef );
    if ( err != noErr )
 return;

 if ( fDraggedPicHandle == nil )
 flavorDataHandle = (Handle)this->LoadDefaultPicture();
 else
 flavorDataHandle = (Handle)fDraggedPicHandle;

 HLock( flavorDataHandle );

We’ll then tell the Drag Manager that this drag contains PICT data. Think of flavors as types, such as those found in the scrap. The second parameter is a serial number we want to assign to this item. We’ll use the WindowPtr as a serial number, though we could have used the number 1L or even 599923L. When you get into drags containing multiple items, this becomes more of an issue.

 err = AddDragItemFlavor( dragRef,
                    (ItemReference)fWindow,
                    (FlavorType) 'PICT',
                    (Ptr)*flavorDataHandle,
                    GetHandleSize((Handle)flavorDataHandle ),
                    (FlavorFlags)0 );

We locked the PicHandle so we could use its master pointer. Once we return from AddDragItemFlavor(), we unlock the handle.

 HUnlock( flavorDataHandle );

If we encounter a problem, we’ll dispose of the drag and return.

    if ( err != noErr )
 {
 DisposeDrag( dragRef );
 return;
 }

Next, we’ll calculate the rectangle we want dragged out of the window. This rectangle has nothing to do with the data we are sending, but just defines the xor rectangle that represents the drag. Try modifying the drag so the dragged rectangle represents the PICT’s frame instead. Next, change the drag so it drags the true outline of the picture around instead of just its framing rectangle. Hint: check out the routine BitMapToRegion().

 itemBounds = (**((WindowPeek)fWindow)->contRgn).rgnBBox;
 
 err = SetDragItemBounds( dragRef, (ItemReference)fWindow, 
 &itemBounds );
 if ( err != noErr )
 {
 DisposeDrag( dragRef );
 return;
 }

This code takes a solid region and turns it into just the frame of the region. We then pass the rectangular region on to TrackDrag() which drags the rectangle around.

 dragRegion = NewRgn();
 RectRgn( dragRegion, &itemBounds );
 tempRgn = NewRgn();
 CopyRgn( dragRegion, tempRgn );
 InsetRgn( tempRgn, 1, 1 );
 DiffRgn( dragRegion, tempRgn, dragRegion );
 DisposeRgn( tempRgn );
 
 err = TrackDrag( dragRef, eventPtr, dragRegion );
 DisposeRgn( dragRegion );
 DisposeDrag( dragRef );
 return;
}

DragEnterWindow() gets called when the window receives a dragEnterWindow message, indicating that a drag is entering our window. The sender of the drag might be our window, our application, or a different application (like the Finder). We’ll first check to see if the incoming drag has PICT data and set fCanAcceptDrag accordingly. We’ll also set fIsWindowHighlighted to false, since we haven’t done any highlighting yet.

OSErr
TPictureWindow::DragEnterWindow( DragReference dragRef )
{
 fCanAcceptDrag = IsPictFlavorAvailable( dragRef );
 fIsWindowHighlighted = false;
 
 if ( fCanAcceptDrag )
 return noErr;
 else
 return dragNotAcceptedErr;
}

DragInWindow() gets called when the window receives a dragInWindow message. We’ll receive one dragEnterWindow, many dragInWindows, then one dragLeaveWindow messages each time a drag enters our window.

OSErr
TPictureWindow::DragInWindow( DragReference dragRef )
{
 DragAttributes  attributes;
 RgnHandletempRgn;

GetDragAttributes() gives us access to the dragHasLeftSenderWindow and dragInsideSenderWindow flags, which tell us if the drag ever left its originating window and if the drag is currently inside the sending window. Since we don’t want a window to receive a drag from itself (from another window in the same application is fine, though) we’ll return if the sender is us.

 GetDragAttributes( dragRef, &attributes );
 
 if ( (! fCanAcceptDrag) || (! (attributes & 
 dragHasLeftSenderWindow)) 
 || (attributes & dragInsideSenderWindow) )
 return dragNotAcceptedErr;

If the mouse is in our content region (as opposed to in our title bar - important difference!) we’ll highlight the window if it isn’t already highlighted.

 if ( this->IsMouseInContentRgn( dragRef ) )
 {
 if ( ! fIsWindowHighlighted )
 {
 tempRgn = NewRgn();
 RectRgn( tempRgn, &fWindow->portRect );
 
 if ( ShowDragHilite( dragRef, tempRgn, true ) == noErr)
 fIsWindowHighlighted = true;
 
 DisposeRgn(tempRgn);
 }
 }
 
 return noErr;
}

Finally, once the drag focus leaves our window, we’ll hide the highlighting and reset fIsWindowHighlighted and fCanAcceptDrag (just to be safe).

OSErr
TPictureWindow::DragLeaveWindow( DragReference dragRef )
{
 if ( fIsWindowHighlighted )
 HideDragHilite( dragRef );
 
 fIsWindowHighlighted = false;
 fCanAcceptDrag = false;
 
 return noErr;
}

HandleDrop() gets called when our window has accepted a drag and we are now supposed to save the data.

OSErr
TPictureWindow::HandleDrop( DragReference dragRef )
{
 OSErr  err;
 Size   dataSize;
 ItemReference   item;
 FlavorFlagsflags;
 DragAttributes  attributes;

 GetDragAttributes( dragRef, &attributes );
 
 if ( attributes & dragInsideSenderWindow )
 return dragNotAcceptedErr;

We’ll first make sure the first drag item has PICT data. If it does, we’ll get the data size, then create a new handle to store the new PICT. Notice that we first try to allocate memory using TempNewHandle() which gets its data from outside the application heap. If that fails, we’ll go the more normal route of calling NewHandle(). This isn’t necessarily the right way to do this, since we are stealing memory from other applications, but I thought you might want to play with this call.

 err = GetDragItemReferenceNumber( dragRef, 1, &item );
 if ( err == noErr )
 err = GetFlavorFlags( dragRef, item, 'PICT', &flags );

 if ( err == noErr )
 {
 err = GetFlavorDataSize( dragRef, item, 'PICT', &dataSize);
 if  (err == noErr )
 {
 fDraggedPicHandle = (PicHandle)TempNewHandle( dataSize, 
 &err );
 
 if ( fDraggedPicHandle == nil )
 fDraggedPicHandle = (PicHandle)NewHandle( dataSize );

If the memory was successfully allocated, we’ll load the data from the drag using GetFlavorData() then force a redraw assuming we got the data OK.

 if ( fDraggedPicHandle == nil )
 err = dragNotAcceptedErr;
 else
 {
 HLock( (Handle)fDraggedPicHandle );
 err = GetFlavorData( dragRef, item, 'PICT',
 *fDraggedPicHandle, &dataSize, 0L );
 HUnlock( (Handle)fDraggedPicHandle );

 if ( err != noErr)
 {
 err = dragNotAcceptedErr;
 DisposeHandle( (Handle)fDraggedPicHandle );
 fDraggedPicHandle = nil;
 }
 else
 {
 SetPort( fWindow );
 InvalRect( &(fWindow->portRect) );
 }
 }
 }
 }
 
 return( err );
}

LoadDefaultPicture() loads the PICT resource and drops into the debugger if the PICT resource is missing.

PicHandle
TPictureWindow::LoadDefaultPicture()
{
 PicHandlepic;
 
 pic = GetPicture( kDefaultPICTResID );
 
 if ( pic == nil )
 {
 DebugStr( (StringPtr) "\pCould not load PICT resource!" );
 return (PicHandle)nil;
 }
 else
 return( pic );
}

CenterPict() takes a PicHandle and a Rect as parameters. On input, the Rect contains the window’s portRect, that is, the rectangle the picture should be centered in. On output, the Rect contains a rectangle the size of the picture, but centered in the window and in the window’s local coordinate system..

void
TPictureWindow::CenterPict( PicHandle picture, Rect *destRectPtr )
{
 Rect windRect, pictRect;
 
 windRect = *destRectPtr;
 pictRect = (**( picture )).picFrame;
 OffsetRect( &pictRect, windRect.left - pictRect.left,
    windRect.top  - pictRect.top);
 OffsetRect( &pictRect,(windRect.right - pictRect.right)/2,
   (windRect.bottom - pictRect.bottom)/2);
 *destRectPtr = pictRect;
}

IsPictFlavorAvailable() returns true if the first item in the specified drag contains a PICT flavor.

Boolean
TPictureWindow::IsPictFlavorAvailable( DragReference dragRef )
{
 unsigned short  numItems;
 FlavorFlagsflags;
 OSErr  err;
 ItemReference   item;

We’ll call CountDragItems() to find out how many items are in the drag.

 CountDragItems( dragRef, &numItems );
 
 if ( numItems < 1 )
 return( false );

We call GetDragItemReferenceNumber() to retrieve the item reference number of the first item. We’ll pass that item reference number to GetFlavorFlags() to see if the item has a PICT flavor.

 err = GetDragItemReferenceNumber( dragRef, 1, &item );
 if ( err == noErr )
 err = GetFlavorFlags( dragRef, item, 'PICT', &flags );
 
 return( err == noErr );
}

IsMouseInContentRgn() returns true if the mouse is in the content region of the window. This is important because we don’t want to react to a drag into the title bar of our window. We only react to drags actually inside the window’s content region.

Boolean
TPictureWindow::IsMouseInContentRgn( DragReference dragRef )
{
 Point  globalMouse;
 OSErr  err;
 
 err = GetDragMouse( dragRef, &globalMouse, 0L );
 
 if ( err == noErr )
 return( PtInRgn( globalMouse, ((WindowPeek)fWindow)->contRgn
             ) );
 else
 return( false );
}

Till Next Month

I really wish I could have had about twice as much space in this month’s column. There is a lot more to the Drag Manager than what I was able to get into here, but this should get you started. The Drag Manager is extremely important. You should definitely support it in all of your applications. A universally available drag and drop capability will help distinguish future Macintosh applications and environments from Windows 95. Though Apple has recently introduced a number of important new technologies (OSA being a prime example), there are none that affect the user’s experience as directly as the Drag Manager. In the near future, applications that support the Drag Manager will feel “normal” and those that don’t will feel old-fashioned and clunky. The user will expect Drag and Drop support and will likely be pretty unforgiving if it is absent.

OK, stepping off my soapbox now. Next month, we’ll take a look at Sprocket’s menu handling model. As I said at the end of last month’s column, Sprocket handles menus in much the same way as OpenDoc, so if you learn how to handle menus in Sprocket, you’ll have a leg up when you start writing your first OpenDoc part.

 

Community Search:
MacTech Search:

Software Updates via MacUpdate

ESET Cyber Security 6.11.414.0 - Basic i...
ESET Cyber Security provides powerful protection against phishing, viruses, worms, and spyware. Offering similar functionality to ESET NOD32 Antivirus for Windows, ESET Cyber Security for Mac allows... Read more
Opera 105.0.4970.29 - High-performance W...
Opera is a fast and secure browser trusted by millions of users. With the intuitive interface, Speed Dial and visual bookmarks for organizing favorite sites, news feature with fresh, relevant content... Read more
Slack 4.35.131 - Collaborative communica...
Slack brings team communication and collaboration into one place so you can get more work done, whether you belong to a large enterprise or a small business. Check off your to-do list and move your... Read more
Viber 21.5.0 - Send messages and make fr...
Viber lets you send free messages and make free calls to other Viber users, on any device and network, in any country! Viber syncs your contacts, messages and call history with your mobile device, so... Read more
Hazel 5.3 - Create rules for organizing...
Hazel is your personal housekeeper, organizing and cleaning folders based on rules you define. Hazel can also manage your trash and uninstall your applications. Organize your files using a familiar... Read more
Duet 3.15.0.0 - Use your iPad as an exte...
Duet is the first app that allows you to use your iDevice as an extra display for your Mac using the Lightning or 30-pin cable. Note: This app requires a iOS companion app. Release notes were... Read more
DiskCatalogMaker 9.0.3 - Catalog your di...
DiskCatalogMaker is a simple disk management tool which catalogs disks. Simple, light-weight, and fast Finder-like intuitive look and feel Super-fast search algorithm Can compress catalog data for... Read more
Maintenance 3.1.2 - System maintenance u...
Maintenance is a system maintenance and cleaning utility. It allows you to run miscellaneous tasks of system maintenance: Check the the structure of the disk Repair permissions Run periodic scripts... Read more
Final Cut Pro 10.7 - Professional video...
Redesigned from the ground up, Final Cut Pro combines revolutionary video editing with a powerful media organization and incredible performance to let you create at the speed of thought.... Read more
Pro Video Formats 2.3 - Updates for prof...
The Pro Video Formats package provides support for the following codecs that are used in professional video workflows: Apple ProRes RAW and ProRes RAW HQ Apple Intermediate Codec Avid DNxHD® / Avid... Read more

Latest Forum Discussions

See All

New ‘Dysmantle’ iOS Update Adds Co-Op Mo...
We recently had a major update hit mobile for the open world survival and crafting adventure game Dysmantle ($4.99) from 10tons Ltd. Dysmantle was one of our favorite games of 2022, and with all of its paid DLC and updates, it is even better. | Read more »
PUBG Mobile pulls a marketing blinder wi...
Over the years, there have been a lot of different marketing gimmicks tried by companies and ambassadors, some of them land like Snoop Dog and his recent smoking misdirection, and some are just rather frustrating, let’s no lie. Tencent, however,... | Read more »
‘Goat Simulator 3’ Mobile Now Available...
Coffee Stain Publishing and Coffee Stain Malmo, the new mobile publishing studio have just released Goat Simulator 3 on iOS and Android as a premium release. Goat Simulator 3 debuted on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC platforms. This is the second... | Read more »
‘Mini Motorways’ Huge Aurora Borealis Up...
Mini Motorways on Apple Arcade, Nintendo Switch, and Steam has gotten a huge update today with the Aurora Borealis patch bringing in Reykjavik, new achievements, challenges, iCloud improvements on Apple Arcade, and more. Mini Motorways remains one... | Read more »
Fan-Favorite Action RPG ‘Death’s Door’ i...
Last month Netflix revealed during their big Geeked Week event a number of new titles that would be heading to their Netflix Games service. Among them was Acid Nerve and Devolver Digital’s critically acclaimed action RPG Death’s Door, and without... | Read more »
SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring...
Hello gentle reader, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for December 4th, 2023. I’ve been catching up on my work as much as possible lately, and that translates to a whopping six reviews for you to read today. The list includes Astlibra... | Read more »
‘Hi-Fi Rush’ Anniversary Interview: Dire...
Back in January, Tango Gameworks and Bethesda released one of my favorite games of all time with Hi-Fi Rush. As someone who adores character action and rhythm games, blending both together seemed like a perfect fit for my taste, but Hi-Fi Rush did... | Read more »
Best iPhone Game Updates: ‘Pizza Hero’,...
Hello everyone, and welcome to the week! It’s time once again for our look back at the noteworthy updates of the last seven days. Things are starting to chill out for the year, but we still have plenty of holiday updates ahead of us I’m sure. Some... | Read more »
New ‘Sonic Dream Team’ Performance Analy...
Sonic Dream Team (), the brand new Apple Arcade exclusive 3D Sonic action-platformer releases tomorrow. Read my in-depth interview with SEGA HARDLight here covering the game, future plans, potential 120fps, playable characters, the narrative, and... | Read more »
New ‘Zenless Zone Zero’ Trailer Showcase...
I missed this late last week, but HoYoverse released another playable character trailer for the upcoming urban fantasy action RPG Zenless Zone Zero. We’ve had a few trailers so far for playable characters, but the newest one focuses on Nicole... | Read more »

Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

Apple is clearing out last year’s M1-powered...
Apple has Certified Refurbished 11″ M1 iPad Pros available starting at $639 and ranging up to $310 off Apple’s original MSRP. Each iPad Pro comes with Apple’s standard one-year warranty, features a... Read more
Save $50 on these HomePods available today at...
Apple has Certified Refurbished White and Midnight HomePods available for $249, Certified Refurbished. That’s $50 off MSRP and the lowest price currently available for a full-size Apple HomePod this... Read more
New 16-inch M3 Pro MacBook Pros are on sale f...
Holiday MacBook deals are live at B&H Photo. Apple 16″ MacBook Pros with M3 Pro CPUs are in stock and on sale for $200-$250 off MSRP. Their prices are among the lowest currently available for... Read more
Christmas Deal Alert! Apple AirPods Pro with...
Walmart has Apple’s 2023 AirPods Pro with USB-C in stock and on sale for $189.99 on their online store as part of their Holiday sale. Their price is $60 off MSRP, and it’s currently the lowest price... Read more
Apple has Certified Refurbished iPhone 12 Pro...
Apple has unlocked Certified Refurbished iPhone 12 Pro models in stock starting at $589 and ranging up to $350 off original MSRP. Apple includes a standard one-year warranty and new outer shell with... Read more
Holiday Sale: Take $50 off every 10th-generat...
Amazon has Apple’s 10th-generation iPads on sale for $50 off MSRP, starting at $399, as part of their Holiday Sale. Their discount applies to all models and all colors. With the discount, Amazon’s... Read more
The latest Mac mini Holiday sales, get one to...
Apple retailers are offering Apple’s M2 Mac minis for $100 off MSRP as part of their Holiday sales. Prices start at only $499. Here are the lowest prices available: (1): Amazon has Apple’s M2-powered... Read more
Save $300 on a 24-inch iMac with these Certif...
With the recent introduction of new M3-powered 24″ iMacs, Apple dropped prices on clearance M1 iMacs in their Certified Refurbished store. Models are available starting at $1049 and range up to $300... Read more
Apple M1-powered iPad Airs are back on Holida...
Amazon has 10.9″ M1 WiFi iPad Airs back on Holiday sale for $100 off Apple’s MSRP, with prices starting at $499. Each includes free shipping. Their prices are the lowest available among the Apple... Read more
Sunday Sale: Apple 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro on...
B&H Photo has new 14″ M3 MacBook Pros, in Space Gray, on Holiday sale for $150 off MSRP, only $1449. B&H offers free 1-2 day delivery to most US addresses: – 14″ 8-Core M3 MacBook Pro (8GB... Read more

Jobs Board

Mobile Platform Engineer ( *Apple* /AirWatch)...
…systems, installing and maintaining certificates, navigating multiple network segments and Apple /IOS devices, Mobile Device Management systems such as AirWatch, and Read more
Omnichannel Associate - *Apple* Blossom Mal...
Omnichannel Associate - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Apple Read more
Senior Product Manager - *Apple* - DISH Net...
…Responsibilities** We are seeking an ambitious, data-driven thinker to assist the Apple Product Development team as our Wireless Product division continues to grow Read more
Senior Product Manager - *Apple* - DISH Net...
…Responsibilities** We are seeking an ambitious, data-driven thinker to assist the Apple Product Development team as our Wireless Product division continues to grow Read more
Senior Software Engineer - *Apple* Fundamen...
…center of Microsoft's efforts to empower our users to do more. The Apple Fundamentals team focused on defining and improving the end-to-end developer experience in Read more
All contents are Copyright 1984-2011 by Xplain Corporation. All rights reserved. Theme designed by Icreon.