Getting Mac OS X Version Information At Runtime

This article has been updated, and republished here.

Running in the Background

If you want your bundled application to run in the background — not show up in the dock — here’s what you do. Add

<key> LSUIElement</key>
<string>1</string>
(exclusive) or
<key>LSBackgroundOnly</key>
<string>1</string>

To your info.plist file. Use only one or the other.
LSUIElement will let you put up windows and dialogs. They’ll appear in the context of [...]

Leopard Unready

EDITED TO ADD: IMLocation now runs on Leopard.

I thought maybe it might receive more attention if you, the Mac OS X software-buying public, were aware of the situation. The third-party software that you’re paying for, depending on, and hoping to run on Leopard, we cannot test on the final release build until we can run [...]

When Computers Kill: Radiation Overdose

I was watching BBC News on EyeTV this morning, and caught the tail end of a horrific story about hundreds of French patients who received crippling, and sometimes fatal, overdoses of radiation.
Earlier this year, a major scandal erupted in France when it was discovered that between 1989 and 2006, two radiotherapy units had accidentally given [...]

MacOSX Redesign: Feedback for “Hold Keys”

To prevent particularly bad slips (errors while performing the physical actions required to achieve a goal), Apple makes certain keys hold keys. That means you have to hold them down for a while before they do their thing, unlike any other button that you just tap to use. This prevents accidentally engaging the [...]

Assert Outlet Connections

This simple NSCAssert has saved me a lot of bother. In any class that has an IBOutlet connected to something, Put
NSCAssert(outlet1 && outlet2 && … && outletn, @”An outlet got disconnected!”);
in the awakeFromNib method. Then if you ever accidentally disconnect an outlet, you’ll find out about it quickly.
I think this is a worthwhile [...]

Version 0.27

Version 0.27 (beta) is out! Download the latest version here.
This is a minor update that fixes default actions for applications, and includes a few minor UI changes.
As always, updating is very strongly encouraged during the beta period. I try hard to make the latest build work, but I do not support old beta [...]

Better AppleScript Through Expressions

When writing a short AppleScript to complete a specific task, do not write a procedure that checks if A exists, then operates on it if it does. Instead, write an expression that operates on A, and ignore any exceptions caused by A not existing. Surrounding the statement in a try-block will ignore any [...]

Freakish Bug

A single fruit-fly had been pestering me today. I made a few half-hearted attempts to swat it, but no joy. Then as I was pouring out of a 2L bottle of club-soda, it flew up into the bottle. I don’t know how it made it in through that little opening, while avoiding [...]

Unnecessary Quotation Marks

I used to do “this” when writing. Don’t make the same mistake. Good copy is vitally important, because text is still best way to explain an abstract concept to someone.
I believe language and grammar should be descriptive. I wish grammar and language were more usable. I think its/it’s, to/too, etc. are [...]