I have added an "App Intents Extension" target to my main application in macOS. This generated the below two files: TWAppIntent.swift import AppIntents struct TWAppIntent: AppIntent { static var title: LocalizedStringResource = "TWAppIntent" static var parameterSummary: some ParameterSummary { Summary("Get information on \(\.$TWType)") } // we can have multiple parameter of diff types @Parameter(title: "TWType") var TWType: String func perform() async throws -> some IntentResult { return .result(dialog: "Executed TWAppIntent.") } } TWAppIntentExtension.swift import AppIntents @main struct TWAppIntentExtension: AppIntentsExtension { } I m able to build the extension target and I my intent action is available in the shortcuts app. However, on launching a shortcut with the above created intent action. I m getting the below popups: From what I understand, I m getting this error because I have not added my 'TWAppIntent' to the TWAppIntentExtension.swift file which is the entry point for the extension, but I could not find any documentation around how to add it. Can someone help on how to do it or Is there something else that I m doing wrong?

Can someone update about the current state of the Automator app in macOS. Automator seems like a valuable tool for automating tasks on macOS but in the recent years I have noticed a growing emphasis on the Shortcuts app for automation. It would be great if you could clarify the following: • Current Status of Automator: Is there any official statement regarding the continued support of the Automator app in future macOS versions? • Future of Automator: Does Apple plan to introduce new features or updates for Automator in upcoming releases? • Indifference to Shortcuts App: From what I understand both the ‘Automator’ and the ‘Shortcuts’ app are used for creating workflows/shortcuts to automate tasks. What is it that Automator app has to offer which cannot be done using the Shortcuts app? assuming the continued support for the Automator app. Can all the automator workflows not be automated using the shortcuts app? I understand that Apple is constantly innovating and introducing new tools. However, clarity regarding the future of Automator would be helpful for users like myself. In addition, as a developer I wanted to offer some actions for my application in the Automator app, so that the user can make use of it to create some workflows. But from what I found in the apple documentation here, these action are created using the ‘Automator action’ Project type template in the xcode. However, in the current version of xcode 15, this project type seems to be missing. Does it indicate that apple no longer provides support for applications to create new automator action? If not, how can I provide automator actions for my xcode application?

I wanted to identify the shutdown event in macOS, so that If my application is running and the user performs a system shutdown then my application could be notified of the shutdown event and perform finalization. I came across NSWorkspaceWillPowerOffNotification which is exactly what I require, however, I created a sample application to observe for this notification. Is is observed that right before the system shuts down, the OS terminates my application invoking applicationWillTerminate(_:) delegate and the observer method for 'NSWorkspaceWillPowerOffNotification' is not invoked. I could perform my finalization in the applicationWillTerminate, but I wanted to know why is the observer not getting invoked. Also why is NSWorkspaceWillPowerOffNotification, even provided by apple when it invoked the termination delegate before shutdown? below is how I m adding the observer: NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(forName: NSWorkspace.willPowerOffNotification, object: nil, queue: nil, using: AppDelegate.handlePowerOffNotification) Below is my observer function, which just logs: public static func handlePowerOffNotification(_ notification: Notification) { NSLog (AppDelegate.TAG + "System will power off soon! Perform any necessary cleanup tasks.") // custom logger to log to a file TWLog.Log ("System will power off soon! Perform any necessary cleanup tasks.") }

Is there some notification that apple provides that I can register to, and get notified whenever there is a 'battery low' state? I want to perform certain task in my application for low battery. Is there some way to identify this?

I have a bundled macOS application. This is a non-interactive application where I m performing some task on the worker thread while the main thread waits for this task to be completed. Sometimes this task can be time consuming. I have observed that when I run the application using the bundle( like double click or open command) I can see the OS marking my application as not responding( this is evident as the app icon toggles in the dock and then it states not responding). Although If I run the unix executable in the bundle, the app runs and I do not see the not responding status anywhere. I wanted to understand If this is happening because my main thread is in a waiting state? If yes, what could I do to resolve it because my application logic demands the main thread to wait for the worker thread to complete its task. Is there some way to use some event loop like GCD? Note: I cannot use the delegates(Appkit) event loop because my application will be run in non-GUI context.

I have a UIKit application and I have some swiftUI views(like button widget etc) that I m using in this application which are added as a subview using UIHostingController. I wanted to understand what is the right way as per the apple recommendation on how to perform some updates on these views, since the UIKit and SwiftUI have a different way of operating. In a pure swiftUI application we use the @State variables which when modified the view are re-rendered. However, in an UIKit application we can directly modify the widget property like color or font from the object. So, my question is should I get the hostingController object from the swiftUI view and then perform any update on that UIKit view. Is this the right way? If not, what is the correct way? can someone provide a detailed explanation?

I was looking out for the error handling for rendering the Widgets(like UIButton, UIVIew etc) on the screen in iOS. I am painting the screen programmatically using swift. Considering a simple Widget(like for say UIButton) when we try to create using its initializer and set some properties like 'setTitle' . These functions neither return any value upon success/failure nor in documentation they have mentioned about any exceptions which would be raised upon failure. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uibutton/settitle(_:for:) So, how to do error handling here in this scenarios, in case the apis fail to due some reason, like memory issue? There must be some scenarios for these api failure.

in iOS, user can set focus on UItextField and tapping a key in the virtual keyboard updates the text in the textfield. This user action causes the relevant delegates of UITextFieldDelegate to get invoked, i.e the handlers associated with action of user entering some text in the textfield. I m trying to simulate this user action where I am trying to do this programatically. I want to simulate it in a way such that all the handlers/listeners which otherwise would have been invoked as a result of user typing in the textfield should also get invoked now when i am trying to do it programatically. I have a specific usecase of this in my application. Below is how I m performing this simulation. I m manually updating the text field associated(UITextField.text) and updating its value. And then I m invoking the delegate manually as textField.delegate?.textField?(textField, shouldChangeCharactersIn: nsRange, replacementString: replacementString) I wanted to know If this is the right way to do this. Is there something better available that can be used, such that simulation has the same affect as the user performing the update?

I'm working on an iOS app that requires an @mention system in a UITextView, similar to those in apps like Twitter or Slack. Specifically, I need to: Detect @ Symbol and Show Dropdown: When the user types "@", display a dropdown (UITableView or similar) below the cursor with a list of mentionable users, filtered as the user types. Handle Selection: Insert the selected username as a styled mention (e.g., blue text). Smart Backspace Behavior: Ensure backspace deletes an entire mention as a single unit when the cursor is at its end, and cancels the mention process if "@" is deleted. I've implemented a solution using UITextViewDelegate textViewDidChange(_:) to detect "@", a UITableView for the dropdown, and NSAttributedString for styling mentions. For smart backspace, I track mention ranges and handle deletions accordingly. However, I’d like to know: What is Apple’s recommended approach for implementing this behavior? Are there any UIKit APIs that simplify this, for proving this experience like smart backspace or custom text interactions? I’m using Swift/UIKit. Any insights, sample code, or WWDC sessions you’d recommend would be greatly appreciated! Edit: I am adding the ViewController file to demonstrate the approach that I m using. import UIKit // MARK: - Dummy user model struct MentionUser { let id: String let username: String } class ViewController: UIViewController, UITextViewDelegate, UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource { // MARK: - UI Elements private let textView = UITextView() private let mentionTableView = UITableView() // MARK: - Data private var allUsers: [MentionUser] = [...] private var filteredUsers: [MentionUser] = [] private var currentMentionRange: NSRange? // MARK: - View Lifecycle override func viewDidLoad() { super.viewDidLoad() view.backgroundColor = .white setupTextView() // to setup the UI setupDropdown() // to setup the UI } // MARK: - UITextViewDelegate func textViewDidChange(_ textView: UITextView) { let cursorPosition = textView.selectedRange.location let text = (textView.text as NSString).substring(to: cursorPosition) if let atRange = text.range(of: "@[a-zA-Z0-9_]*$", options: .regularExpression) { let nsRange = NSRange(atRange, in: text) let query = (text as NSString).substring(with: nsRange).dropFirst() currentMentionRange = nsRange filteredUsers = allUsers.filter { $0.username.lowercased().hasPrefix(query.lowercased()) } mentionTableView.reloadData() showMentionDropdown() } else { hideMentionDropdown() currentMentionRange = nil } } func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldChangeTextIn range: NSRange, replacementText text: String) -> Bool { if text.isEmpty, let attributedText = textView.attributedText { if range.location == 0 { return true } let attr = attributedText.attributes(at: range.location - 1, effectiveRange: nil) if let _ = attr[.mentionUserId] { let fullRange = (attributedText.string as NSString).rangeOfMentionAt(location: range.location - 1) let mutable = NSMutableAttributedString(attributedString: attributedText) mutable.deleteCharacters(in: fullRange) textView.attributedText = mutable textView.selectedRange = NSRange(location: fullRange.location, length: 0) textView.typingAttributes = [ .font: textView.font ?? UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 16), .foregroundColor: UIColor.label ] return false } } return true } // MARK: - Dropdown Visibility private func showMentionDropdown() { guard let selectedTextRange = textView.selectedTextRange else { return } mentionTableView.isHidden = false } private func hideMentionDropdown() { mentionTableView.isHidden = true } // MARK: - UITableViewDataSource func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int { return filteredUsers.count } func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell { let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "cell", for: indexPath) cell.textLabel?.text = "@\(filteredUsers[indexPath.row].username)" return cell } // MARK: - UITableViewDelegate func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, didSelectRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) { insertMention(filteredUsers[indexPath.row]) } // MARK: - Mention Insertion private func insertMention(_ user: MentionUser) { guard let range = currentMentionRange else { return } let mentionText = "\(user.username)" let mentionAttributes: [NSAttributedString.Key: Any] = [ .foregroundColor: UIColor.systemBlue, .mentionUserId: user.id ] let mentionAttrString = NSAttributedString(string: mentionText, attributes: mentionAttributes) let mutable = NSMutableAttributedString(attributedString: textView.attributedText) mutable.replaceCharacters(in: range, with: mentionAttrString) let spaceAttr = NSAttributedString(string: " ", attributes: textView.typingAttributes) mutable.insert(spaceAttr, at: range.location + mentionText.count) textView.attributedText = mutable textView.selectedRange = NSRange(location: range.location + mentionText.count + 1, length: 0) textView.typingAttributes = [ .font: textView.font ?? UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 16), .foregroundColor: UIColor.label ] hideMentionDropdown() } } // MARK: - Custom Attributed Key extension NSAttributedString.Key { static let mentionUserId = NSAttributedString.Key("mentionUserId") }

I am building a centralized event handling system for UIKit controls and gesture recognizers. My current approach registers events using static methods inside a handler class, like this: internal class TWOSInternalCommonEventKerneliOS { internal static func RegisterTouchUpInside(_ pWidget: UIControl) -> Void { pWidget.addTarget( TWOSInternalCommonEventKerneliOS.self, action: #selector(TWOSInternalCommonEventKerneliOS.WidgetTouchUpInsideListener(_:)), for: .touchUpInside ) } @objc internal static func WidgetTouchUpInsideListener(_ pWidget: UIView) -> Void { print("WidgetTouchUpInside") } } This works in my testing because the methods are marked @objc and static, but I couldn’t find Apple documentation explicitly confirming whether using ClassName.self (instead of an object instance) is officially supported. Questions: Is this approach (passing ClassName.self as the target) recommended or officially supported by UIKit? If not, what is the safer alternative to achieve a similar pattern, where event registration can remain in static methods but still follow UIKit conventions? Would using a shared singleton instance as the target (e.g., TWOSInternalCommonEventKerneliOS.shared) be the correct approach, or is there a better pattern? Looking for official guidance to avoid undefined behavior in production.

I m using Mac Automator app to add new actions to the right click quick menu for files and folder. As can we seen in the image we have a number of actions available for mail app, Calendar, photos and other apps. I wanted to know whether something similar can be done for my app. I wanted to list my app in the library and provide some similar action options. Can it be done?

I m trying to identify if my launched process is running on a local mac machine(desktop/laptop) or a virtual macOS X instance like AWS EC2, Azure, MacStadium etc. I have followed this link which searched for its limited providers in the output, but I m not bound to any limited providers and looking for a general solution which is applicable to all the providers. Is there some hardware/network/virtualization-related information that can be used to identify if the process is launched on a virtual MacOS instance? OR is there some system Information that I can use to be sure that my process is running on a local machine?

I have a need to interoperate between cpp and swift. Here when we return a 'String' type from swift to cpp, the type that we receive in cpp is 'swift::string'. I wanted to convert 'swift::string' to char* in cpp. Any help on how can this be achieved in cpp?

In the mac general setting, we can provide the language preference for an individual application like in the image below, I have provided for TextEdit app. Now based on the system preferred languages, TextEdit will have a default language. However if I explicitly set the language for TextEdit (arabic in my example), then the application will use that language. I wanted to identify in my program the language that an app is currently running in. I have tried the below code, but it always return 'en', even after my preference is set to 'Arabic'. let u = URL(fileURLWithPath: "/System/Applications/TextEdit.app") let b = Bundle(url: u)! let textedit_preference = b.preferredLocalizations print(textedit_preference) //["en"] How can I identify what language is being set by the user for an individual application? I have followed this link but it does not contain this information.

I wanted to add some dock menu options for my application when it is not running. These dock menu options can be used to launch the application. I came across dock TilePlugin that can be used to add these dock options. But one of the comments in this forum discussion mentions that these Plugins are not allowed if you want ot publish your application in the appStore. Can someone confirm this? If this is true, then Is there some other solution that can be used to add the dock options which appear when the application is not running, and can be used to launch the application? Also do the recent open Files appear using this plugin mechanism?