Lets help improve AppKit.

gistfile1.md

Is AppKit causing you frustration? Instead of just complaining about it, lets try to make it better by compiling a list of specific problems with AppKit. Leave a comment below, and I'll include it in the list.

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##NSView##

• NSView does not have the ability to set an affine transform (rdar://15608609)
• Controls that have cells (such as NSTextField) do not respond properly when layer-backed. Take NSButton as an example. When not layer-backed, it will animate properly using the animator proxy. When layer-backed, using the animator proxy breaks focus rings (they jump to destination immediately). Currently, directly manipulating the layer of a cell-based control is not supported (and will lead to a broken interface), but is much needed. (rdar://15608822)

##NSViewController##

• NSViewController could be more useful. It has -loadView but no other lifecycle methods. (rdar://15608948)

##NSClipView##

• NSClipView has performance issues. Improved under 10.9.
  • RBLClipView attempts to fix this.
• NSClipView has a poor animation when using -scrollRectToVisible:. (rdar://15609175)
  • JNWClipView attempts to fix this.

##NSTableView##

• NSTableView has odd animation artifacts when scrolling with the keyboard with a fast key repeat.
  • Due to the clip view issue mentioned above. (rdar://15609175)
• NSTableView does not fully support sections – all rows in the table are numbered sequentially, rather than as (section #, row #) as UITableView does. This makes it difficult to alter sections independently. (rdar://15609306)

##NSCollectionView##

• NSCollectionView is not performant. It loads every single cell all at once, and it keeps them all in memory. It does not reuse cells. (rdar://15609666)

##NSBrowser##

• NSBrowser is not view-based like NSTableView and NSOutlineView.

##NSSlider##

• NSSlider requires use of private method -_usesCustomTrackImage in order to completely customize appearance.
• NSSlider needs a "rounded textured" style for use in window frames (like in Finder).

##NSSearchField##

• NSSearchField does not support tokens.

##NSTextField##

• NSTextField does not support a custom context menu when the text is selectable and/or editable. It requires hacking around with the field editor to implement this functionality.

##NSSplitView##

• NSSplitView makes simple customization like setting priorities and min/max sizes for views is unnecessarily complex.

##NSProgressIndicator##

• NSProgressIndicator still draws the original progress bar even if drawing is overridden. (rdar://15609817)
• NSProgressIndicator's color cannot be changed without workarounds such as Core Image filters. (rdar://15609817)

##NSPopover##

• NSPopover does not offer a way to customize its appearance apart from the two default styles.
  • RBLPopover attempts to fix this.
• NSPopover steals keyboard focus.

##NSWindow##

• NSWindow animation is poor without the use of some not-so-nice hacks.
• Borderless NSWindows (NSBorderlessWindowMask) do not have the ability to round their corners.
• Borderless NSWindows with a layer-backed content view do not get a shadow.
• NSWindow is really difficult to customize.
  • INAppStoreWindow attempts to fix this.

##NSDocument##

• NSDocument has very bad support for documents that aren't fully loaded into memory. Nearly all of the API assumes that you can generate a singular NSData object to store your document in, which isn't true if half of your document is on disk only and the other half in memory only.
• NSPersistentDocument doesn't support file wrappers (bundles), even though that's a requirement for the sqlite data storage with sandboxing enabled. All workarounds at this point are huge hacks.

##NSObjectController##

• While NSObjectController and its subclasses (e.g. NSArrayController) support retrieving objects from a Core Data managed object context, they do not offer a way to receive per-change notifications. This means that you need to reload your entire view vs. inserting/removing/moving the cells that were updated. Ideally, we would want a port of NSFetchedResultsController.

##NSDrawer##

• NSDrawer should either be deprecated or have its API fully updated to support customization.

##NSImage##

• NSImage does not support drawing stretchable images with caps.
  • RBLResizableImage attempts to fix this.

##Field Editors##

• Field editors are conceptually unusual and confusing.

##Cells & Controls##

• The use of cells in specific controls such as NSTextField and NSButton make them difficult to customize.
• NSButtonCell is poorly thought out. bezelStyle, gradientType, buttonType, isHighlighted, state and a few more make for a really really confusing subclassing experience.
• NSTextFieldCell does not have vertically-centered text. A subclass is required.
• Template images and window-style engraved text should be useable without the use of captive cells.
• AppKit controls need image-based customization properties like their UIKit counterparts.
• AppKit does not provide HUD-styled controls.
  • SNRHUDKit attempts to fix this.
• Interface Builder does not support bindings for custom controls.

##Misc. (not necessarily AppKit)###

• There is no Cocoa wrapper for the Carbon hotkeys API.
  • DGGHotKey attempts to fix this.
• There is no Cocoa wrapper for FSEvents. The Spotlight stuff doesn't really work for sandboxed Applications.
• There is no API for AirPlay.

@corbinstreehouse Sorry, I never received a notification for your comment. I'm not sure how many of these are filed as radars, but when I get a chance I'll run through again on 10.9 and file any of the ones that remain as unfixed and update with the radar numbers.

• Things that still cannot have weak references despite (ideally) having trivial backing variables:

Class	Ideal Backing	Reason	Radar
NSATSTypesetter	CTTypesetterRef	Instances are cached internally	-
NSColorSpace	CGColorSpaceRef	Instances are basically immortal	rdar://16669956
NSFont	CTFontRef	Manually controls its own retain count	rdar://16669960
NSParagraphStyle	CTParagraphStyleRef	Manually controls its own retain count (is actually one of its flags)	rdar://16669966
NSMutableParagraphStyle	(See Above)	(See Above)	rdar://16669966
NSTextView	None	Goes to great pains to manually manage its own retain count	-

• NSParagraphStyle should not have a mutable subclass. It should have immutable mutator methods that generate copies (rdar://16669988).
• NSPasteboard does not send notifications for changes, nor does it have any means of observing changes in what is posted from any end of the pipe (rdar://16669974).
• CFPasteboard has been around a long time, yet still hasn't been made public (rdar://16602986).
• Layer-hosting DockTile and Status Bar custom views do not draw (rdar://16534607).
• The command panel for NSSpeech[Recognizer/Synthesizer] is not public, and still hidden in Carbon (rdar://16670002).
• There's still no UIDevice-like class despite there being a well-maintained Machine Attributes plist backing the About This Mac panel (rdar://16670004).
• NSSound uses either the deprecated parts of AudioToolbox, or the deprecated parts of CoreAudio. Either way, it's pretty crufty up in there. Needs some OpenAL love (rdar://16670028)
• So much of CGL is deprecated, it's basically useless.
• NSCursor does not expose diagonal cursors (rdar://16695476), however they are a part of the JDK.
• NSScreen does not bow to object equality (rdar://16737571)
• NSRunningApplications hash to 0, meaning they really don't like being put in NSSets.
• NSPrintInfo exposes an NSMutableDictionary.

Ideally, we would want a port of NSFetchedResultsController

Have a look at KSPFetchedResultsController.