Working with Panels

Panels are special windows that have auxiliary purposes in applications. Example of panels include the Save panel, Open panel, and Alert panels used in Image Viewer.

Panels have slightly different behavior than standard windows. Most panels are hidden when their application is not the user’s current active application. The panels automatically reappear when the user switches to their application. Panels can float above other windows. For example, alert panels are always visually on top of other application windows. Panels can become the key window, but not the main window. The key and main windows are described in the “Key Window and Main Window” section of Chapter 8. Panels can be prevented from becoming the key window, ...

Get Cocoa® Programming now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.