Dialogs in Xamarin.Mac.; 21 minutes to read; In this article. When working with C# and.NET in a Xamarin.Mac application, you have access to the same Dialogs and Modal Windows that a developer working in Objective-C and Xcode does. Because Xamarin.Mac integrates directly with Xcode, you can use Xcode's Interface Builder to create and maintain your Modal Windows (or optionally create. In Xcode, double-click the app target in the Groups and Files list to open the Info window for the target. Then display the Properties pane of the window and replace “NSApplication” in the Principal Class field with the name of your custom class. In the starter Xcode project open the Main.storyboard file to reveal the Interface Builder. At the time being there’s no content in the view controller, so let’s add a text field. Click on the Objects Library button in Xcode’s toolbar and search for a text field.

Dec 16, 2019 Intel® C Compiler 19.1 Developer Guide and Reference. Submitted December 16, 2019. In the starter Xcode project open the Main.storyboard file to reveal the Interface Builder. At the time being there’s no content in the view controller, so let’s add a text field. Click on the Objects Library button in Xcode’s toolbar and search for a text field.

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When working with C# and .NET in a Xamarin.Mac application, you have access to the same Dialogs and Modal Windows that a developer working in Objective-C and Xcode does. Because Xamarin.Mac integrates directly with Xcode, you can use Xcode's Interface Builder to create and maintain your Modal Windows (or optionally create them directly in C# code).

I was not able to see anything when I ran the program, and Xcode showed a warning on CreateEditTextControl saying it is deprecated. Option 2 which I have is to combine Objective C and C, but I do not know how objective C works, here is a little lead I got in doing this. I only have a few hours to accomplish this. Option 3 I found this here. Jan 25, 2017 Getting Started with macOS Controls. Open Xcode, and choose File/New/Project. In the Choose a template dialog, select macOS/Application/App, which is the template you use to create an app with a GUI on macOS. Then click Next.

A dialog appears in response to a user action and typically provides ways users can complete the action. A dialog requires a response from the user before it can be closed.

Windows can be used in a Modeless state (such as a text editor that can have multiple documents open at once) or Modal (such as an Export dialog that must be dismissed before the application can continue).

In this article, we'll cover the basics of working with Dialogs and Modal Windows in a Xamarin.Mac application. It is highly suggested that you work through the Hello, Mac article first, specifically the Introduction to Xcode and Interface Builder and Outlets and Actions sections, as it covers key concepts and techniques that we'll be using in this article.

You may want to take a look at the Exposing C# classes / methods to Objective-C section of the Xamarin.Mac Internals document as well, it explains the Register and Export commands used to wire-up your C# classes to Objective-C objects and UI Elements.

Introduction to Dialogs

A dialog appears in response to a user action (such as saving a file) and provides a way for users to complete that action. A dialog requires a response from the user before it can be closed.

According to Apple, there are three ways to present a Dialog:

  • Document Modal - A Document Modal dialog prevents the user from doing anything else within a given document until it is dismissed.
  • App Modal - An App Modal dialog prevents the user from interacting with the application until it is dismissed.
  • Modeless A Modeless Dialog enables users to change settings in the dialog while still interacting with the document window.

Modal Window

Any standard NSWindow can be used as a customized dialog by displaying it modally:

Document Modal Dialog Sheets

A Sheet is a modal dialog that is attached to a given document window, preventing users from interacting with the window until they dismiss the dialog. A Sheet is attached to the window from which it emerges and only one sheet can be open for a window at any one time.

Preferences Windows

A Preferences Window is a modeless dialog that contains the application's settings that the user changes infrequently. Preferences Windows often include a Toolbar that allows the user to switch between different groups of settings:

Open Dialog

The Open Dialog gives users a consistent way to find and open an item in an application:

Print and Page Setup Dialogs

macOS provides standard Print and Page Setup Dialogs that your application can display so that users can have a consistent printing experience in every application they use.

The Print Dialog can be displayed as both a free floating dialog box:

Or it can be displayed as a Sheet:

The Page Setup Dialog can be displayed as both a free floating dialog box:

Or it can be displayed as a Sheet:

Save Dialogs

The Save Dialog gives users a consistent way to save an item in an application. The Save Dialog has two states: Minimal (also known as Collapsed):

And the Expanded state:

The Minimal Save Dialog can also be displayed as a Sheet:

As can the Expanded Save Dialog:

For more information, see the Dialogs section of Apple's OS X Human Interface Guidelines

Adding a Modal Window to a Project

Aside from the main document window, a Xamarin.Mac application might need to display other types of windows to the user, such as Preferences or Inspector Panels.

To add a new window, do the following:

  1. In the Solution Explorer, open the Main.storyboard file for editing in Xcode's Interface Builder.

  2. Drag a new View Controller into the Design Surface:

  3. In the Identity Inspector, enter CustomDialogController for the Class Name:

  4. Switch back to Visual Studio for Mac, allow it to sync with Xcode and create the CustomDialogController.h file.

  5. Return to Xcode and design your interface:

  6. Create a Modal Segue from the Main Window of your app to the new View Controller by control-dragging from the UI element that will open the dialog to the dialog's window. Assign the IdentifierModalSegue:

  7. Wire-up any Actions and Outlets:

  8. Save your changes and return to Visual Studio for Mac to sync with Xcode.

Make the CustomDialogController.cs file look like the following:

This code exposes a few properties to set the title and the description of the dialog and a few events to react to the dialog being canceled or accepted.

Next, edit the ViewController.cs file, override the PrepareForSegue method and make it look like the following:

This code initializes the segue that we defined in Xcode's Interface Builder to our dialog and sets up the title and description. It also handles the choice the user makes in the dialog box.

We can run our application and display the custom dialog:

For more information about using windows in a Xamarin.Mac application, please see our Working with Windows documentation.

Creating a Custom Sheet

A Sheet is a modal dialog that is attached to a given document window, preventing users from interacting with the window until they dismiss the dialog. A Sheet is attached to the window from which it emerges and only one sheet can be open for a window at any one time.

To create a Custom Sheet in Xamarin.Mac, let's do the following:

  1. /disable-vbss-skype-for-business-macos.html. In the Solution Explorer, open the Main.storyboard file for editing in Xcode's Interface Builder.

  2. Drag a new View Controller into the Design Surface:

  3. Design your user interface:

  4. Create a Sheet Segue from your Main Window to the new View Controller:

  5. In the Identity Inspector, name the View Controller's ClassSheetViewController:

  6. Define any needed Outlets and Actions:

  7. Save your changes and return to Visual Studio for Mac to sync.

Next, edit the SheetViewController.cs file and make it look like the following:

Next, edit the ViewController.cs file, edit the PrepareForSegue method and make it look like the following:

If we run our application and open the Sheet, it will be attached to the window:

Creating a Preferences Dialog

Before we lay out the Preference View in Interface Builder, we'll need to add a custom segue type to handle switching out the preferences. Add a new class to your project and call it ReplaceViewSeque. Edit the class and make it look like the following:

With the custom segue created, we can add a new window in Xcode's Interface Builder to handle our preferences.

To add a new window, do the following:

  1. In the Solution Explorer, open the Main.storyboard file for editing in Xcode's Interface Builder.

  2. Drag a new Window Controller into the Design Surface:

  3. Arrange the Window near the Menu Bar designer:

  4. Create copies of the attached View Controller as there will be tabs in your preference view:

  5. Drag a new Toolbar Controller from the Library:

  6. And drop it on the Window in the Design Surface:

  7. Layout the design of your toolbar:

  8. Control-Click and drag from each Toolbar Button to the Views you created above. Select a Custom segue type:

  9. Select the new Segue and set the Class to ReplaceViewSegue:

  10. In the Menubar Designer on the Design Surface, from the Application Menu select Preferences.., control-click and drag to the Preferences Window to create a Show segue:

  11. Save your changes and return to Visual Studio for Mac to sync.

If we run the code and select the Preferences.. from the Application Menu, the window will be displayed:

For more information on working with Windows and Toolbars, please see our Windows and Toolbars documentation.

Saving and Loading Preferences

In a typical macOS App, when the user makes changes to any of the App's User Preferences, those changes are saved automatically. The easiest way to handle this in a Xamarin.Mac app, is to create a single class to manage all of the user's preferences and share it system-wide.

First, add a new AppPreferences class to the project and inherit from NSObject. The preferences will be designed to use Data Binding and Key-Value Coding which will make the process of creating and maintaining the preference forms much simpler. Since the Preferences will consist of a small amount of simple datatypes, use the built in NSUserDefaults to store and retrieve values.

Edit the AppPreferences.cs file and make it look like the following:

This class contains a few helper routines such as SaveInt, LoadInt, SaveColor, LoadColor, etc. to make working with NSUserDefaults easier. Also, since NSUserDefaults does not have a built-in way to handle NSColors, the NSColorToHexString and NSColorFromHexString methods are used to convert colors to web-based hex strings (#RRGGBBAA where AA is the alpha transparency) that can be easily stored and retrieved.

In the AppDelegate.cs file, create an instance of the AppPreferences object that will be used app-wide:

Wiring Preferences to Preference Views

Next, connect Preference class to UI elements on the Preference Window and Views created above. In Interface Builder, select a Preference View Controller and switch to the Identity Inspector, create a custom class for the controller:

Switch back to Visual Studio for Mac to sync your changes and open the newly created class for editing. Make the class look like the following:

Notice that this class has done two things here: First, there is a helper App property to make accessing the AppDelegate easier. Second, the Preferences property exposes the global AppPreferences class for data binding with any UI controls placed on this View.

Next, double click the Storyboard file to re-open it in Interface Builder (and see the changes just made above). Drag any UI controls required to build the preferences interface into the View. For each control, switch to the Binding Inspector and bind to the individual properties of the AppPreference class:

Repeat the above steps for all of the panels (View Controllers) and Preference Properties required.

Applying Preference Changes to All Open Windows

As stated above, in a typical macOS App, when the user makes changes to any of the App's User Preferences, those changes are saved automatically and applied to any windows the user might have open in the application.

Brother printer drivers for macos mojave. Careful planning and design of your app's preferences and windows will allow this process to happen smoothly and transparently to the end user, with a minimal amount of coding work.

For any Window that will be consuming App Preferences, add the following helper property to its Content View Controller to make accessing our AppDelegate easier:

Next, add a class to configure the contents or behavior based on the user's preferences:

You need to call the configuration method when the Window is first opened to make sure it conforms to the user's preferences:

Next, edit the AppDelegate.cs file and add the following method to apply any preference changes to all open windows:

Next, add a PreferenceWindowDelegate class to the project and make it look like the following:

This will cause any preference changes to be sent to all open Windows when the preference Window closes.

Finally, edit the Preference Window Controller and add the delegate created above:

With all these changes in place, if the user edits the App's Preferences and closes the Preference Window, the changes will be applied to all open Windows:

The Open Dialog

The Open Dialog gives users a consistent way to find and open an item in an application. To display an Open Dialog in a Xamarin.Mac application, use the following code:

In the above code, we are opening a new document window to display the contents of the file. You'll need to replace this code with functionality is required by your application.

The following properties are available when working with a NSOpenPanel:

  • CanChooseFiles - If true the user can select files.
  • CanChooseDirectories - If true the user can select directories.
  • AllowsMultipleSelection - If true the user can select more than one file at a time.
  • ResolveAliases - If true selecting and alias, resolves it to the original file's path.
  • AllowedFileTypes - Is a string array of file types that the user can select as either an extension or UTI. The default value is null, which allows any file to be opened.

The RunModal () method displays the Open Dialog and allow the user to select files or directories (as specified by the properties) and returns 1 if the user clicks the Open button.

The Open Dialog returns the user's selected files or directories as an array of URLs in the URL property.

If we run the program and select the Open.. item from the File menu, the following is displayed:

The Print and Page Setup Dialogs

Xcode Macos Dialog For Text String Free

macOS provides standard Print and Page Setup Dialogs that your application can display so that users can have a consistent printing experience in every application they use.

The following code will show the standard Print Dialog:

If we set the ShowPrintAsSheet property to false, run the application and display the print dialog, the following will be displayed:

If set the ShowPrintAsSheet property to true, run the application and display the print dialog, the following will be displayed:

The following code will display the Page Layout Dialog:

Xcode Macos Dialog For Text String Free

If we set the ShowPrintAsSheet property to false, run the application and display the print layout dialog, the following will be displayed:

If set the ShowPrintAsSheet property to true, run the application and display the print layout dialog, the following will be displayed:

For more information about working with the Print and Page Setup Dialogs, please see Apple's NSPrintPanel and NSPageLayout documentation.

The Save Dialog

The Save Dialog gives users a consistent way to save an item in an application.

The following code will show the standard Save Dialog:

The AllowedFileTypes property is a string array of file types that the user can select to save the file as. The file type can be either specified as an extension or UTI. The default value is null, which allows any file type to be used.

If we set the ShowSaveAsSheet property to false, run the application and select Save As.. from the File menu, the following will be displayed:

Macos Xcode Version

The user can expand the dialog:

If we set the ShowSaveAsSheet property to true, run the application and select Save As.. from the File menu, the following will be displayed:

The user can expand the dialog:

For more information on working with the Save Dialog, please see Apple's NSSavePanel documentation.

Summary

This article has taken a detailed look at working with Modal Windows, Sheets and the standard system Dialog Boxes in a Xamarin.Mac application. We saw the different types and uses of Modal Windows, Sheets and Dialogs, how to create and maintain Modal Windows and Sheets in Xcode's Interface Builder and how to work with Modal Windows, Sheets and Dialogs in C# code.

Xcode Macos Dialog For Text String In Excel

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