How do I display an NSPanel/NSWindow to the side of my application?

Question

So basically I already have an application built. And I'd like to create an NSPanel or an NSWindow that will basically appear to the right of my application when a button is clicked. And then it auto-collapses when the button is clicked again.

I've been googling randomly but I feel like I'm not searching for the right things.

Ideally it will operate EXACTLY like [NSApp beginSheet] except it won't take control of the application, it will just be another window to the right a user can interact with.

How can I get started with this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

3 years later.

• Drag over a Window/Drawer combo from library Which will add one of: A) Window. B) Drawer View C) Drawer Controller
• Drag over a new D) Disclosure Triangle Button onto the main window
• Bind the C) Drawer Controller "toggle:" (Received actions) to the D) Disclosure Triangle Button (Send actions)

If you wish to add the Drawer to an existing Window.

• Unbind the A) Window from C) Controller's "parentWindow" Outlet in the Connections|Outlets.
• Kill that A) Window
• Bind your Window to C) that "parentWindow" Outlet.

Bingo. Disclosure Button will open/close the Drawer

SIDENOTE:

The Drawer concept clashes with the iPhone/iPad UI/UX since there is no side real-estate for something to slide out into. Drawers are cool in my opinion. And killer easy to add. And perfectly sized to the Window.

Answer 2

It sounds like you want a drawer (NSDrawer). Drawers have fallen out of favor with most app designers but are still an official, supported part of Cocoa on Mac OSX. You might use a drawer to hide a bunch of controls that you don't want to be cluttering up your main window all the time.

Search for "Drawer" in the Xcode and under Titles you'll see a Drawers guide and DrawerMadness sample code. You can have a button open and close the drawer with very little code.

A good pro/con discussion of using drawers

A more general solution is a child window. It's just a completely separate window (probably without a titlebar) that is attached to your document or other window (I'm assuming "right of my application" in your question means "right of my window"). See documentation for NSWindow addChildWindow:ordered: The child window will remain attached to its parent window even when the window is dragged. But child windows are a lot more work than drawers.