In a WWDC 2019 "Advances in macOS Security" at 18:40 there is the following code func getDesktopWindowIds() -> [CGWindowID] { let windows = CGWindowListCopyWindowInfo([.optionOnScreenOnly], kCGNullWindowID)! as! [[String: AnyObject]] let DesktopWindowLevel = CGWindowLevelForKey(.desktopWindow)-1 let DesktopWindows = windows.filter { let windowLevel = $0[kCGWindowLayer as String] as! CGWindowLevel return windowLevel == desktopWindowLevel } return desktopWindows.map { $0[kCGWindowNumber as String] as! CGWindowID } } to find the CGWindowID of the Desktop background. This works, but when you then try to get the CGImage for that CGWindowID with let cgImage = CGWindowListCreateImage(CGRectNull, [.optionIncludingWindow], cgWin, [.bestResolution]) cgImage does get a reference, however it's just a gray image. Not the Desktop picture. It's clear from the documentation that ScreenCaptureKit should be used. However, if used I get multiple warnings to the user, the most concerning one states: "App" would like to record this computer's screen and audio. This is not true! I do nothing with audio and to say a capture is a recording is also misleading. Is there way to achieve what use to work before macOS 27? Or a way to change/avoid this misleading warning? Is there a reason why this warning is needed for capturing the Desktop background where before it was explicitly allowed?

My sandbox app on MAS (Hide Icons) simply toggles the visibility of the Desktop icons and Widgets on or off. It does this by display customized NSWindow on window level given by NSWindow.Level(rawValue: Int(CGWindowLevelForKey(.desktopIconWindow))+1) This custom NSWindow can either have a copy of the Desktop background/wallpaper CGImage or a solid color depending on user preference. Until macOS 27, this worked fine. To find all the Desktop background/wallpaper images (there can be multiple screens and each screen can have multiple Spaces), Apple provided code that avoided any TCC dialog boxes. Namely func getDesktopWindowIds() -> [CGWindowID] { let windows = CGWindowListCopyWindowInfo([.optionAll], kCGNullWindowID)! as! [[String: AnyObject]] let DesktopWindowLevel = CGWindowLevelForKey(.desktopWindow)-1 let DesktopWindows = windows.filter { let windowLevel = $0[kCGWindowLayer as String] as! CGWindowLevel return windowLevel == desktopWindowLevel } return desktopWindows.map { $0[kCGWindowNumber as String] as! CGWindowID } } which returns [CGWindowID] of all the Desktop background/wallpaper windows. Then for any one, say cgID, a simple let cgImage = CGWindowListCreateImage(CGRectNull, [.optionIncludingWindow], cgID, [.bestResolution]) gave an CGImage which then can be applied to my custom NSWindow. No where is TCC triggered. All is great. I followed Apple's ideas about Security and Privacy since I'm only using the data I need (i.e. [CGWindowID]) and the data is only used during execution. Never saved or shared. macOS 27 beta 4 and beyond broke CGWindowListCreateImage(...). It compiles and when called it returns some gray image. Documentation tells me to use ScreenCaptureKit. The newest versions of ScreenCaptureKit introduce SCScreenshotManager.captureImage(contentFilter:, configuration) which can return a CGImage of the CGWindowID. Here is when the problem occurs. To capture that CGWindowID CGImage, one would use SCContentFilter(desktopIndependentWindow: desktopWindow) but to get desktopWindow you first need to find the SCWindow that corresponds to CGWindowID. You can grab a set of SCWindow with SCShareableContent.excludingDesktopWindows(false, onScreenWindowsOnly: false) But when any method of SCShareableContent is called, TCC throws up this warning I do not want this. Too many permissions are being granted. I only want the [CGWindowID] of the Desktop background/wallpaper. This, if the user grants, gives me much more which is bad for Security and Privacy. One way to avoid the TCC in ScreenCaptureKit is to use the new SCContentSharingPicker.shared. This allows the user to pick what they want to share. I first tried var pickerConfiguration = SCContentSharingPickerConfiguration() pickerConfiguration.allowedPickerModes = [.multipleWindows, .singleWindow] but the picker does not allow the user to select the Desktop background/wallpaper. Using var pickerConfiguration = SCContentSharingPickerConfiguration() pickerConfiguration.allowedPickerModes = [.singleDisplay] also doesn't give me Desktop background/wallpaper access. Trying to use [.singleApplication] and limiting the choices to WindowServer (what SCWindow claims is the owner) also doesn't allow picking of the Desktop background/wallpaper. So, is it true to get access to the Desktop background/wallpaper CGWindowID's CGImage, I must have the user give me full access via TCC? Please tell me of a work around. The obvious fix is on Apple's side. The corresponding list of [SCWindow] corresponding to [CGWindowID] should always be included in SCContentFilter.includedWindows. Or simply leave them out of the TCC domain as before.

I have a class: class MyDockTilePlugin: NSObject, NSDockTilePlugIn { func setDockTile(_ dockTile: NSDockTile?) { return } func dockMenu() -> NSMenu? { let menu = NSMenu() let it = NSMenuItem(title: "choose me!", action: #selector(self.selectDMIP(_:)), keyEquivalent: "") it.target = self menu.addItem(it) return menu } @objc func selectDMIP(_ sender: NSMenuItem) { print("you selected me!") } } and I follow the instructions to put it in a Bundle and copy it into the main app. I run the main app. Change the Dock options to Keep in Dock. Quit the main app. Right-click the Dock icon. I get the menu, but when selected, it never prints "you selected me!" What I do see after selecting the menu item is the plugin class reloading. Any ideas how to capture the menu item selection?

Wanted to add some basic scripting capabilities for an AppKit Swift application on macOS. I looked at adding AppleScript support (i.e. Cocoa Scripting) and it, frankly, hurts my head. I then discovered that Swift provides for CommandLine.argc and Commandline.arguments. So, from Terminal, I can do open -a myApp --args arg1 arg2 arg3 and sure enough, MyApp starts and CommandLine.arguments contain arg1, arg2, arg3 along w/ the first entry which is the fully resolved path of the executable. Great! However, if myApp is already running when I execute open -a myApp --args arg4 CommandLine.arguments are not updated and I get the same values as when I originally started the program (i.e. arg1, arg2, arg3 and not arg4). So I added func applicationShouldHandleReopen(_ sender: NSApplication, hasVisibleWindows flag: Bool) -> Bool { parseCommandLine(); return true} to AppDelegate and while parseCommandLine is called for my second open -a command, it still points to the old CommandLine.arguments. Even tried returning false, but no difference. Is there a way for CommandLine to be refreshed if myApp is already running? Or a different way to get the same effect?

I have a sandboxed/hardened app that is distributed outside of the MacAppStore. I want to allow the app to auto-update itself. I currently have the ability in the app to figure out if there is a newer version which then informs the user and gives them an option to download the app (currently it downloads to ~/Downloads in the app container). The app comes as a simple zip file that only includes the app itself. Once downloaded, then NSWorkspace.shared.open(URLtoDownloadedUpdate) will expand the zip and place the app in ~/Downloads. What I want is it to replace the current version of the app w/ this newly downloaded version. Is this possible? First, how do I find out where the old app is stored? And then how do I replace it with the new version when the old app is still running? I realize many people use Sparkle to do this instead of rolling their own. I simply do not want to depend on a third party.

Prior to Ventura, my app that only has a Menu Item does not have a Storyboard but does have a custom main.swift as import Foundation import Cocoa let app = NSApplication.shared let delegate = AppDelegate() app.delegate = delegate _ = NSApplicationMain(CommandLine.argc, CommandLine.unsafeArgv) And then in Info.plist, I added Application is agent (UIElement) YES so the app isn't displayed in the dock. Occasionally, the app now crashes on start. Is there documentation for creating a Menu item only macOS app without Storyboard? It's typically crashing in _NSCGSDisplayConfigurationUpdateAndInvokeObservers or in _NSCGSDockMesageReceive. Thanks,

Doing a guard let cgImage = CGWindowListCreateImage(.null, [.optionIncludingWindow], cgID, [.nominalResolution]) else { print ("problem!"); continue } where cgID is a CGWindowID for a Desktop background image almost always returns an CGImage of the Desktop (minus any icons on the Desktop, of course). However, under Monterey, there is a finite possibility of the returned image to be simply gray or some chopped up version of the actual Desktop. This usually happens when Spaces are changed and code is triggered to update the image from a NSWorkspace.shared.notificationCenter notification named: NSWorkspace.activeSpaceDidChangeNotification. Is there a way to detect when the image returned is not correct? The else in the guard is never triggered and the cgImage is the correct size, just the wrong content. In fact comparing a good cgImage to a bad cgImage, there doesn't appear to be any difference. Documentation for .optionIncludingWindow says You must combine this option with the optionOnScreenAboveWindow or optionOnScreenBelowWindow option to retrieve meaningful results. However, including either option (e.g. [.optionOnScreenBelowWindow, .optionIncludingWindow]) can still result in an incorrect image. As an aside, https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2019/701/ at the 15:49 mark shows using only the optionIncludingWindow, so not sure which documentation is correct.