Question

I am fluent in C++, Java, and Python and can pretty much pick up any other skill given enough time (no surprise there, I’m sure 99.9% of the people reading this share the same ability).

I have an idea for a small app for Mac OS X and I was wondering what technology I should employ/learn to get it working. I need some minimal OS X integration to get this done right.

I’m thinking I should probably use objective-C with Cocoa, but if this could be done with some Java library I would prefer that.

My Mac OS X application would do the following:

• Be able to intercept all keyboard and mouse input regardless of active (focused) application and select to either block it (effectively disabling input) or act on receipt of certain keyboard shortcuts.
• Have a Mac OS X menu bar item (at the top right of the screen next to the battery, network adapter, etc.)
• Be able to occupy the entire screen at times (with some OpenGL canvas to display animations, much like a screen saver does)
• Have sound.

What technologies would you recommend?

Answer 1

My Mac OS X application would do the following:

• Be able to intercept all keyboard and mouse input regardless of active (focused) application and select to either block it (effectively disabling input) or act on receipt of certain keyboard shortcuts.

CGEventTap.

Have a Mac OS X menu bar item (at the top right of the screen next to the battery, network adapter, etc.)

NSStatusItem.

Be able to occupy the entire screen at times (with some OpenGL canvas to display animations, much like a screen saver does)

Any NSView can do this, but for OpenGL, you’ll want NSOpenGLView specifically.

Alternatively to the usual full-screen method, you might prefer to put the view in a window at the screen-saver level. Try both ways and see which works best for you.

Have sound.

NSSound.