This article introduces how to build status bar app on Mac OS X using Cocoa with Swift. The source code can be downloaded here.

Development environment:

• OS X: 10.11.4
• XCode: 7.3
• Swift: 2.2

After it’s finished, the app looks like:

How to Run as Status Bar App?

In another word, how to make the application not show a dock icon? The key point is to modify the application’s Info.plist file and indicate that it’s an agent. “Agent” is Apple’s term for a background application that doesn’t present a dock icon.
Select the project at the top of the project navigator. Open the Info tab at the top of the main editor. Add a new entry of Application is agent (UIElement) and set the value of this entry to YES.

This article describes the steps to use NSOutlineView With NSTreeController. The source code can be downloaded here.

Development environment:

• OS X: 10.11.4
• XCode: 7.3
• Swift: 2.2

Steps

Create Basic Project

Refer to commit till #40ccec2.

Add UI Controls

Refer to commit till #2853186.
After done, the UI looks like:

This article describes the steps to use NSOutlineView With NSOutlineViewDataSource and NSOutlineViewDelegate. The source code can be downloaded here.

Development environment:

• OS X: 10.11.4
• XCode: 7.3
• Swift: 2.2

Steps

Create Basic Project

Refer to commit till #fa626ee.

Add Model Class of “Node”

Refer to commit till #e302b91.

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class Node: NSObject {
  var title = "Node"
  var isGroup = false
  var children = [Node]()
  weak var parent: Node?
  
  override init() {
    super.init()
  }
  
  init(title: String) {
    self.title = title
  }
  
  func isLeaf() -> Bool {
    return children.isEmpty
  }
}