Use of network proxies in a Mac OS X application

Question

Hello,

As someone new to developing for macs I was wondering if I could gather some advice on dealing with network proxies. Currently the software makes use of:

NSURLRequest
NSURLDownload
[NSString initWithContentsOfURL:]
WebKit / WebView

I had a little search on google and found Apple's page on CFProxySupport although I haven't looked too deeply into implementation with the above. I also see that you can configure proxies in Mac OS X's System Preferences - do the above automatically use the values set here?

Also, in terms of user interface, what is usually expected when it comes to proxies? Is it acceptable to simply require the user to set the details in the System Preferences or should I really be providing the ability to set the details separately in my own application?

Thank you.

Answer 1

NSURL, WebKit etc. automatically uses the appropriate proxy set in OS X's System Preferences.

On the other hand it's difficult to set the proxy which is different from that in the System preferences if you use these APIs.

For a normal app, it's expected that you don't set proxies in your app ... E.g. my dad and mom dread internet configurations. They ask me to set up the internet for them for their Mac. I don't think they're willing to set the preference separately for separate apps.

Of course if your app is a download assistant, file uploader, or maybe a completely independent browser as FireFox, you might want to implement a separate proxy setting for your app, to suit the need of the geeks and nerds like me who uses your app!