How would you make a Status Item show or Hide a window when clicked?

Question

How would make a Status Item when the actually button is clicked in the Menu Bar not in a drop down menu show or hide a window? Sorry if this is a bit vague.

Answer 1

To achieve this with NSStatusItem you need to create a custom view and replace the default NSStatusItem view by calling its "setView:" method.

You'll implement code in your custom view to react to mouse clicks by e.g. putting up a window. (You can use a button, or other standard views if it works best for you).

I'll warn you this is a bit tricky to get right. Lots of little nuances e.g. with getting the look of your custom view to look right in the menu bar. But this is the general approach you need to take if you want to override the default menu-prompting status item view.

Answer 2

NSStatusItem supports the target/action mechanism like many other controls. I haven't used this myself -- I've only ever used an NSStatusItem with a menu attached -- so I don't know when the message is sent (i.e. when the mouse button is clicked or when it's released). If it doesn't do what you want by default, you would need a custom view like Daniel suggests.