Menu bar button panels in Cocoa?

0
votes

When I click on buttons in the menu bar (such as "About Program") when the program is running a new window pops up displaying information. How do I edit the windows associated with the buttons?

In Interface builder I manage to load "Main Menu" which allows me to customize the menu bar, but it doesn't allow me to work with the windows associated with the buttons. How would I edit these windows?

Mac OSX Snow Leopard, Xcode 3.2.6

EDIT: I am not specifically asking for steps for the "About Panel". I am looking for a general procedure for editing panels associated with buttons in the menu bar. In addition to the "About" panel I would also want to work with panels such as the "Help" panel. The "About" panel was just an example.

2
objective-cmacoscocoauser-interface
I suggest a different title, as the menu bar doesn't seem to be your primary question. Also, you mentioned "windows"...besides the About box, which other windows concern you? e.g. "Find...", "Special Characters...", "Show Fonts", "Show Colors", "Help"...there are many menu bar items that spawn standard windows by default. Some of them, such as Fonts and Colors, do permit a certain amount of customization. – Kevin Grant
@KevinGrant If a general solution isn't possible, a way to specifically edit the "Help" panel would be perfect. I also edited the question- I hope its more relevant this time. – fdh
@KevinGrant I see. Do you mind posting your comment as an answer so I can select it? Thanks for the help! – fdh
Sure; I moved my comments to an Answer. – Kevin Grant

2 Answers

3
votes

The standard About panel isn't in your nib; it's generated within the framework.

You can change the text of the panel by writing a Credits.rtf or Credits.html file and including that in your app bundle. (You may already have Credits.rtf supplied by the project template. If so, you should just edit that.)

If you want to make more radical changes, you'll need to create your own panel and change your About menu item to show it instead.

2
votes

As far as a general procedure...no, there's no single procedure that would let you customize any standard panel in the same way. They all have their own mechanisms (e.g. some can display more panes when plug-in components are installed; some provide APIs to hide or show certain parts; some, like the About box, use bundle filename conventions to decide what to do).

For the Help panel specifically...you can't change anything about it except the web page (i.e. the help content). The toolbar, etc. is all handled by Apple. I suggest looking at this documentation for more, which also links to other important documents: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/OnlineHelp/Concepts/ComprehenHelp.html%23//apple_ref/doc/uid/20000017-BBCCFHAC