Notification window in Mac. With or without Qt

Question

Qt project on Mac OS X. I need to show notification window on top without stealing a focus from any active application.

Here the widget constructor part:

setWindowFlags(
    Qt::FramelessWindowHint |
    Qt::WindowSystemMenuHint |
    Qt::Tool |
    Qt::WindowStaysOnTopHint
);
setAttribute(Qt::WA_TranslucentBackground);

Qt::WA_ShowWithoutActivating doesn't affect anything.

Is there a way to do that? I'm ready to implement the native Carbon/Cocoa solution there, but Qt is preferred. Or maybe I'm wrong in Mac philosophy and I should notify user in a kind another manner?

Update Growl doesn't support editor line in its notifications, does it?

If [Growl](http://growl.info) is an option, I'd recommend it. It has become the de facto standard for notifications on OS X. — zneak, Apr 28 '11 at 19:10

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:27

I did it!

#ifdef Q_OS_MAC
#include <Carbon/Carbon.h>
#endif

NotifyWindow::NotifyWindow() : QWidget(0 /* This zero is the first point */) {

    setWindowFlags(
    #ifdef Q_OS_MAC
        Qt::SubWindow | // This type flag is the second point
    #else
        Qt::Tool |
    #endif
        Qt::FramelessWindowHint |
        Qt::WindowSystemMenuHint |
        Qt::WindowStaysOnTopHint
    );
    setAttribute(Qt::WA_TranslucentBackground);

    // And this conditional block is the third point
#ifdef Q_OS_MAC
    winId(); // This call creates the OS window ID itself.
             // qt_mac_window_for() doesn't

    int setAttr[] = {
        kHIWindowBitDoesNotHide, // Shows window even when app is hidden

        kHIWindowBitDoesNotCycle, // Not sure if required, but not bad

        kHIWindowBitNoShadow, // Keep this if you have your own design
                              // with cross-platform drawn shadows
        0 };
    int clearAttr[] = { 0 };
    HIWindowChangeAttributes(qt_mac_window_for(this), setAttr, clearAttr);
#endif
}

We get almost the same nice behavior as in Windows:

It does not stole focus on show. (Two weeks of searching over the Internet)
The controls there handle the first user click, while other windows need an extra click to activate.
When the window is being activated, the other windows of the same application, do not bubble up to the front.
And a small problem remains, but at least it has a simple workaround. Or even could be left.

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 28 '11 at 19:09

4

Pavel,

Have you heard of Growl? Growl is a VERY impressive notification app that you can bundle and use with your application. Adium - a popular instant messaging app for OS X - uses it for all notifications.

http://growl.info/

answered Apr 28 '11 at 19:09

Avisra

740
5
14

krab · Answer 3 · 2020-08-11T03:32:54.183

0

Ive just tested these flags

Qt::FramelessWindowHint |Qt::WindowSystemMenuHint |Qt::WindowStaysOnTopHint

And

 setFocusPolicy(Qt::NoFocus);
 setAttribute(Qt::WA_ShowWithoutActivating,true);

Without Cocoa or Carbon code for window flags/masks. And notifyWindow works like on Windows or Linux.

edited Aug 11 '20 at 03:32

answered Jan 03 '13 at 20:38

krab

91
4

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 28 '11 at 19:10

0

You could implement Growl. http://growl.info/documentation/developer/

answered Apr 28 '11 at 19:10

Daniel A. White

187,200
47
362
445

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 06 '20 at 15:47

0

try this on mac:

setWindowFlags(windowFlags() | Qt::FramelessWindowHint | Qt::WindowStaysOnTopHint);
setAttribute(Qt::WA_TranslucentBackground);
setAttribute(Qt::WA_AlwaysStackOnTop);

answered Aug 06 '20 at 15:47

Seven

203
3
7

Notification window in Mac. With or without Qt

5 Answers5

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