WAYTheDarkSide

The WAYTheDarkSide class provides several helper methods to handle OS X Yosemite's new Dark Mode. Use this class to determine if the system appearance is currently set up to be in the Dark Mode or not, and if it supports it anyways.

Next, specify event handlers per view or window controller (or any other object), which will be performed whenever the user switches the Dark Mode system preference.

Yes, the names are a little ironic.

Background

In 2014, OS X 10.10 Yosemite introduced a new system-wide Dark Mode, which makes the main menu and the Dock look dark and mean. In some situations, it may be appropriate to adapt the dark look in your application.

However there do not seem to be some obvious APIs you can use to determine the current user setting or to handle setting change events. We provide the WAYTheDarkSide class to simplify the adaption of the new look.

Note that this class does not provide automatic NSAppearance switching or any other on-the-fly adjustments. You need to take care of re-defining the properties of your UI on your own within the blocks you specify.

Example

// The application decided to join the dark side
[WAYTheDarkSide welcomeApplicationWithBlock:^{
	[weakSelf.window setAppearance:[NSAppearance appearanceNamed:NSAppearanceNameVibrantDark]];
	[weakSelf.contentView setMaterial:NSVisualEffectMaterialDark];
	[self.label setStringValue:@"Dark!"];
} immediately:YES];

// The application decided to leave the dark side
[WAYTheDarkSide outcastApplicationWithBlock:^{
	[weakSelf.window setAppearance:[NSAppearance appearanceNamed:NSAppearanceNameVibrantLight]];
	[weakSelf.contentView setMaterial:NSVisualEffectMaterialLight];
	[self.label setStringValue:@"Light!"];
} immediately:YES];

or locally in your NSWindowController / NSViewController instances:

[WAYTheDarkSide welcomeObject:self withBlock:^{
	 /* ... */ 
} immediately:YES];

[WAYTheDarkSide outcastObject:self withBlock:^{ /* ... */ } immediately:YES];

Usage

It's quite simple, you should check the headers. The class provides no singleton, but makes use of simple class methods instead.

1. #import "WAYTheDarkSide.h"
2. Specify a global event handler block using welcomeApplicationWithBlock:immediately:; and outcastApplicationWithBlock:immediately:;.

or

2. Specify a per-object event handler block using welcomeObject:withBlock:immediately:; and outcastObject:withBlock:immediately:;.

Note: If you have a smaller application, making use of welcomeApplicationWithBlock:immediately:; and outcastApplicationWithBlock:immediately:; may make sense.

However you should consider to define the two blocks within every of your controller instances respectively using welcomeObject:withBlock:immediately:; and outcastObject:withBlock:immediately:;.

The reason for the per-object association is that the class internally maps a block to its owner (the controller) using a NSMapTable. You can overwrite existing blocks by simply calling the methods and specifying the same object reference again.

Interesting

We are new, weAreYeah.com. Follow us on @weAreYeah for upcoming goodies.

License

Licensed under the BSD License http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.