Beginning Mac OS X Tiger Dashboard Widget Development

  • 3h 57m
  • Fred Terry
  • John Wiley & Sons (US)
  • 2006

Dashboard widgets bring local and global information to the Tiger desktop by giving you the information you need with a simple keystroke. However, there is much more to a Dashboard widget than HTML. Cascading Sheets (CSS) provide widgets with and layout while JavaScript makes the widget dynamic and provides user interaction. In this book, Fred Terry examines how HTML, CSS, and JavaScript join forces with the OS X filesystem abilities to provide widgets with the look and feel of a standalone application.

The featured examples will help you gain an understanding of the elements and construction of Dashboard widgets, while many chapters end with a set of exercises that reinforce what you've learned. you'll quickly find all the information you need to begin developing and sharing widgets.

What you will learn from this book

  • How Dashboard widgets are an integral part of Tiger
  • The different development environment options available
  • How to use logging, printing, and JavaScript console in Safari to debug your widget
  • The activation, control, and focus events that provide the widget with a Mac-like user interface
  • The access keys that allow a widget to incorporate command-line utilities and network resources.

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone who wants to create Dashboard widgets or modify existing ones. A basic understanding of a scripting or programming language is beneficial.

About the Author

Fred Terry has been involved in the computer industry since making a left-hand turn into it from Ph.D. work in medieval languages and literature. He has written a number of software manuals and articles and has worked as a systems and network administrator, web developer, programmer, and quality assurance engineer. In addition to his ongoing love affairs with AppleScript and Perl, his current programming infatuations are Ruby and Ajax. Currently, Fred is a project manager for the Information Management Group at Burns & McDonnell. He has a B.A. in English from Southwestern Oklahoma State University and an M.A. in English from Oklahoma State University.

In this Book

  • Tiger, Dashboard, and Widgets
  • The Basics of Widgetry
  • Widget Development Environment
  • Creating a Widget
  • Debugging and Testing
  • Giving a Widget Preferences
  • Widget Events
  • Adding to the Widget Interface
  • Adding Cut, Copy, and Paste to Your Widget
  • Adding Drag and Drop to the Widget
  • Access Keys
  • Using Plugins and Applets
  • Easy Envelopes
  • SecureCopy Widget
  • Amazon Album Art
  • Timbuktu Quick Connect
  • iPhoto Mini
  • iTunes Connection Monitor
  • More Widgets
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