Fixing -[NSTableView setEnabled:] for view-based tables

macOS does not simply allow any app to access user’s personal data. This includes Xcode. An attempt to access Address Book or Reminders from a test will fail. Unfortunately you cannot simply add the app to System Preferences’ Privacy settings. However, there is a workaround: simply create a Playground and request the all necessary permissions. The way Xcode runs them will pop all the necessary system dialog and will you to grant the access.

Xcode test bundles are actually executables that may embed everything a regular app can. This allows testing of embedded XPC services without employing any shenanigans: Add new Unit Test target Add the Copy Files phase to the created target with “XPC Services” as a destination; drag’n’drop your XPC service there Optionally add another Copy Files phase with “Frameworks” as a destination for every custom framework the service depends on; make sure that the Copy on Sign is checked if your XPC service is sandboxed and/or hardened

In the past few days I’ve been catching up with security in the context of XPC services. Here are my findings current as of macOS 10.15.5 Embedded XPC Services These are services that live inside your app’s bundle and thus no extra work is needed: an XPC service is private, and is available…

Race conditions take many forms. One that is widely known happens in multithreaded applications due to concurrency. Yet they may happen in single-threaded code as well due to the majority of the functions being non-reentrant. Reentrancy is usually discussed alongside signals and interrupts: when a function interrupted in the middle…

Storyboards are ill suited for parent-child connections. Only builtin container controllers, such as NSTabViewController, allow them with very few customizable options. Custom segues invoked from code can still be used to encapsulate transitions between child view controllers. When loaded from a storyboard NSTabViewController, contrary to the documentation, loads all its…

While working on the next version of ShortcutRecorder I pay special attention to how its API appears in Swift. Being written in Objective-C its extremely verbose and while default interoperability works well, small touches are needed here and there. NS_SWIFT_NAME to the rescue! In particular I needed the following Objective-C…

It’s amazing how much thought AWS developers put into botocore. No surprise that it’s full of hidden gems. One of them is Waiters. The Problem It’s a documented feature, but what’s revealed is only a tip of the iceberg. …