Showing a modal NSWindow, without activating the other application windows

Question

I have an NSStatusItem that is properly displaying in the MenuBar. One of the items (when clicked) displays a modal NSWindow from my application, which is meant

Answer 1

A solution by Ken Thomases on the cocoa-dev list a couple years ago looks applicable here too:

[[NSApplication sharedApplication] hide:self];
[[NSApplication sharedApplication] performSelector:@selector(unhideWithoutActivation) 
                                        withObject:nil 
                                        afterDelay:0.05];

Which in theory tells the application to hide itself and unhide at the bottom of the window stack.

You could also intercept the mouse click event and use [NSApp preventWindowOrdering]

Answer 2

Instead of creating an NSWindow, create an NSPanel with the style NSNonactivatingPanelMask. You can then do the usual makeKeyAndOrderFront: and orderOut: to show/hide panel as needed.

Answer 3

You can try something like:

...
if ([NSApp isHidden])
    [myWindow makeKeyAndOrderFront:self];
else
    [NSApp runModalForWindow:myWindow];
... 

and when finish:

...
if ([NSApp isHidden])
    [myWindow orderOut:self];
else
    [NSApp stopModal];
... 

Answer 4

NSApp's beginModalSessionForWindow, runModalSession, endModalSession are methods you need.

Have a look here for example how to use it: Creating a fully customized NSAlert