Stop NSWindow from receiving input events temporarily
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I want to prevent an NSWindow from receiving (or handling) inputs events temporarily. As if a sheet is displayed or the run loop is busy executing code. How can I do that?
Why?
Currently when the user executes a 'command' in my application it's handled on the main thread. This of course causes the window to become unresponsive for the duration of the command. This is fine most of the time as the commands normally take 1 - 2 seconds to execute.
Sometimes though the command can take a very long time (60 seconds or more). To give the user an option to cancel the command I want to execute it in the background and if the command does not finish in about 2 seconds I want to put up a sheet with some information and a cancel button.
I don't want to put up the sheet immediately, as that would cause very annoying appear/disappear animations most of the time, but I need to block the GUI for those first 2 seconds.
macos
asked Nov 11 at 12:09
Remco Poelstra
17711
|
show 1 more comment
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
I want to prevent an NSWindow from receiving (or handling) inputs events temporarily. As if a sheet is displayed or the run loop is busy executing code. How can I do that?
Why?
Currently when the user executes a 'command' in my application it's handled on the main thread. This of course causes the window to become unresponsive for the duration of the command. This is fine most of the time as the commands normally take 1 - 2 seconds to execute.
Sometimes though the command can take a very long time (60 seconds or more). To give the user an option to cancel the command I want to execute it in the background and if the command does not finish in about 2 seconds I want to put up a sheet with some information and a cancel button.
I don't want to put up the sheet immediately, as that would cause very annoying appear/disappear animations most of the time, but I need to block the GUI for those first 2 seconds.
macos
asked Nov 11 at 12:09
Remco Poelstra
17711
You say 'I want to execute it in the background', but you also want to 'block the GUI for those first 2 seconds'. This seems like a contradiction to me.
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 9:30
After the first two seconds I want to put up a sheet with a cancel button. I need the main run loop for that, so the command needs to execute in the background. The sheet will then take care of blocking the main window.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 12 at 11:37
If the GUI is blocked for the first 2 seconds, why don't you just display the sheet straight away with the cancel button disabled? Enable the button once 2 seconds are up, and, as a bonus, there will be no beach-balling.
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 12:52
Because most of the time the command runs very short and I want to prevent a lot of half appearing and directly disappearing sheets.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 12 at 12:55
Why do you need to block the UI, then?
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 13:03
|
show 1 more comment
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
I want to prevent an NSWindow from receiving (or handling) inputs events temporarily. As if a sheet is displayed or the run loop is busy executing code. How can I do that?
Why?
Currently when the user executes a 'command' in my application it's handled on the main thread. This of course causes the window to become unresponsive for the duration of the command. This is fine most of the time as the commands normally take 1 - 2 seconds to execute.
Sometimes though the command can take a very long time (60 seconds or more). To give the user an option to cancel the command I want to execute it in the background and if the command does not finish in about 2 seconds I want to put up a sheet with some information and a cancel button.
I don't want to put up the sheet immediately, as that would cause very annoying appear/disappear animations most of the time, but I need to block the GUI for those first 2 seconds.
macos
asked Nov 11 at 12:09
Remco Poelstra
17711
I want to prevent an NSWindow from receiving (or handling) inputs events temporarily. As if a sheet is displayed or the run loop is busy executing code. How can I do that?
Why?
Currently when the user executes a 'command' in my application it's handled on the main thread. This of course causes the window to become unresponsive for the duration of the command. This is fine most of the time as the commands normally take 1 - 2 seconds to execute.
Sometimes though the command can take a very long time (60 seconds or more). To give the user an option to cancel the command I want to execute it in the background and if the command does not finish in about 2 seconds I want to put up a sheet with some information and a cancel button.
I don't want to put up the sheet immediately, as that would cause very annoying appear/disappear animations most of the time, but I need to block the GUI for those first 2 seconds.
macos
macos
asked Nov 11 at 12:09
Remco Poelstra
17711
asked Nov 11 at 12:09
Remco Poelstra
17711
asked Nov 11 at 12:09
Remco Poelstra
17711
asked Nov 11 at 12:09
Remco Poelstra
17711
asked Nov 11 at 12:09
Remco Poelstra
17711
17711
You say 'I want to execute it in the background', but you also want to 'block the GUI for those first 2 seconds'. This seems like a contradiction to me.
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 9:30
After the first two seconds I want to put up a sheet with a cancel button. I need the main run loop for that, so the command needs to execute in the background. The sheet will then take care of blocking the main window.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 12 at 11:37
If the GUI is blocked for the first 2 seconds, why don't you just display the sheet straight away with the cancel button disabled? Enable the button once 2 seconds are up, and, as a bonus, there will be no beach-balling.
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 12:52
Because most of the time the command runs very short and I want to prevent a lot of half appearing and directly disappearing sheets.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 12 at 12:55
Why do you need to block the UI, then?
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 13:03
|
show 1 more comment
You say 'I want to execute it in the background', but you also want to 'block the GUI for those first 2 seconds'. This seems like a contradiction to me.
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 9:30
After the first two seconds I want to put up a sheet with a cancel button. I need the main run loop for that, so the command needs to execute in the background. The sheet will then take care of blocking the main window.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 12 at 11:37
If the GUI is blocked for the first 2 seconds, why don't you just display the sheet straight away with the cancel button disabled? Enable the button once 2 seconds are up, and, as a bonus, there will be no beach-balling.
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 12:52
Because most of the time the command runs very short and I want to prevent a lot of half appearing and directly disappearing sheets.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 12 at 12:55
Why do you need to block the UI, then?
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 13:03
You say 'I want to execute it in the background', but you also want to 'block the GUI for those first 2 seconds'. This seems like a contradiction to me.
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 9:30
You say 'I want to execute it in the background', but you also want to 'block the GUI for those first 2 seconds'. This seems like a contradiction to me.
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 9:30
After the first two seconds I want to put up a sheet with a cancel button. I need the main run loop for that, so the command needs to execute in the background. The sheet will then take care of blocking the main window.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 12 at 11:37
After the first two seconds I want to put up a sheet with a cancel button. I need the main run loop for that, so the command needs to execute in the background. The sheet will then take care of blocking the main window.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 12 at 11:37
If the GUI is blocked for the first 2 seconds, why don't you just display the sheet straight away with the cancel button disabled? Enable the button once 2 seconds are up, and, as a bonus, there will be no beach-balling.
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 12:52
If the GUI is blocked for the first 2 seconds, why don't you just display the sheet straight away with the cancel button disabled? Enable the button once 2 seconds are up, and, as a bonus, there will be no beach-balling.
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 12:52
Because most of the time the command runs very short and I want to prevent a lot of half appearing and directly disappearing sheets.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 12 at 12:55
Because most of the time the command runs very short and I want to prevent a lot of half appearing and directly disappearing sheets.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 12 at 12:55
Why do you need to block the UI, then?
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 13:03
Why do you need to block the UI, then?
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 13:03
|
show 1 more comment
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
You can achieve this by overriding sendEvent(_ event: NSEvent) in your NSWindow subclass. Use a flag to let the window know that it should not handle events temporarily:
override func sendEvent(_ event: NSEvent) {
guard shouldSendEvents else { return }
super.sendEvent(event)
}
answered Nov 13 at 17:10
Dmitry Serov
618720
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
I'm not sure this UI design is good, but if you must… you can use a semaphore. Initialize it with a count of 0. The background thread will signal it when it completes. The main thread can, after spawning the background task, wait on it with a timeout of 2 seconds. If the background task finishes first, the main thread will resume at that time. If the timeout expires, the main thread will resume and can show the sheet with the Cancel button.
By the way, if the background task takes just over 2 seconds, you will still show a sheet and then immediately dismiss it.
answered Nov 13 at 17:29
Ken Thomases
68.8k668105
I realise that the sheet is sometimes still shown very short, but only in 0.1% of the cases, instead of 98%. I think this is acceptable.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:40
As for the GUI design, I'm open for suggestions :)
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:43
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
You can achieve this by overriding sendEvent(_ event: NSEvent) in your NSWindow subclass. Use a flag to let the window know that it should not handle events temporarily:
override func sendEvent(_ event: NSEvent) {
guard shouldSendEvents else { return }
super.sendEvent(event)
}
answered Nov 13 at 17:10
Dmitry Serov
618720
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
You can achieve this by overriding sendEvent(_ event: NSEvent) in your NSWindow subclass. Use a flag to let the window know that it should not handle events temporarily:
override func sendEvent(_ event: NSEvent) {
guard shouldSendEvents else { return }
super.sendEvent(event)
}
answered Nov 13 at 17:10
Dmitry Serov
618720
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
You can achieve this by overriding sendEvent(_ event: NSEvent) in your NSWindow subclass. Use a flag to let the window know that it should not handle events temporarily:
override func sendEvent(_ event: NSEvent) {
guard shouldSendEvents else { return }
super.sendEvent(event)
}
answered Nov 13 at 17:10
Dmitry Serov
618720
You can achieve this by overriding sendEvent(_ event: NSEvent) in your NSWindow subclass. Use a flag to let the window know that it should not handle events temporarily:
override func sendEvent(_ event: NSEvent) {
guard shouldSendEvents else { return }
super.sendEvent(event)
}
answered Nov 13 at 17:10
Dmitry Serov
618720
answered Nov 13 at 17:10
Dmitry Serov
618720
answered Nov 13 at 17:10
Dmitry Serov
618720
answered Nov 13 at 17:10
Dmitry Serov
618720
618720
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
I'm not sure this UI design is good, but if you must… you can use a semaphore. Initialize it with a count of 0. The background thread will signal it when it completes. The main thread can, after spawning the background task, wait on it with a timeout of 2 seconds. If the background task finishes first, the main thread will resume at that time. If the timeout expires, the main thread will resume and can show the sheet with the Cancel button.
By the way, if the background task takes just over 2 seconds, you will still show a sheet and then immediately dismiss it.
answered Nov 13 at 17:29
Ken Thomases
68.8k668105
I realise that the sheet is sometimes still shown very short, but only in 0.1% of the cases, instead of 98%. I think this is acceptable.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:40
As for the GUI design, I'm open for suggestions :)
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:43
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
I'm not sure this UI design is good, but if you must… you can use a semaphore. Initialize it with a count of 0. The background thread will signal it when it completes. The main thread can, after spawning the background task, wait on it with a timeout of 2 seconds. If the background task finishes first, the main thread will resume at that time. If the timeout expires, the main thread will resume and can show the sheet with the Cancel button.
By the way, if the background task takes just over 2 seconds, you will still show a sheet and then immediately dismiss it.
answered Nov 13 at 17:29
Ken Thomases
68.8k668105
I realise that the sheet is sometimes still shown very short, but only in 0.1% of the cases, instead of 98%. I think this is acceptable.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:40
As for the GUI design, I'm open for suggestions :)
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:43
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
I'm not sure this UI design is good, but if you must… you can use a semaphore. Initialize it with a count of 0. The background thread will signal it when it completes. The main thread can, after spawning the background task, wait on it with a timeout of 2 seconds. If the background task finishes first, the main thread will resume at that time. If the timeout expires, the main thread will resume and can show the sheet with the Cancel button.
By the way, if the background task takes just over 2 seconds, you will still show a sheet and then immediately dismiss it.
answered Nov 13 at 17:29
Ken Thomases
68.8k668105
I'm not sure this UI design is good, but if you must… you can use a semaphore. Initialize it with a count of 0. The background thread will signal it when it completes. The main thread can, after spawning the background task, wait on it with a timeout of 2 seconds. If the background task finishes first, the main thread will resume at that time. If the timeout expires, the main thread will resume and can show the sheet with the Cancel button.
By the way, if the background task takes just over 2 seconds, you will still show a sheet and then immediately dismiss it.
answered Nov 13 at 17:29
Ken Thomases
68.8k668105
answered Nov 13 at 17:29
Ken Thomases
68.8k668105
answered Nov 13 at 17:29
Ken Thomases
68.8k668105
answered Nov 13 at 17:29
Ken Thomases
68.8k668105
68.8k668105
I realise that the sheet is sometimes still shown very short, but only in 0.1% of the cases, instead of 98%. I think this is acceptable.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:40
As for the GUI design, I'm open for suggestions :)
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:43
add a comment |
I realise that the sheet is sometimes still shown very short, but only in 0.1% of the cases, instead of 98%. I think this is acceptable.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:40
As for the GUI design, I'm open for suggestions :)
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:43
I realise that the sheet is sometimes still shown very short, but only in 0.1% of the cases, instead of 98%. I think this is acceptable.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:40
I realise that the sheet is sometimes still shown very short, but only in 0.1% of the cases, instead of 98%. I think this is acceptable.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:40
As for the GUI design, I'm open for suggestions :)
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:43
As for the GUI design, I'm open for suggestions :)
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 16 at 9:43
add a comment |
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You say 'I want to execute it in the background', but you also want to 'block the GUI for those first 2 seconds'. This seems like a contradiction to me.
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 9:30
After the first two seconds I want to put up a sheet with a cancel button. I need the main run loop for that, so the command needs to execute in the background. The sheet will then take care of blocking the main window.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 12 at 11:37
If the GUI is blocked for the first 2 seconds, why don't you just display the sheet straight away with the cancel button disabled? Enable the button once 2 seconds are up, and, as a bonus, there will be no beach-balling.
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 12:52
Because most of the time the command runs very short and I want to prevent a lot of half appearing and directly disappearing sheets.
– Remco Poelstra
Nov 12 at 12:55
Why do you need to block the UI, then?
– Dmitry Serov
Nov 12 at 13:03