Quit menu notification with SWT on Mac OS X ?

Hi, I have a GUI java application built with SWT that has a single shell. On Mac OS X, it is packaged as an application bundle, using the Eclipse export module "Mac OS X application bundle". I need to perform some actions before the shell is disposed. I found how to install a handler for the "close" event, sent when the user's click on the window's close box. However, if he use the Quit menu in the standard Mac OS X application menu, I don't get notified. How can I get notified either when the shell is about to be disposed (whether is due to the Quit menu or to the window's close box), or when the Quit menu is invoked ? Thanks, Patrick -- Patrick Stadelmann <Patrick.Stadelmann@unine.ch>

In article <Patrick.Stadelmann-7AB856.11535316052008@individual.net>, Patrick Stadelmann <Patrick.Stadelmann@unine.ch> wrote: > Hi, > > I have a GUI java application built with SWT that has a single shell. On > Mac OS X, it is packaged as an application bundle, using the Eclipse > export module "Mac OS X application bundle". > > I need to perform some actions before the shell is disposed. I found how > to install a handler for the "close" event, sent when the user's click > on the window's close box. However, if he use the Quit menu in the > standard Mac OS X application menu, I don't get notified. > > How can I get notified either when the shell is about to be disposed > (whether is due to the Quit menu or to the window's close box), or when > the Quit menu is invoked ? > > Thanks, > > Patrick What version of Eclipse? You'll need to implement java.awt.event.WindowListener and possibly com.apple.eawt.ApplicationListener. The platform will handle Preferences flush(). John -- John B. Matthews trashgod at gmail dot com home dot woh dot rr dot com slash jbmatthews

In article <nospam-4E4BF1.09130516052008@news-server.woh.rr.com>, "John B. Matthews" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote: > What version of Eclipse? I'm using version 3.1.2 / J2SE 1.4.2. > You'll need to implement java.awt.event.WindowListener and possibly > com.apple.eawt.ApplicationListener. Isn't this for use with AWT ? I didn't find equivalents for SWT... Thanks for your reply, Patrick -- Patrick Stadelmann <Patrick.Stadelmann@unine.ch>

In article <Patrick.Stadelmann-AEA324.18444016052008@individual.net>, Patrick Stadelmann <Patrick.Stadelmann@unine.ch> wrote: > In article <nospam-4E4BF1.09130516052008@news-server.woh.rr.com>, > "John B. Matthews" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote: > > > What version of Eclipse? > > I'm using version 3.1.2 / J2SE 1.4.2. > > > You'll need to implement java.awt.event.WindowListener and possibly > > com.apple.eawt.ApplicationListener. > > Isn't this for use with AWT ? I didn't find equivalents for SWT... > > Thanks for your reply, > > Patrick Oops, misread the question! My principal contribution to an SWT project was the command-line interface:-) I was intrigued to hear that there's support for building Mac application bundles; I'm still using make... John -- John B. Matthews trashgod at gmail dot com home dot woh dot rr dot com slash jbmatthews

On Fri, 16 May 2008 02:53:53 -0700, Patrick Stadelmann <Patrick.Stadelmann@unine.ch> wrote: > [...] > I need to perform some actions before the shell is disposed. I found how > to install a handler for the "close" event, sent when the user's click > on the window's close box. However, if he use the Quit menu in the > standard Mac OS X application menu, I don't get notified. > > How can I get notified either when the shell is about to be disposed > (whether is due to the Quit menu or to the window's close box), or when > the Quit menu is invoked ? I've only played around with SWT a little bit. But inasmuch as the JVM seems to be managing the main application menu with the "Quit" item, it seems possible to me that you may not be able to get notification. That menu item might be operating at a higher level than that at which Java code is executing. If it _is_ possible, I would expect you'd need to add a listener to the menu item itself, to see if you can get notification of the item before it winds up disposing your Shell instance. Here's a page from Apple's docs that includes a sample SWT program that has a custom menu; it may provide a starting point for looking at retrieving the "Quit" menu item so that you can add a listener (I haven't tried that, so I don't actually know if it's possible; if it is, it shouldn't be hard to do...just enumerate the menu items to find it). An alternative would be to revisit the question of whether you really need to perform these actions before the Shell instance has been disposed. The Shell is responsible for UI stuff and if the application is exiting, it's not clear that anything the Shell instance has should be useful. Or put another way, if you have something in your Shell that's still useful when the application is exiting, that may suggest that whatever that "something" is, it belongs elsewhere and/or ought not to be interacting with the Shell. You can subscribe a DisposeListener to the shell to get notification that it's _been_ disposed. This doesn't address your specific question, but if you can remove the requirement of "before disposed", that will at least get you reliable notification that the application is quitting. Pete

Sorry...forgot to include the link: On Fri, 16 May 2008 13:51:12 -0700, Peter Duniho <NpOeStPeAdM@nnowslpianmk.com> wrote: > [...] > If it _is_ possible, I would expect you'd need to add a listener to the > menu item itself, to see if you can get notification of the item before > it winds up disposing your Shell instance. Here's a page from Apple's > docs that includes a sample SWT program that has a custom menu [...] http://developer.apple.com/tools/usingeclipse.html The SWT sample is near the bottom.

In article <op.ua9ljmxj8jd0ej@petes-computer.local>, "Peter Duniho" <NpOeStPeAdM@nnowslpianmk.com> wrote: > Or put > another way, if you have something in your Shell that's still useful when > the application is exiting, that may suggest that whatever that > "something" is, it belongs elsewhere and/or ought not to be interacting > with the Shell. Thanks for your reply. In my case, it holds controls providing status from a device. Before the application exits, some commands are sent to the device, and I'd like the Shell to stay around to show the device status in case an error occurs at this time. But the Shell could simply be e.g. a text editor window. If the user quits before saving the modifications, he needs to be notified before the Shell disappears... Patric -- Patrick Stadelmann <Patrick.Stadelmann@unine.ch>

In article <Patrick.Stadelmann-276D8C.10534317052008@individual.net>, Patrick Stadelmann <Patrick.Stadelmann@unine.ch> wrote: > But the Shell could simply be e.g. a text editor window. If the user > quits before saving the modifications, he needs to be notified before > the Shell disappears... BTW, on Windows the listener the for SWT.Close is called when the user quits the application using Alt-F4. Patrick -- Patrick Stadelmann <Patrick.Stadelmann@unine.ch>

Peter Duniho wrote: > An alternative would be to revisit the question of whether you really > need to perform these actions before the Shell instance has been > disposed. Note that eclipse itself does it that way (saving workspace on exit). So it's probably not a blatant antipattern. Phil

On Sun, 18 May 2008 02:35:30 -0700, Philipp <sicsicsic@freesurf.ch> wrote: > Peter Duniho wrote: >> An alternative would be to revisit the question of whether you really >> need to perform these actions before the Shell instance has been >> disposed. > > Note that eclipse itself does it that way (saving workspace on exit). So > it's probably not a blatant antipattern. I'm not entirely sure what you mean. It's not unusual for an application to do _something_ before exiting, and I agree that's not necessarily an "antipattern". My point was that the existing Shell instance itself may not really need to continue to exist. In a follow-up message, the OP indicated he not only wants to do something before the Shell is disposed, he wants the Shell to remain until he decides he's done with it, even if the user has selected the "Quit" command from the menu. To some extent, that _is_ an "antipattern", in that he seems to want the program to do something contrary to the user's command. Now, not that there's not also precedent for that. But I have to admit, every time I run into an application that acts that way, I find myself doing a little double-take. It always seems a little awkward. I don't actually know exactly what Eclipse is doing when it quits. However, it's possible that reviewing the Eclipse code would be a way for the OP to find some direction with respect to his specific goals. At the very least, it should provide better insight into what exactly happens when a user on the Mac chooses "Quit" from the application menu, and what sorts of things one can have their code safely do. Pete

In article <op.ubdjhznv8jd0ej@petes-computer.local>, "Peter Duniho" <NpOeStPeAdM@nnowslpianmk.com> wrote: > However, it's possible that reviewing the Eclipse code would be a way for > the OP to find some direction with respect to his specific goals. Indeed, the answer is in the Eclipse source code. > At the > very least, it should provide better insight into what exactly happens > when a user on the Mac chooses "Quit" from the application menu, and what > sorts of things one can have their code safely do. Native applications receive a "quit" handler, before any action is taken, whatever the cause is (system shutting down, quit menu item selected in the menu bar or in the Dock, AppleEvent received from another application or from an AppleScript, etc... Thank you all for your help, Patrick -- Patrick Stadelmann <Patrick.Stadelmann@unine.ch>