Transitioning from Apple extensions

[Chris Harshman]

On Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 1:07 AM, Mario Torre
<neugens.limasoftware at gmail.com>wrote:

> That's the bet that people lose when use proprietary extensions.
>

Well, in fairness to OS X Java developers everywhere, Apple pitched Java as
a first-class dev environment for the Mac for years, before abdicating;
remember Steve Jobs joining McNealy during a JavaOne
keynote<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/2000/06/06/NEWS8616.dtl>
?

At least the 'proprietary extensions' are still (from the developer's
perspective) Java, and can be coded around; i.e., it's *preferable* (for
Mac users/developers), but not *absolutely necessary* to use:


   - The apple.laf.useScreenMenuBar system property (which itself takes
   over from the deprecated com.apple.macos.useScreenMenuBar ) to use the
   Mac's native top-of-screen menu bar instead of a menu bar attached to a
   window (er, JFrame) instance;
   - The apple.laf.AquaLookAndFeel Swing look and feel
   - The com.apple.eawt.Application (i.e., .setDockIconImage(),
   .setDockMenu(), etc) package to manage an application's dock presence;
   - Apple's 'native' java.awt.FileDialog;
   - The apple.awt.fileDialogForDirectories property (that begat this
   thread that I've hijacked);
   - The Window.documentModified property to indicate a 'dirty' (unsaved
   changes) window state (this one may not be Mac-centric);
   - The com.apple.eawt.* classes to handle Apple events (with, e.g.,
   ApplicationAdapter already deprecated in favor of
   com.apple.eawt.AppEvent.* events...); etc.

Is there a more recent comprehensive guide to OS X development in Java than
Apple's circa-2010[1] "Java Development Guide for Mac OS X"?

[1] And thus pre-"Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3, Java for Mac OS X 10.5
Update 8"


What are the specific "features" you're missing?





> Perhaps the most
> popular ones will be reintroduced, but I doubt that Apple specific
> functionality will end in the main JDK, that's not the place for it.
>
> Cheers,
> Mario
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