FB13300954: Add the ability to prevent the menu bar from hiding when it is set to auto-hide

[Sindre Sorhus]

• Date: 2023-10-25
• Resolution: Open
• Area: AppKit
• OS: macOS 14.0
• Type: Suggestion

Description

For example, you are making a menu bar app, and when the user clicks the menu bar item (NSStatusItem), it shows a window below the menu bar item. If the user has set the menu bar to auto-hide, the menu bar will hide when the user moves the mouse from the menu bar item to the window. This does not happen when you click a system menu bar item, like the battery indicator. So there must already be a private API to prevent the menu bar from hiding. It would useful for third-party developer to be able to temporarily prevent the menu bar from hiding, when for example, we are showing a window attached to a menu bar item.

The problem with the menu bar hiding is:

1. The window is live attached to the menu bar item (using window move events): When the menu bar hides, the window moves up, since the menu bar item moved out of the screen.
2. The window is not live attached to the menu bar item: There is now a large gap between the window and the top of the screen (where the menu bar used to be).

Neither of these situations are ideal.