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Introduction

Contents:

Organization of This Document
See Also

The Dock is a desktop application designed to reduce desktop clutter, provide users with feedback about an application, and allow users to switch easily between tasks. With Mac OS X version 10.1 and later, you can customize your application Dock tile by modifying the Dock icon and adding items to the contextual menu displayed for your application. With Mac OS X version 10.5 and later, Cocoa applications can customize the Dock icon of a minimized window.

This document provides an overview of the Dock and describes how you can customize the contextual menu associated with your application Dock tile. It does not describe how to create icons. You should consult Apple Human Interface Guidelines for tips on designing Dock icons, naming Dock menu items, and using badges in your Dock tile.

Organization of This Document

This document is organized into the following sections:

• “Dock Tile Concepts” describes the purpose and use of the Dock, the icon used by an application Dock tile, and the contextual menu that is available for a Dock tile.

• “Dock Tile Tasks for Cocoa Applications” describes how to customize Dock icons and the application Dock tile contextual menu inside a Cocoa application.

• “Dock Tile Tasks for Carbon Applications” describes how to customize Dock icons and the application Dock tile contextual menu inside a Carbon application.

See Also

These references are relevant to customizing a Dock tile on Cocoa:

• NSApplication Class Reference

• NSDockTile Class Reference

These references are relevant to customizing a Dock tile on Carbon:

• Application Manager Reference

• Tiler is a sample application that shows how to set Dock tiles and badges.

For information on creating icons, see:

• Obtaining and Using Icons With Icon Services

• Icon Services and Utilities Reference

• Apple Human Interface Guidelines

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