Inside Macintosh: Macintosh Toolbox Essentials /

Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Macintosh Toolbox

Overview of the Macintosh Toolbox

Macintosh system software contains a powerful set of routines that your application can use to create windows, manage menus, paint objects, display text, open files, share data between programs, and print files, as well as perform many other helpful tasks.

The Macintosh Toolbox encompasses a number of system software routines, most (but not all) of which help present your application's interface to the user. Some of these routines include those provided by the Event Manager, Menu Manager, Window Manager, Control Manager, Dialog Manager, Help Manager, Resource Manager, and Scrap Manager.

You can directly call these routines from within your application. By using system software routines, you can take advantage of the many tasks they can perform for
you, and you can concentrate on the parts of your application that are specific to
your particular product.

Using the Macintosh Toolbox, you can

• respond to user actions, such as mouse actions or keyboard input
• create and display menus
• create and display windows, alert boxes, and dialog boxes
• create and display controls in windows, alert boxes, and dialog boxes
• create icons for your application and its documents

This book, Macintosh Toolbox Essentials, describes these fundamental elements of a Macintosh application. Inside Macintosh: More Macintosh Toolbox describes additional features of a Macintosh application, including how you can

• create help balloons for your application's menus, windows, and dialog boxes
• support copy and paste
• specify characteristics of your application's menus, windows, controls, dialog boxes, and help balloons in resources so that you can more easily localize your application

The best Macintosh applications are designed according to the guidelines in Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines. You should always design your application so that it meets the needs of its users and responds in consistent and expected ways. Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines describes

• the philosophy and the design principles behind the Macintosh interface
• the parts of the Macintosh interface including the interface elements and behaviors
• ways to do human interface design for Macintosh products

You can often get valuable feedback on the design of your application by performing user testing. Do usability testing of your application early and often in the development phase of your product.

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Subtopics

Events

Menus

Windows

Controls

Alert Boxes and Dialog Boxes

Icons and Other Interactions With the Finder

Resources

Help Balloons

Copy and Paste