[absmiths]

Apparently, Apple does have a framework in place for creating Contextual menu plugins. Has anyone noticed that XRay installs a file here:
~/Library/Contextual Menu Items/XRay Contextual Menu.plugin

It even has a nice icon and everything. I looked and can't find a single shred of documentation on this.

[KaptainKaya]

It's not so much having the framework, it's the documentation and the ability to provide examples to developers so they know how to make them. Same goes for the Input Devices (gamepads and the like), the framework is there, but they don't have the ability to demonstrate it yet. While its good to see Apple implementing this, it would also be nice to have sample so that we can in turn develop for them.

[absmiths]

So my question is - where did the guy that wrote XRay get the information? Is it a relic from NeXT? Do premium developers get this info and it has to trickle down to us? Was it just hacking?

[benh57]

Originally posted by absmiths:
<STRONG>So my question is - where did the guy that wrote XRay get the information? Is it a relic from NeXT? Do premium developers get this info and it has to trickle down to us? Was it just hacking?</STRONG>

It's right there in Menus.h.

Great way to search the docs/headers:

Create new carbon project in PB, turn on indexing, and build it.

Then go to "find", search "this project, frameworks only" and search for "contextual". You can also select "Definitions" in the second menu and find only function definitions with your string, and you get a link to the docs right there!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1"face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial">code:</font><HR><pre><font size=1 face=courier>
<font color = brown>/*————————————————————————————————————————————————— —————————————————————————————————————*/</font>
<font color = brown>/* Contextual Menu Plugin Interface */</font>
<font color = brown>/* */</font>
<font color = brown>/* For Mac OS X, we will support a new type of Contextual Menu Plugin: the CFPlugIn */</font>
<font color = brown>/* based plugin. Each plugin must be in a CFPlugIn in the Contextual Menu Items */</font>
<font color = brown>/* folder in one of these paths: */</font>
<font color = brown>/* /System/Library/Contextual Menu Items/ */</font>
<font color = brown>/* /Library/Contextual Menu Items/ */</font>
<font color = brown>/* ~/Library/Contextual Menu Items/ */</font>
<font color = brown>/* */</font>
<font color = brown>/* It must export the following functions using the following interface or a C++ */</font>
<font color = brown>/* interface inheriting from IUnknown and including similar functions. */</font>
<font color = brown>/*————————————————————————————————————————————————— —————————————————————————————————————*/</font>

<font color = brown>// The Contextual Menu Manager will only load CFPlugIns of type kContextualMenuTypeID</font>
#define kContextualMenuTypeID ( CFUUIDGetConstantUUIDWithBytes( NULL, \
0x2F, 0x65, 0x22, 0xE9, 0x3E, 0x66, 0x11, 0xD5, \
0x80, 0xA7, 0x00, 0x30, 0x65, 0xB3, 0x00, 0xBC ) )
<font color = brown>// 2F6522E9-3E66-11D5-80A7-003065B300BC</font>

<font color = brown>// Contextual Menu Plugins must implement this Contexual Menu Plugin Interface.</font>
#define kContextualMenuInterfaceID ( CFUUIDGetConstantUUIDWithBytes( NULL, \
0x32, 0x99, 0x7B, 0x62, 0x3E, 0x66, 0x11, 0xD5, \
0xBE, 0xAB, 0x00, 0x30, 0x65, 0xB3, 0x00, 0xBC ) )
<font color = brown>// 32997B62-3E66-11D5-BEAB-003065B300BC</font>

#define CM_IUNKNOWN_C_GUTS \
void *_reserved; \
SInt32 (*QueryInterface)(void *thisPointer, CFUUIDBytes iid, void ** ppv); \
UInt32 (*AddRef)(void *thisPointer); \
UInt32 (*Release)(void *thisPointer)

<font color = brown>// The function table for the interface.</font>
struct ContextualMenuInterfaceStruct
{
CM_IUNKNOWN_C_GUTS;
OSStatus ( *ExamineContext )(
void* thisInstance,
const AEDesc* inContext,
AEDescList* outCommandPairs );
OSStatus ( *HandleSelection )(
void* thisInstance,
AEDesc* inContext,
SInt32 inCommandID );
void ( *PostMenuCleanup )(
void* thisInstance );
};
typedef struct ContextualMenuInterfaceStruct ContextualMenuInterfaceStruct;

<font color = brown>/*
* CMPluginExamineContext()
*
* Availability:
* Implemented by client
*/</font>
extern OSStatus
CMPluginExamineContext(
void * thisInstance,
const AEDesc * inContext,
AEDescList * outCommandPairs);


<font color = brown>/*
* CMPluginHandleSelection()
*
* Availability:
* Implemented by client
*/</font>
extern OSStatus
CMPluginHandleSelection(
void * thisInstance,
AEDesc * inContext,
SInt32 inCommandID);


<font color = brown>/*
* CMPluginPostMenuCleanup()
*
* Availability:
* Implemented by client
*/</font>
extern void
CMPluginPostMenuCleanup(void * thisInstance);

</font>[/code]

[benh57]

Aha! I found OSX sample code for a CM Plugin which implements the above API.

It is on the iDisk "geowar1", public folder.

Unfortunately he has not set up file sharing so you have to use iDisk to get to it. Easiest way is to go to iTools on apple.com, log in and choose open public folder.

-Ben