[LightWaver-67]

I know I've asked this question years ago within the first two releases of OSX, but I cannot seem to remember the answer.

If Mac OSX (Excluding any Classic Install) is an ENTIRELY new Operating System based on a NEW platform... then why do I occasionally get a switch from the Spinning Rainbow BeachBall to the old-fashioned Black & White wristwatch when the CPU or application is tied-up...?

Is this cursor animation something that resides in the actual FINDER... or is it resident in a particular (or multiple) application resources...?

If it IS in the finder... (without a CLASSIC install)... then WHY is it in there still...?

Just curious.

thnx.

[Diggory Laycock]

As far as I know - the wristwatch is part of Carbon - (idle manager?)

idleProc

A universal procedure pointer to a function that handles events (such as update, operating-system, activate, and null events) that your application receives while waiting for a reply. Your idle function can also perform other tasks (such as displaying a wristwatch or spinning beach ball cursor) while waiting for a reply or a return receipt.

If your application specifies the kAEWaitReply flag in the sendMode parameter and you wish your application to get periodic time while waiting for the reply to return, you must provide an idle function. Otherwise, you can pass a value of NULL for this parameter. For more information on the idle function, see AEIdleProcPtr.

(I think Beachball in this context refers to the old black & white quarters beachball)

http://developer.apple.com/documenta..._group_28.html

The coloured beachball means that a process is so busy it won't respond to the WindowServer - but the watch cursor was used when a carbon app is waiting for the rest of the OS to complete some operation.

[Millennium]

Actually, they mean two different things.

The wristwatch is an interface convention for applications, and has been around since the earliest days of the Mac. It means that the app is doing something which is going to require some non-trivial amount of time (more than a couple of seconds) but not long enough to put up a progress meter. Note that when the application is tied up, it affects only that application.

The SPROD (SPinning Rainbow Of Despair), on the other hand, means that the system is tied up waiting for something. This could be caused by the current application, or it could be something else. However, any app which uses the resource which the system is trying to access will be hung up as long as the SPROD is in place.

Truth be told, SPRODs should be very rare, and the fact that they still appear as often as they do is a sign that something is wrong. Exactly what, I don't claim to know.

[TETENAL]

Originally posted by Millennium:
The SPROD (SPinning Rainbow Of Despair), on the other hand, means that the system is tied up waiting for something.

That's not true. The spinning pizza means that an application did not handle events for some amount of time (5 seconds or what it is). It is shown by the system. The wristwatch or spinning BMW symbol means that an application is handling some lengthy task and doesn't want to or can not respond to the user. It is shown by the application. The application must however still respond to events (though it may choose to ignore them) so that the system knows that is not hung. When it fails to respond to events the system will show the spinning pizza. That's why you see the two types of wait cursors flip sometimes.

Since the spinning pizza only indicates that an application is no longer responding to events (not that the system is hung like Millenium thought) you can still switch to other applications and work with them. It also doesn't indicate that something is wrong with the system. It can indicate that a particular application is poorly threaded however.

[LightWaver-67]

Well... All I know is the Spinning Beach Ball (SBB from here-on-in) is application specific (including the finder). For instance, if (for example) Address Book.app were to "hang"... the SBB would appear upon mouse-over of that window... but as the cursor LEAVES that window and hoovers over the finder or any OTHER application, it goes back to the arrow-pointer.

But I digress.

I guess what really confuses me is WHY did they not update ALL graphical elements of the OS when they did this...? Why was there no "Aqua" equivalent to the wristwatch...?

thnx.

[Person Man]

Originally posted by LightWaver-67:
I guess what really confuses me is WHY did they not update ALL graphical elements of the OS when they did this...? Why was there no "Aqua" equivalent to the wristwatch...?

thnx.

Probably because there's not much need to... the mouse arrow wasn't "aquafied" either (and the drop shadow doesn't count because it doesn't show up on certain graphic cards).

[TETENAL]

Originally posted by LightWaver-67:
Why was there no "Aqua" equivalent to the wristwatch...?

Probably because they didn't have time to do them yet.

[dru]

Originally posted by LightWaver-67:
If Mac OSX (Excluding any Classic Install) is an ENTIRELY new Operating System based on a NEW platform... then why do I occasionally get a switch from the Spinning Rainbow BeachBall to the old-fashioned Black & White wristwatch when the CPU or application is tied-up...?

If the B/W wristwatch is showing up it's because the application developer is using it in their application. Developers can still use custom wait cursors and some continue to use the wristwatch eventhough it violates the Mac OS X user interface guidelines.

[TETENAL]

Originally posted by dru:
If the B/W wristwatch is showing up it's because the application developer is using it in their application. Developers can still use custom wait cursors and some continue to use the wristwatch eventhough it violates the Mac OS X user interface guidelines.

The B/W wristwatch cursor is one of the standard cursors in Mac OS X, and I haven't seen anything in the Aqua interface guidelines that discourages its use.

[TETENAL]

Originally posted by TETENAL:
I haven't seen anything in the Aqua interface guidelines that discourages its use.

That's because I haven't read the guidelines. Apple actually does discourage the B/W wait cursors and suggests a spinning wait control instead.

I would like to apologise for the misinformation.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by TETENAL:
That's not true. The spinning pizza means that an application did not handle events for some amount of time (5 seconds or what it is). It is shown by the system.

That's the high-level reason. On a lower level, however, the only reason for an app to hang for so long is because the system is waiting for something. Of course, the system multitasks, so anything that doesn't use that resource can keep moving without any problem. But any app which needs the hanging resource will hang too. This is, for example, why SPRODs have a nasty tendency to "spread" between applications if you're not careful.

The wristwatch or spinning BMW symbol means that an application is handling some lengthy task and doesn't want to or can not respond to the user. It is shown by the application. The application must however still respond to events (though it may choose to ignore them) so that the system knows that is not hung. When it fails to respond to events the system will show the spinning pizza. That's why you see the two types of wait cursors flip sometimes.

When they flip like this, it actually means something different. Usually it means that something is screwed up with the resource, such that it can only respond in short bursts (this is particularly common on heavily-loaded systems). When they happens, the cursors flip depending on whether the app is getting anything from the system at that moment.

Since the spinning pizza only indicates that an application is no longer responding to events (not that the system is hung like Millenium thought) you can still switch to other applications and work with them.

The reason the app doesn't respond is because the system is hung on something. It's not a total hang (not usually, anyway), but in the end it still comes down to the system. Other apps will continue to work, as long as they don't depend on the same resource that's hanging the first app. If they come to depend on it and the system is still hanging on it, then they will hang too.

[TETENAL]

Originally posted by Millennium:
On a lower level, however, the only reason for an app to hang for so long is because the system is waiting for something.

That's one reason, but by far not the only reason. The main thread can also by busy doing something or caught in a non terminating loop.

[Big Mac]

Millennium, can you provide some evidence that the SPOD usually indicates there's a delay in the system? I agree with others, it can mean that, but that does not mean it often does mean that. When an application stops responding to events the kernel automatically displays the SPOD. I only see the classic wrist watch cursor very rarely in crappier Carbon applications. The standard wait cursor in OS X is the SPOD.

To answer the OP's question, OS X is not a "totally new OS" based on a totally new platform. Its underlying OS is OpenStep, from NeXT, the company Steve Jobs founded in 1985. OS X's main lineage is OpenStep; it is essentially OpenStep with a new face. But In addition to OpenStep and its API framework (named Cocoa in OS X), there is the updated Macintosh Toolbox known as Carbon. Even at the user interface level, there are some noticeable distinctions between Carbon and Cocoa applications. Sometimes old traits - like the classic wrist watch cursor - will crop up in Carbon applications. QuickTime is another classic Mac OS technology that became an integral part of OS X. And there are some new components built for OS X that were not found in either OpenStep or classic Mac OS.

[P]

IMHO, a watch is a much more logical symbol for waiting than that spinning beachball.