

NSStatusItems are fully capable of doing most anything a menulet can do.

There are two major 'flavors' of menulets: the standard and publicly documented NSStatusItem and the private and undocumented NSMenuExtra. A menulet can also extend a larger application such as DesktopManager's ( ) menulet that allows a user another means to switch between multiple virtual desktops and can display the current viewable desktop.įigure 1 shows an example menubar with the menulets (from left to right): DesktopManager, Salling Clicker, Applescript Menu, MissingSync, MenuMeters, Date/Time, Audio, and Spotlight. Menulets can be an application unto themselves, such as MenuMeters ( software/menumeters/), which displays the current CPU, memory, or network usage as graphs and blinking lights. The menubar icons and tools are frequently called 'menulets', or status items. On the Mac, this menubar is where users see the date/time, audio volume, spotlight icon, and any other number of tools they can install to display information.
#Installing menumeters mac os x
Windows uses the 'task tray', the Linux specifies a 'system tray', and Mac OS X uses the menubar. Most modern operating systems have some constantly viewable area that displays useful icons, data, and notifications relating to your computer and other services. Educational Institution and Student DiscountsĬolumn Tag: Programming Writing a Menulet Extension Extending an Application or Providing a Service via a Menulet.
