How to hide icons in the dock

Rower_CPU · Oct 28, 2003

OK, has anyone found a way to do this in Panther yet? I tried doing it the way I did in Jaguar and it's not working at all.

Adding this to the Info.plist file inside the app's contents doesn't seem to do anything.

<key>NSUIElement</key>
<string>1</string>

snickelfritz · Oct 29, 2003

If the app is running, just right-click the dock icon and choose "hide".

I assume you already know this though, and want some way, for example, to launch the activity monitor at startup as a hidden application that displays status info in the dock.
Not sure how this is done, or if it's possible.

Rower_CPU · Oct 29, 2003

Yeah, I'm actually talking about the icon not displaying in the dock while the app is running.

Let me touch up the topic to make that clearer.

LimeLite · Oct 29, 2003

Can I just ask why you need to do that? Seems like that hack necessary to do it isn't really worth it.

Rower_CPU · Oct 29, 2003

It's not a need, but more of a want, and it was doable in Jaguar.

For instance, I've got an app that's always visible on my desktop and launches when I log in. I'd prefer to not have it taking up space in my dock when I won't be interacting with it via the dock. Also, I'm curious to see if it disappears from the app switcher as well.

Also, it was a very simple hack in 10.2...not a lot of "trouble" at all.

Macco · Oct 29, 2003

This is really really weird. It's working with iPulse, but not Stickies, both of which I added NSUIElement to under Jaguar. I tried doing it to TextEdit today under Panther, and it didn't work. It seems rather inconsistent.

Bear · Oct 29, 2003

In System Preference->Account Preferences under the Startup Items tab, you can add an application and check the Hide check box to hide the icon from the dock.

The above will work for items you want started when you log in.

Rower_CPU · Oct 29, 2003

Originally posted by Bear
In System Preference->Account Preferences under the Startup Items tab, you can add an application and check the Hide check box to hide the icon from the dock.

The above will work for items you want started when you log in.

Doing that still leaves the icon in the dock, it only hides the app.

Macco-
I wonder if they disable it for Apple apps. I'm trying it on stickies as well, and it's a no go.

mnkeybsness · Oct 29, 2003

download dockless

Rower_CPU · Oct 29, 2003

Originally posted by mnkeybsness
download dockless

I'm getting unexpected quits in Panther. So close, and yet...

MetallicPenguin · Oct 29, 2003

hmm.....that's weird, isn't TextEdit Carbon or something (sorry, I'm not a programmer of any sort

), and Stickies too? Maybe that has something to do with it. Or maybe I'm just assuming things.

cb911 · Oct 29, 2003

i was going to mention Dockless as well.

i guess the next version will be Panther compatible. i'll be keeping my eye out for it...

Phil Of Mac · Oct 29, 2003

Originally posted by MetallicPenguin
hmm.....that's weird, isn't TextEdit Carbon or something (sorry, I'm not a programmer of any sort ), and Stickies too? Maybe that has something to do with it. Or maybe I'm just assuming things.

Stickies is Cocoa. It was ported. In Mac OS X Public Beta, the default Stickies said, "This is an example of how easy it is to port apps to Cocoa!"--surely a vestigial feature remaining from Rhapsody!

TextEdit is Cocoa as well.

MacManDan · Oct 29, 2003

Re: How to hide icons in the dock

Originally posted by Rower_CPU
OK, has anyone found a way to do this in Panther yet? I tried doing it the way I did in Jaguar and it's not working at all.

Adding this to the Info.plist file inside the app's contents doesn't seem to do anything.

I know exactly what you're talking about! For some strange reason, Panther actually cache's the Plists. To reset it, with the NSUIElement set to 0 (just like in Jag), quit the app, move it to another folder (say, your desktop), then back to your applications folder. That should do the trick. That resets the cached file and it should do the expected behavior.

Rower_CPU · Oct 29, 2003

Re: Re: How to hide icons in the dock

Originally posted by MacManDan
I know exactly what you're talking about! For some strange reason, Panther actually cache's the Plists. To reset it, with the NSUIElement set to 0 (just like in Jag), quit the app, move it to another folder (say, your desktop), then back to your applications folder. That should do the trick. That resets the cached file and it should do the expected behavior.

That's not doing the trick, either. I tried my desktop and another partition, and I tried set to 0 and 1...nothing...hmmm.

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How to hide icons in the dock

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