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macOS 13.5 AppKit button configuration guide to mouse events after switching to another window

👀 Views: 48 đŸ’Ŧ Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-06-12
macos appkit event-handling Swift

Can someone help me understand I'm experiencing an scenario with a macOS application built using AppKit where a custom button stops responding to mouse events after the application window has lost focus and then regains it. The app is running on macOS 13.5. I've implemented the button in a view controller and added an action to it as follows: ```swift class MyViewController: NSViewController { @IBOutlet weak var myButton: NSButton! override func viewDidLoad() { super.viewDidLoad() myButton.target = self myButton.action = #selector(buttonClicked) } @objc func buttonClicked() { print("Button clicked!") } } ``` Initially, everything works fine, and the button registers clicks as expected. However, after I switch to another application and then click back to my app, the button fails to respond to any mouse clicks. I've tried calling `myButton.window?.makeFirstResponder(myButton)` in the `viewDidAppear` method, but that did not resolve the scenario. I've also checked that the button is still enabled and visible when I click on it again, but it seems like the click events are not being processed. To troubleshoot, I've added a mouse event handler to the button using: ```swift override func mouseDown(with event: NSEvent) { print("Mouse Down Event") super.mouseDown(with: event) } ``` This method never gets triggered after the window focus switch. I suspect there might be an scenario related to the responder chain or a race condition with the focus. Has anyone encountered a similar scenario or have any suggestions on how to ensure the button remains responsive after losing and regaining window focus? I'm working with Swift in a Docker container on Ubuntu 20.04. Could someone point me to the right documentation?