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Weblog:   Turf Battle: Dock vs. Menu Bar
Subject:   LSUIElement
Date:   2004-01-01 08:00:26
From:   anonymous2
Response to: Hate the dock I does, gollum gollum

If the Info.plist of an app has a property LSUIElement set to 1, then it does not appear in the dock or app switcher. I used that to make LaunchBar hide. It's quite useful. You can hide your SuitCase, etc. using the same method: Right-click (or Ctrl-Click) on the app in the Finder and select Show Package Contents. Navigate into the Contents folder, then open the Info.plist. If you have the Dev Tools installed, it will open in the Property List Editor, and you can simply change the LSUIElement to 1 (if it is there) or select the expanded Root entry and click Add Child to make a new entry for LSUIElement and set it to 1. If you don't have the Dev Tools, you'll have to manually edit the XML with any XML editor, or vi from xterm, etc.
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Showing messages 1 through 4 of 4.

  • LSUIElement
    2004-01-01 21:52:52  anonymous2 [Reply | View]

    I use an app called Drop Drawers, which shows it's icon on the doc. I tried all your suggestions, but could not get them to work. The app won't open in Property List Editor nor is there a "Show Package Contents" in the contextural menu.

    I contacted the Co. and they said that it's an OSX limitation that makes it almost imposible to hide certain App icons.

    Doesn't sound right to me, but i'm starting out in the development side. So what do I know.

  • LSUIElement
    2004-01-01 09:07:15  anonymous2 [Reply | View]

    In earlier versions of OS X there were some unhappy consequences of making an application faceless. I recall a few utilities (LaunchBar was one, if I remember properly) that offered a way to do it but warned it wasn't a good idea.) Perhaps this is why Apple hasn't made this configuration user easy?
    • LSUIElement
      2004-12-29 11:38:41  jjoonathan [Reply | View]

      Actually, this is a limitation of the tools they are using. They used code warrior, so the application is resourced-based and has no bundle. Therefore, the info.plist is either embedded (look for it in resedit), or not there. If they had used Xcode, it would be a proper bundle and all would be happy.
    • LSUIElement
      2004-12-29 11:36:38  jjoonathan [Reply | View]

      Actually, this is a limitation of the tools they are using. They used code warrior, so the application is resourced-based and has no bundle. Therefore, the info.plist is either embedded (look for it in resedit), or not there. If they had used Xcode, it would be a proper bundle and all would be happy.
Showing messages 1 through 4 of 4.