NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS, at least not for the purpose of locating an NSStatusItem.
Back when I posted this, this crazy image matching technique was the only way to solve this problem without undocumented API. Now, you should use Oskar's solution.
If you're willing to use image analysis to find the status item on a menu bar, here's a category for NSScreen which does exactly that.
It might seem crazy to do it this way, but it's fast, relatively small, and it's the only way of finding a status item without undocumented API.
If you pass in the current image for the status item, this method should find it.
@implementation NSScreen (LTStatusItemLocator)
// Find the location of IMG on the screen's status bar.
// If the image is not found, returns NSZeroPoint
- (NSPoint)originOfStatusItemWithImage:(NSImage *)IMG
{
CGColorSpaceRef csK = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceGray();
NSPoint ret = NSZeroPoint;
CGDirectDisplayID screenID = 0;
CGImageRef displayImg = NULL;
CGImageRef compareImg = NULL;
CGRect screenRect = CGRectZero;
CGRect barRect = CGRectZero;
uint8_t *bm_bar = NULL;
uint8_t *bm_bar_ptr;
uint8_t *bm_compare = NULL;
uint8_t *bm_compare_ptr;
size_t bm_compare_w, bm_compare_h;
BOOL inverted = NO;
int numberOfScanLines = 0;
CGFloat *meanValues = NULL;
int presumptiveMatchIdx = -1;
CGFloat presumptiveMatchMeanVal = 999;
// If the computer is set to Dark Mode, set the "inverted" flag
NSDictionary *globalPrefs = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] persistentDomainForName:NSGlobalDomain];
id style = globalPrefs[@"AppleInterfaceStyle"];
if ([style isKindOfClass:[NSString class]]) {
inverted = (NSOrderedSame == [style caseInsensitiveCompare:@"dark"]);
}
screenID = (CGDirectDisplayID)[self.deviceDescription[@"NSScreenNumber"] integerValue];
screenRect = CGDisplayBounds(screenID);
// Get the menubar rect
barRect = CGRectMake(0, 0, screenRect.size.width, 22);
displayImg = CGDisplayCreateImageForRect(screenID, barRect);
if (!displayImg) {
NSLog(@"Unable to create image from display");
CGColorSpaceRelease(csK);
return ret; // I would normally use goto(bail) here, but this is public code so let's not ruffle any feathers
}
size_t bar_w = CGImageGetWidth(displayImg);
size_t bar_h = CGImageGetHeight(displayImg);
// Determine scale factor based on the CGImageRef we got back from the display
CGFloat scaleFactor = (CGFloat)bar_h / (CGFloat)22;
// Greyscale bitmap for menu bar
bm_bar = malloc(1 * bar_w * bar_h);
{
CGContextRef bmCxt = NULL;
bmCxt = CGBitmapContextCreate(bm_bar, bar_w, bar_h, 8, 1 * bar_w, csK, kCGBitmapAlphaInfoMask&kCGImageAlphaNone);
// Draw the menu bar in grey
CGContextDrawImage(bmCxt, CGRectMake(0, 0, bar_w, bar_h), displayImg);
uint8_t minVal = 0xff;
uint8_t maxVal = 0x00;
// Walk the bitmap
uint64_t running = 0;
for (int yi = bar_h / 2; yi == bar_h / 2; yi++)
{
bm_bar_ptr = bm_bar + (bar_w * yi);
for (int xi = 0; xi < bar_w; xi++)
{
uint8_t v = *bm_bar_ptr++;
if (v < minVal) minVal = v;
if (v > maxVal) maxVal = v;
running += v;
}
}
running /= bar_w;
uint8_t threshold = minVal + ((maxVal - minVal) / 2);
//threshold = running;
// Walk the bitmap
bm_bar_ptr = bm_bar;
for (int yi = 0; yi < bar_h; yi++)
{
for (int xi = 0; xi < bar_w; xi++)
{
// Threshold all the pixels. Values > 50% go white, values <= 50% go black
// (opposite if Dark Mode)
// Could unroll this loop as an optimization, but probably not worthwhile
*bm_bar_ptr = (*bm_bar_ptr > threshold) ? (inverted?0x00:0xff) : (inverted?0xff:0x00);
bm_bar_ptr++;
}
}
CGImageRelease(displayImg);
displayImg = CGBitmapContextCreateImage(bmCxt);
CGContextRelease(bmCxt);
}
{
CGContextRef bmCxt = NULL;
CGImageRef img_cg = NULL;
bm_compare_w = scaleFactor * IMG.size.width;
bm_compare_h = scaleFactor * 22;
// Create out comparison bitmap - the image that was passed in
bmCxt = CGBitmapContextCreate(NULL, bm_compare_w, bm_compare_h, 8, 1 * bm_compare_w, csK, kCGBitmapAlphaInfoMask&kCGImageAlphaNone);
CGContextSetBlendMode(bmCxt, kCGBlendModeNormal);
NSRect imgRect_og = NSMakeRect(0,0,IMG.size.width,IMG.size.height);
NSRect imgRect = imgRect_og;
img_cg = [IMG CGImageForProposedRect:&imgRect context:nil hints:nil];
CGContextClearRect(bmCxt, imgRect);
CGContextSetFillColorWithColor(bmCxt, [NSColor whiteColor].CGColor);
CGContextFillRect(bmCxt, CGRectMake(0,0,9999,9999));
CGContextScaleCTM(bmCxt, scaleFactor, scaleFactor);
CGContextTranslateCTM(bmCxt, 0, (22. - IMG.size.height) / 2.);
// Draw the image in grey
CGContextSetFillColorWithColor(bmCxt, [NSColor blackColor].CGColor);
CGContextDrawImage(bmCxt, imgRect, img_cg);
compareImg = CGBitmapContextCreateImage(bmCxt);
CGContextRelease(bmCxt);
}
{
// We start at the right of the menu bar, and scan left until we find a good match
int numberOfScanLines = barRect.size.width - IMG.size.width;
bm_compare = malloc(1 * bm_compare_w * bm_compare_h);
// We use the meanValues buffer to keep track of how well the image matched for each point in the scan
meanValues = calloc(sizeof(CGFloat), numberOfScanLines);
// Walk the menubar image from right to left, pixel by pixel
for (int scanx = 0; scanx < numberOfScanLines; scanx++)
{
// Optimization, if we recently found a really good match, bail on the loop and return it
if ((presumptiveMatchIdx >= 0) && (scanx > (presumptiveMatchIdx + 5))) {
break;
}
CGFloat xOffset = numberOfScanLines - scanx;
CGRect displayRect = CGRectMake(xOffset * scaleFactor, 0, IMG.size.width * scaleFactor, 22. * scaleFactor);
CGImageRef displayCrop = CGImageCreateWithImageInRect(displayImg, displayRect);
CGContextRef compareCxt = CGBitmapContextCreate(bm_compare, bm_compare_w, bm_compare_h, 8, 1 * bm_compare_w, csK, kCGBitmapAlphaInfoMask&kCGImageAlphaNone);
CGContextSetBlendMode(compareCxt, kCGBlendModeCopy);
// Draw the image from our menubar
CGContextDrawImage(compareCxt, CGRectMake(0,0,IMG.size.width * scaleFactor, 22. * scaleFactor), displayCrop);
// Blend mode difference is like an XOR
CGContextSetBlendMode(compareCxt, kCGBlendModeDifference);
// Draw the test image. Because of blend mode, if we end up with a black image we matched perfectly
CGContextDrawImage(compareCxt, CGRectMake(0,0,IMG.size.width * scaleFactor, 22. * scaleFactor), compareImg);
CGContextFlush(compareCxt);
// Walk through the result image, to determine overall blackness
bm_compare_ptr = bm_compare;
for (int i = 0; i < bm_compare_w * bm_compare_h; i++)
{
meanValues[scanx] += (CGFloat)(*bm_compare_ptr);
bm_compare_ptr++;
}
meanValues[scanx] /= (255. * (CGFloat)(bm_compare_w * bm_compare_h));
// If the image is very dark, it matched well. If the average pixel value is < 0.07, we consider this
// a presumptive match. Mark it as such, but continue looking to see if there's an even better match.
if (meanValues[scanx] < 0.07) {
if (meanValues[scanx] < presumptiveMatchMeanVal) {
presumptiveMatchMeanVal = meanValues[scanx];
presumptiveMatchIdx = scanx;
}
}
CGImageRelease(displayCrop);
CGContextRelease(compareCxt);
}
}
// After we're done scanning the whole menubar (or we bailed because we found a good match),
// return the origin point.
// If we didn't match well enough, return NSZeroPoint
if (presumptiveMatchIdx >= 0) {
ret = CGPointMake(CGRectGetMaxX(self.frame), CGRectGetMaxY(self.frame));
ret.x -= (IMG.size.width + presumptiveMatchIdx);
ret.y -= 22;
}
CGImageRelease(displayImg);
CGImageRelease(compareImg);
CGColorSpaceRelease(csK);
if (bm_bar) free(bm_bar);
if (bm_compare) free(bm_compare);
if (meanValues) free(meanValues);
return ret;
}
@end
