NSStatusItem

NSStatusItem is a Cocoa class in AppKit for macOS that represents an item displayed in the system status bar (the menu bar at the top of the screen). Each status item is managed by the shared NSStatusBar system. An item is created via NSStatusBar.system.statusItem(withLength:), where the length can be NSVariableStatusItemLength, NSSquareStatusItemLength, or a fixed value. NSVariableStatusItemLength is commonly used to accommodate dynamic content.

An NSStatusItem can display text, an image, or a custom view. In modern APIs the appearance is configured through the item’s button property, which is an NSStatusBarButton. You can set item.button?.image or item.button?.title, and you can also use a custom view by assigning item.view. Additional properties include toolTip for hover text and menu to present a pop-up when the item is clicked. The item may highlight when active via the highlightMode property, and it can be given an action and target for handling clicks when no menu is used.

Usage typically involves assigning a menu to the item so that clicking shows the menu. If a menu is not assigned, you configure the item’s action and target (or use the button’s action) to respond to clicks. For custom UI, a developer can assign a custom NSView to item.view. When the item is no longer needed, it can be removed with NSStatusBar.system.removeStatusItem(item).