[SOLVED] Windowless app on OSX using CGL

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#1

Hi there!

I have an application that works on OSX. Renders stuff on the GPU and serves it over network I use ofFbo to draw and then I fetch the texture. It works well, BUT I then have a window on my desktop. I would like to run this in the console directly without icons or windows.

I am creating an alternative ofAppWindow based on CGL. I used ofAppGLFWWindow as a base and I removed everything GLFW-related. I get a context, and I activate it.

What is working:

  • ofClear() with colors. I can fetch a texture with the color used
  • ofShader() with custom shaders. I get the normal result

If I use OF drawing primitives, I get a black texture.

I am a bit lost on why this is happening. Any ideas?

I am using OF0.9.8

#2

Got it! I wasn’t calling ofGLProgrammableRenderer::setup() :sweat_smile:

#3

Well, everything working except ofxVideoPlayer…

But I get nothing (no sound, no video, no advance in position, no errors)

may be it expects a window somehow? :thinking:

Sorry to use this as a personal log. If you have any idea about ofAVFoundationPlayer needing an actual window to be used please comment.

#4

Another approach, could be to set the visible property in the settings object to false. (I think it is called visible).

#5

Yes, but the visible property prevents the window to appear, but I still get an Icon on the task bar :confused:

#6

Regarding ofAVFoundationPlayer, it seems that since I deleted glfwPollEvents , observeValueForKeyPath (in ofAVFoundationVideoPlayer.m) never gets called.

How is this function getting subscribed to the poll loop?

#7

So this is the thing:

OSX-specific addons may need a NSApp instance present with an event loop to work. I added a NSApplication and video, syphon worked; but then I get again the icon of the application.

SOLUTION:

It turns out that you can hide entirely your application with this simple line:

[NSApp setActivationPolicy: NSApplicationActivationPolicyProhibited];

So all this journey to discover that this line did the trick :sweat_smile:. It doesn’t matter if you are using GLFW or CGL with NSApp.

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