How to embed a text field on my desktop in Mac OS X?

How would I go about embedding a text field on my desktop (or on the Dashboard)? That is:

I want to be able to type into it.
It needs to sit behind my windows at all times.
Text needs to be accessible to system calls (either directly as a bash invocation or indirectly through message passing).

I know I can use GeekTool to display text. Is there a similar program or piece of code that would allow me to do what I want?

I am trying to hack together a twitter/fb/chat client which will not take up a separate window.

Ritwik Bose

Posted 2010-04-03T05:18:54.337

Reputation: 828

I would prefer a non-programmatic approach, since I want a quick fix, not a full program. However, if the only good approach seems to be programmatic, then migrate it. – Ritwik Bose – 2010-04-03T17:10:09.980

There is no facility in the operating system to provide this functionality for you. If you are a "relatively proficient programmer" then you should realize this and migrate it yourself. – Hasaan Chop – 2010-04-04T17:34:26.357

If you have seen the facebook notifications app, then you will realize that there IS in fact a way to do this. Unfortunately, the facebook notifications app is not open source, last I checked. – Ritwik Bose – 2010-04-04T17:36:03.263

I never said it was impossible, I said you're going to have to write the code yourself. That makes this a programming question which does not belong here. – Hasaan Chop – 2010-04-04T17:38:19.233

Well, then the answer is: No! There isn't a program that does what you want to do, as my question was originally (before several semi-spurious edits) Is there a program that does what I want. – Ritwik Bose – 2010-04-04T17:47:18.137

There's also no reason to believe that there would be a program that does what you want, which is really the crux of my argument for the case that a relatively proficient programmer would have known where this question belonged in the first place. – Hasaan Chop – 2010-04-04T18:00:56.153

There is no reason to believe??? I think the existence of Geek Tool and facebook notifications gives me every reason to believe that such an application exists. The fact that others may not have the imagination to conceive of such applications doesn't mean that they do not exist. In fact, as Chealion's answer points out, there is an application which does most of what I need. The fact that I am able to program does not mean that I necessarily want to spend the extra 6 hours to learn the necessary API's, and ftr, I have the work flow set up with only 2 lines of bash script and quicksilver. – Ritwik Bose – 2010-04-04T19:31:13.107

So, you are wrong, NSD. Sufficient programs exist, and this was not a programming question, as I had no questions about the code itself. – Ritwik Bose – 2010-04-04T19:32:05.493

Answers

Would a program like LaunchBar, Quicksilver etc. not work in place of this? They all offer the ability to type in text and then send it to another program.

Chealion

Posted 2010-04-03T05:18:54.337

Reputation: 22 932

hm I'll look into it. I feel that it would work, but my sense of aesthetics wants it to fit in nicely with my otherwise pimped-out geektool desktop. I noticed fb connect for mac can open up a prompt which is not a window (that is, it doesn't have a frame), and I presume that it can be made transparent too, so, ideally, I'd have a program that generates that kind of a window. – Ritwik Bose – 2010-04-03T05:36:52.780

Actually, while looking for quicksilver, I stumbled across visor, which might have the code I'm looking for, and it's open source. – Ritwik Bose – 2010-04-03T05:39:44.380

No idea how this could be useful, but as I don't fully understand what you're trying to do:

If you're in to using the Dashboard: Apple's sticky notes?

(You'd have to use the Dashboard version to keep them from floating on top of your other windows. Or, when using the Desktop version from Applications » Stickies, make them translucent by hitting Option-Command-T.)

Arjan

Posted 2010-04-03T05:18:54.337

Reputation: 29 084

How often are the stickies saved? If the file is not saved, accessing the text will be a bit of a pain. – Ritwik Bose – 2010-04-03T23:42:34.297

@mechko, if Dashoard is an option, then I'm sure there's text editors for that. Please enhance your question then. – Arjan – 2010-04-04T08:17:02.680

Anything is an option. I'm asking you what is out there. Please stop changing the meaning of my question through edits. I'm not looking specifically for message-passing. If I was, I would have specified it from the beginning. If you suggest Stickies, then yes, that would have to be via message passing because stickies can't invoke code themselves. Also if you have no idea what I'm trying to do, then don't keep changing my question. – Ritwik Bose – 2010-04-04T16:43:52.390

You can always run the terminal and stickies side-by-side. It makes a nice and built-in combination.

Remember, because of OS X's unique desktop layout and workspace control, you can leave the terminal in the background and stickies as well. Just right click on the icon on the dock of the program(s) that you will be using and select Options > Open at Login.

If you want, you can do some nice customizations of Terminal's appearance too. Go to Terminal > Preferences There are built in themes that you can choose from, or you can make your own.

Good luck!

Moshe

Posted 2010-04-03T05:18:54.337

Reputation: 5 474

Is there any way to remove the terminal pane? (ie the silver bar at the top) Or to make it a different color? – Ritwik Bose – 2010-04-04T16:54:27.700

@mechko - Not that I know of. (Chromeless windows are thought to be insecure because you don't have access to things) You can make it transparent and any background color though. EDIT: There may be some hack somewhere. Also this thread may be of interest: http://superuser.com/questions/52483/terminal-tips-and-tricks-for-mac-os-x

– Moshe – 2010-04-04T19:11:09.410

You should look into Panic's Statoo. It does a beautiful job of displaying an overlay on your desktop. An easy way to get your IM notifications working would be using it's Feed option. It also might have a plug-in system, but I'm not sure on the details. Shareware, $12.99.

Correction: Sorry, this is read-only, apparently.

stuntmouse

Posted 2010-04-03T05:18:54.337

Reputation: 41