Can't wait for Tiger? Want to start developing Dashboard widgets now? Get started quickly and easily with the Dashboard Widget Xcode Template.

Installation - To install the template, create a new folder called "Dashboard" in the /Library/Application Support/Apple/Developer Tools/Project Templates/ folder and drop the "Dashboard Widget" template there.

The template includes all the basic components for new widgets (except a Default.png file) and will automatically adjust the embedded parameters to match the widget name you provide.

The Dashboard is a bit of a web developer's paradise - standards-based code with only one browser required for development and testing. Plus, the use of web plug-ins as well as system level scripting languages (AppleScript, Ruby, Perl, etc.). The possibilities are almost endless really.

Creating widgets for the Dashboard isn't really that hard, but there are some useful things to know before you get started and I'm going to try to outline a few here that will hopefully save a bit of time debugging, and a few gray hairs along the way. RTFM. Read the developer documentation. No, seriously there's good, useful information in there.

Always, always, always have a default image in the main directory of your widget. Name it Default.png. It gets used as the drag image when a user decides to load up your fancy new widget in the Dashboard.

Create a version.plist file and keep it up to date if you update your widget. Don't forget to create an icon for your widget to display in the Widget Bar.Name the file Icon.png and keep it in the main directory of your widget bundle.

Test your widget in Safari during development and keep an eye on the Console for debugging messages. There's a tech note coming on debugging widgets so keep your eye out for that.

Download my Dashboard Widget Xcode Template (Works in Xcode 1.x and above, so yes, it works on Panther). Unstuff the archive and place the contents in a new folder called Dashboard under this path:

/Library/Application Support/Apple/Developer Tools/Project Templates/

The template will do a lot of the preliminary work for you. It creates the base HTML, CSS and JS files along with the necessary property list XML files - and will automatically replace certain properties in and of those files based on the name you give the project.

The Info.plist file contains all the current allowed properties for a widget. Disable or remove as necessary, but they're all there to save you from having to look them up in the documentation.

Well…what are you waiting for?? Let's see those widgets!

Requirements:

· Xcode 1.2 or later.