Is it possible to select the font for title?

[lhl]

I just wrote a quick countdown timer app in rumps - awesome work, really was a cinch!

The one question I had is how easy/possible it might be to change the font (ideally to a monospaced font like Monaco)? Some menubar apps seem able to do it, but I don't know enough of the Menubar/Cocoa specifics to know if that's something that's super hacky or not.

[dalleng]

It can de done by using NSAttributedString which let's you define strings with attributes such as font, background color, foreground color, underline, etc. To see all options check the docs. The MenuItem class rumps provides is a wrapper for AppKit's NSMenuItem which has a attributedTitle property, rumps does not provide a way to set it so you'll need to access MenuItem's _menuitem internal variable and use some PyObjC. Here's a sample:

import rumps

from AppKit import NSAttributedString
from PyObjCTools.Conversion import propertyListFromPythonCollection
from Cocoa import (NSFont, NSFontAttributeName,
    NSColor, NSForegroundColorAttributeName)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    font = NSFont.fontWithName_size_("Monaco", 18.0)
    color = NSColor.redColor()

    """
    Dictionary of attributes
    propertyListFromPythonCollection is used to create NSDictionary from a python dict
    conversionHelper=lambda x: x is used because font and color are alreaady cocoa objects
    and do not need to be converted
    """
    attributes = propertyListFromPythonCollection({
        NSFontAttributeName: font,
        NSForegroundColorAttributeName: color}
    , conversionHelper=lambda x: x)

    string = NSAttributedString.alloc().initWithString_attributes_("Foo", attributes)
    menu_item = rumps.MenuItem("")
    menu_item._menuitem.setAttributedTitle_(string)
    menu = [menu_item]

    app = rumps.App("Sample", menu=menu)
    app.run()

[lhl]

Diego, thanks for the sample code! Super useful.

[VladUsatii]

How would one bold the font here? Or italicize? I grep'd NSFont in Terminal and can't find anything useful.

[cheerlessDreamer]

How would one bold the font here? Or italicize? I grep'd NSFont in Terminal and can't find anything useful.

The font used in the sample (Monaco) doesn't actually have any options apart from the regular weight, at least on my machine. You can use the following line as a test instead:

font = NSFont.fontWithName_size_("Helvetica", 18.0)

… and for a bold and italic version:

font = NSFont.fontWithName_size_("Helvetica Bold Oblique", 18.0)

You can get the correct name by using the 'Font Book' application.

EDIT: Note that using Dark Mode alters the appearance somewhat, see attached screenshot for an example. The red in the sample code appears pink under Dark Mode.

[VladUsatii]

Thanks for explaining Bold and Oblique, Cheerless Dreamer.

I did notice (in regards to your EDIT) that NSColor appears different in dark mode if you don't specify the alpha (the opacity). By default, the alpha is set to 0.5 for the rumps module.

Change the following:

color = NSColor.redColor()

to:

color = NSColor.colorWithCalibratedRed_green_blue_alpha_(1, 0, 0, 1)

And now, when you go into Dark Mode, it is completely red.