# \## VDSTools — native macOS controls for Xojo, in pure Xojo **URL:** \ **Category:** Extras\ **Created:** [September 16, 2026, 5:15pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/vdstools-native-macos-controls-for-xojo-in-pure-xojo/88888 "2026-09-16T17:15:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Valdemar\_De\_SOUSA](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/valdemar_de_sousa/32/21374_2.png) [@Valdemar\_De\_SOUSA](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Valdemar_De_SOUSA)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 5:15pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/vdstools-native-macos-controls-for-xojo-in-pure-xojo/88888/1 "2026-09-16T17:15:22Z")
## VDSTools 1.0 — native macOS controls for Xojo, in pure Xojo I have been building a set of AppKit wrappers for my own apps, and it grew into something worth releasing: **100 classes** , written entirely in Xojo `Declare`s. No plugin, no external framework, no compiled Objective-C to ship or sign — just code you drop into your project. **27 of them are controls you drop in the IDE** and configure in the Inspector: table and outline views with rich cells, token field, path bar, combo button, date picker, colour well, switch, level indicator, and the rest. Fifteen inherit from a Xojo control; twelve host an AppKit object. Some of what it covers that Xojo does not expose: - `NSToolbar`, including the customisation sheet - `NSSplitViewController` window chrome, and source-list sidebars - View-based tables and outlines: checkboxes, two-line cells, progress bars, pop-up menus in cells, row reordering with a Numbers-like drag ghost - Window tabs and the system Window menu - QuickLook thumbnails, the Dock tile, popovers, `NSGridView`, `NSStackView` - The macOS 26/27 glass effect, and menu image visibility **Documentation** : a developer reference in French and English, covering every class and enumeration — and **56 traps** , each with the symptom that sent me looking in the wrong place first. That part may be the most useful bit. **Demo application** : 34 pages, each showing one subject with its code in an inspector, plus a second window with a page per placeable control and every option adjustable live. Signed and notarised. → [VDSTools — macOS natif pour Xojo](https://valdemar-vdsc.github.io/VDSTools-dist/) **Requirements** : macOS 15 or later, Xojo 2021r3 or later. **Pricing** : €60 incl. VAT for the compiled library, €240 incl. VAT with the source code — per developer, unlimited applications, royalty-free distribution. Businesses in the EU outside France are invoiced net of tax. Running from the IDE is free; a built application without a licence runs, but carries a small watermark. Happy to answer questions here, and to hear what is missing. ---
**Author:** ![Eric\_Williams](https://forum.xojo.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Eric\_Williams](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Eric_Williams)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/vdstools-native-macos-controls-for-xojo-in-pure-xojo/88888/2 "2026-09-16T19:29:19Z")
Wow! Let’s see a sample project. ---
**Author:** ![Jared\_Feder](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/jared_feder/32/3036_2.png) [@Jared\_Feder](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Jared_Feder)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 9:11pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/vdstools-native-macos-controls-for-xojo-in-pure-xojo/88888/3 "2026-09-16T21:11:41Z")
Wow! Super impressive stuff. I love the tables. It’s the smoothest implementation that I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![Valdemar\_De\_SOUSA](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/valdemar_de_sousa/32/21374_2.png) [@Valdemar\_De\_SOUSA](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Valdemar_De_SOUSA)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 8:32pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/vdstools-native-macos-controls-for-xojo-in-pure-xojo/88888/4 "2026-09-17T20:32:13Z")
**1.1 is out.** New: **`NativeIconButtonControl`** , the 28th control you drop in the IDE — a button with an SF Symbol beside its title. Symbol, icon position, hugging, bezel and control size in the Inspector; a file image or a `Picture` from code. It had to be a _hosted_ control rather than a property on the inherited one. Measured: `setImage:` on a `DesktopButton` is accepted, then wiped on the next pass — image gone, `imagePosition` back to 0. Xojo reconfigures its own buttons after `Opening` and keeps doing it; there is no hook before an inherited control draws. Also: `ImagePosition` and `ImageHugsTitle` on `NativeButton`, and a second trap — with the `Push` bezel, an `Above` icon draws the title outside the frame. 101 classes, 58 traps. Download: [https://github.com/Valdemar-VDSC/VDSTools-dist/releases/latest](https://github.com/Valdemar-VDSC/VDSTools-dist/releases/latest) Documentation: [VDSTools — macOS natif pour Xojo](https://valdemar-vdsc.github.io/VDSTools-dist/) ---
**Author:** ![Horst\_Jehle](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/horst_jehle/32/5432_2.png) [@Horst\_Jehle](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Horst_Jehle)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 7:06am UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/vdstools-native-macos-controls-for-xojo-in-pure-xojo/88888/5 "2026-10-05T07:06:41Z")
Question about Sidebar. Some Things are missing: SelectedItem(Item As SidebarItem, Page As Integer, Title As String) AddItem(Section, Title, SfSymbol, Color, Collapsed As Boolean = False, Tag As Variant) Add a Section as a sub item in a Section Collapse and expand a Section Do you see a change to add these features to the Sidebar? ---
**Author:** ![Valdemar\_De\_SOUSA](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/valdemar_de_sousa/32/21374_2.png) [@Valdemar\_De\_SOUSA](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Valdemar_De_SOUSA)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 7:31am UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/vdstools-native-macos-controls-for-xojo-in-pure-xojo/88888/6 "2026-10-05T07:31:21Z")
Nice idea, I take a look for next release that come later in October 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Valdemar\_De\_SOUSA](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/valdemar_de_sousa/32/21374_2.png) [@Valdemar\_De\_SOUSA](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Valdemar_De_SOUSA)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 4:18pm UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/vdstools-native-macos-controls-for-xojo-in-pure-xojo/88888/7 "2026-10-06T16:18:30Z")
**VDSTools 1.2 — sidebar items, tags, collapsible sections, saved state** This one comes almost entirely from a comment left here on 1.1, so: thank you. Four things were missing from the sidebars, three of them are in. Everything is **additive** — `SelectionChanged` is untouched, no existing code has to be rewritten. **A row is an object now.** `NativeSidebarItem` is the handle a sidebar hands back: `Tag`, `Title`, `Section`, `Index`, `Page`, `IsValid`. The link to the bar is weak, so holding handles does not keep a closed window alive. **Tags.** Without one, a program identifies a row by its title — which is translated — or by its page number, which moves the moment you insert a row above it. A tag does neither: ```xojo mSidebar.AddItem(0, "Invoices", "doc.text", &c007AFF, "invoices") Var it As NativeSidebarItem = mSidebar.LastItem ``` On the flat sidebar the tag is set apart, with `SetTag` and `TagAt`. An optional `Variant` on `Add` would have made every three-argument call ambiguous, since a `Variant` accepts a `Color` too. **A selection event that tells you what was selected:** ```xojo Sub SelectedItem(item As NativeSidebarItem, page As Integer, title As String) Select Case item.Tag.StringValue Case "invoices" ... End Select End Sub ``` **Sections collapse and expand from code** , and can start collapsed: ```xojo Var sec As Integer = mSidebar.AddSection("Archive", True) // starts collapsed mSidebar.ExpandSection(sec) If mSidebar.SectionExpanded(sec) Then ... ``` Plus `ItemAt`, `CurrentItem` and `SelectPage` on the way past. **And the state survives a quit.** Either AppKit keeps it, under a name of your choosing — `mSidebar.AutosaveName = "MainSidebar"` — or you keep it yourself, as JSON, to put in a preference or attach to a document: `SaveState` / `RestoreState`. **Two traps measured on the way** , both now in the reference: - Turning a Sub into a Function breaks every existing call. Xojo refuses to ignore a returned value — _“You must use the value returned by this function”_ — so a published method cannot grow a return type without breaking a customer’s code. That is why `AddItem` stayed a Sub and `LastItem` gives you the handle. - An `NSOutlineView` restores its autosaved expansion **during `reloadData`** , not when you set `autosaveName`. Set the name after loading the rows and it will save the state faithfully and never once restore it. 102 classes, 798 public methods, 60 documented traps. Pure Xojo — `Declare`s only. macOS 15+, Xojo 2021r3+. Library 60 € TTC, source 240 € TTC — [GitHub - Valdemar-VDSC/VDSTools-dist: VDSTools — chrome de fenêtre, barre d'outils et contrôles macOS natifs pour Xojo, en Xojo pur. Documentation et versions distribuées. · GitHub](https://github.com/Valdemar-VDSC/VDSTools-dist) * * * ---
**Author:** ![Valdemar\_De\_SOUSA](https://forum.xojo.com/user_avatar/forum.xojo.com/valdemar_de_sousa/32/21374_2.png) [@Valdemar\_De\_SOUSA](https://forum.xojo.com/u/Valdemar_De_SOUSA)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 8:48am UTC](https://forum.xojo.com/t/vdstools-native-macos-controls-for-xojo-in-pure-xojo/88888/8 "2026-10-08T08:48:22Z")
**VDSTools 1.3.0 — what changed since 1.2.0** Two releases since the sidebar one. The first came out of a customer’s request, the second out of using the thing. **Row icons are no longer limited to SF Symbols.** A customer was working around it by writing the cell’s `imageView.image` with declares on a timer, because the library put its symbol back every time a row view was rebuilt. A `Picture` now works anywhere a symbol did: ```xojo mTable.SetRowImage(0, pic) // and SetNodeImage(node, pic) on the outline ``` `mSidebar.Add("Shared", pic) // or SetImage(index, pic) afterwards` `mOutline.SetImage(section, item, pic) // hierarchical sidebar` **It survives a refresh** , which was the whole point of asking: the image lives in the model, not on a view, and is re-read on every cell build. So it holds through a reload, a sort, a row move, a collapsed section and scrolling — exactly like a symbol name. Image and symbol are mutually exclusive: setting one clears the other, so there are never two icons to arbitrate. A bitmap is not tinted — `contentTintColor` only means something on a template image — and it is scaled down proportionally, never enlarged. One asymmetry worth knowing, because it is deliberate: on the sidebars `SetImage` reloads the list itself, as `SetBadge` always has; on the table `SetRowImage` writes to the model and leaves the refresh to you, as `SetRowIcon` always has. Each class keeps its own rule. **A leak fixed in both sidebars.** Cells, their labels, their icons, the badges and the row views were allocated and never released — up to nine objects per cell build, which means on every reload and every time a row scrolled back into view. It is the fix that went into the table in September and was never carried over. Harmless-looking with 18-point symbols; with images, every reload left megabytes behind. If you build AppKit views by hand, the rule is worth stealing: a view **added to a parent** is released straight after, and a view **handed to AppKit** goes out `autorelease`, never `release` — AppKit retains it _after_ you return. **1.2.1 — a hosted control now follows `Enabled`.** `NativeIconButtonControl` hosts a real `NSButton`. `Enabled` belongs to `DesktopCanvas`, a subclass cannot override it, and AppKit does not propagate `setEnabled:` to subviews — so the canvas went dim alone while the button stayed drawn as active and, being the view on top, went on receiving clicks. A button you believed disabled still acted. Fixed, with `SetEnabled` for when you want it without waiting for a draw. The other twelve hosted controls have the same blind spot; it is written down next to the fix. 102 classes, 804 public methods, 61 documented traps. Pure Xojo — `Declare`s only, no plugin, no external framework, no compiled Objective-C. macOS 15 and later, Xojo 2021r3 and later. > **[GitHub - Valdemar-VDSC/VDSTools-dist: VDSTools — chrome de fenêtre, barre d'outils et...](https://github.com/Valdemar-VDSC/VDSTools-dist)** > > VDSTools — chrome de fenêtre, barre d'outils et contrôles macOS natifs pour Xojo, en Xojo pur. Documentation et versions distribuées.