Is it possible to use UNUserNotificationCenter from a LaunchAgent?

Question

Created May ’21

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Hi, I have a LaunchAgent (whose .plist is in /Library/LaunchAgents/ as expected)

It is build as a single un-bundled binary, and installed away from regular user access at /Library/MyCompany/executables/

When I try to init a reference to UNUserNotificationCenter:

Code Block UNUserNotificationCenter *unc = [UNUserNotificationCenter currentNotificationCenter];

I immediately have an exception, like thus:

Code Block 2021-05-02 19:57:39.297823+0300 agent[12504:225879] *** Assertion failure in +[UNUserNotificationCenter currentNotificationCenter], /AppleInternal/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/UserNotifications/UserNotifications-281.6/UNUserNotificationCenter.m:44
2021-05-02 19:57:39.299464+0300 agent[12504:225879] [General] An uncaught exception was raised
2021-05-02 19:57:39.299518+0300 agent[12504:225879] [General] bundleProxyForCurrentProcess is nil: mainBundle.bundleURL file:///Users/mshneor/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/agent-dgvdlbtivmsjdgdkhhjwaxgrkyht/Build/Products/Debug/

Obviously the problem is bundleProxyForCurrentProcess is nil: mainBundle.bundleURL

Now... I could try to bundle my agent somehow, but that's a bit awkward, and I don't know how - it's not an App, and It's not a part of any App, and I don't know about a special "Code Bundle" type (like plugins etc.) that fits a LaunchAgent. Moreover - it will never be "launched" by it's info.plist in the bundle - only via the .plist in /Library/LaunchAgents by launchd.

So... is it possible to work around this? Could I somehow tell my Agent's process "Here is our main-bundle" at runtime, and provide a special bundle the agent is not embedded in?

what does UNUserNotificationCenter need from main bundle? maybe I can supply this programmatically in advance?

Any hint will be greatly appreciated.

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Answer 1

Jtasoftware OP

Mar ’22

Hi suMac,

Did you had any chance to find a solution ? I'm looking also on a way to do local user notifications from an agent.

0

Answer 2

Jtasoftware OP

Mar ’22

Local notifications can be sent using the legacy (deprecated) NSUserNotification & NSUserNotificationCenter.

The main bundle doesn’t seems to be on the critical path for this API.

I’ll file a feature request for supporting LaunchAgents hosted in XPC Service with UNNotificationCenter.

In the meantime NSUserNotificationCenter can act as a workarround.

1

Answer 3

suMac OP

Mar ’22

I did not find a way to manage UNNotifications from a LaunchAgent. My work-around solution is: I created a little "menu-bar app" with that tiny icon, that my launch-agent launches when it needs to communicate with user. I also made my LaunchAgent a mach-xpc-service with an NSXPCListener and created a proprietary protocol between the two. via XPC I convey information from the LaunchAgent to that app, which in turn creates the local notifications using UNNotificationCenter.

I could not use the older NSNotificationCenter, because I need many of the newer features of UNNotificationCenter (coalescing and grouping user notifications, customizing their UI, adding user-options etc.)

The important thing is, when you "click" a notification in the user-notification-center, MacOS launches the App that created and sent that notification (my menu-bar app) - and sends it a delegate call with lots of information, to continue the dialog with the User.

A LaunchAgent like mine, has very dull UI and most of the time it doesn't "remember" the user's state, so in my case it is cumbersome, but acceptable solution.

0

Answer 4

Jtasoftware OP

Mar ’22

Feature request is sent as FB9963670

1