GenericToolbar was a toolbar palette for Interface Builder 2, which was convenient, easy to use, and totally free, and even supported "Test Interface" mode. It was made obsolete in 2007 when Apple released Interface Builder 3, which (finally) included native support for toolbars.

Currently GenericToolbar is still supported in two forms: the "old" palette for Interface Builder 2, and a new plugin for Interface Builder 3 that converts instances of GenericToolbar into standard NSToolbars.

The new plugin should be placed somewhere out-of-the-way on your hard drive. It allows you to read any GenericToolbar-containing nib files from IB2, converting them (nearly) transparently to NSToolbars using a pair of dummy classes (the toolbar and its items), which then disappear after saving and closing the nib file. Note that this removes compatibility with IB2; unfortunately, IB2 GenericToolbars and IB3 NSToolbars are not interoperable. There are a few differences between the supported features of GenericToolbar and NSToolbar. Import options are configurable in the plugin's preferences view, found in Interface Builder's preferences under "Plug-Ins".

The old GenericToolbar palette package contains an Interface Builder palette and a set of classes to include in your project, most notably the NSCoding-compliant subclasses of NSToolbar and NSToolbarItem. Step-by-step instructions are also included. GenericToolbar requires Mac OS X v10.2 or later (v10.3 or later recommended). The DragMatrix class used extensively in the palette was created by Sailesh Agrawal. Note that this may create a problem if you try to make a (different) class called DragMatrix and use it in IB.

Thanks to Sailesh Agrawal for DragMatrix, and also to Dave Dribin for catching a slew of bugs in the original palette.

Testimonials:

• It has been saving me a lot of time already...Thank you so much for such a useful set of tools! — Laurent Daudelin via email