Set a system image to NSImageView programatically in Swift

Question

You can set a system image(SF Symbol) in UIKit with UIImage(systemName: "pencil"). For macOS apps you can set a system image in storyboard. However, I couldn't find a way to set a system image for macOS programatically. So is this possible, or is system images limited to storyboard only in macOS Apps.

imageView.image = NSImage(named: "pencil") //result is no image

Luiseluiza

Answer 1

The call signature is NSImage(systemSymbolName:accessibilityDescription:) (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appkit/nsimage/3622472-init), not NSImage(named:), which tries to get an image from your app bundle -- not SF Symbols.

Example:

NSImage(systemSymbolName: "pencil", accessibilityDescription: nil)

Note that this is only available in targeting macOS 11.0 (Big Sur) and above. Prior to this, SF Symbols were not available to Mac apps except via Catalyst.

Sherrill

Most likely added in 12.2, which was the release to accommodate Big Sur. – Sherrill