Background
I built a motivational-image overlay in HS2: on hotkey press, a photo pops up near a corner of the screen for a set number of seconds, then auto-hides. That works using hs.ui.window() + .image()/.resizable()/.aspectRatio(). I'm now trying to do the same thing with a short looping video instead of a static photo, and that's where it broke down.
(Heads up going in — I work through Swift source with AI help rather than reading it myself, so if I've mischaracterized anything below, that's why.)
Context
hs.ui has no AVPlayer/AVKit usage anywhere as far as I can tell, and HSUIWindow.image() only accepts HSImage — no video-capable overload.
What's still blocked
The only path I found to video is hs.ui.webview() + a hand-rolled HTML5 <video autoplay loop muted playsinline> tag. That works, but took two separate debugging sessions:
- No video element exists in
hs.ui — has to go through a webview as a workaround.
webview.loadHTML(htmlString) silently refuses to resolve a file:// resource referenced inside the HTML string — no error anywhere. Fix: write the HTML to a temp file and load it via loadURL("file://" + path) instead, which gives WebKit a real base URL.
Proposed API (rough sketch, not attached to this exact shape)
hs.ui.window().video(path) — mirrors .image(HSImage), or a standalone player.newFromFile(path) if that fits better.loop(bool), .autoplay(bool), .muted(bool).resizable()/.aspectRatio() — reuse what .image() already has
Second gap, same overlay pattern: hs.ui.window has no native click-outside/resign-key dismiss — no way to just say "close when the user clicks elsewhere." Has to be hand-rolled with an hs.eventtap watcher that checks every click on screen against a manually tracked window frame. Something like window.dismissOnClickOutside(true) would remove that entirely.
Can test against a real file once there's something to try.
Background
I built a motivational-image overlay in HS2: on hotkey press, a photo pops up near a corner of the screen for a set number of seconds, then auto-hides. That works using
hs.ui.window()+.image()/.resizable()/.aspectRatio(). I'm now trying to do the same thing with a short looping video instead of a static photo, and that's where it broke down.(Heads up going in — I work through Swift source with AI help rather than reading it myself, so if I've mischaracterized anything below, that's why.)
Context
hs.uihas noAVPlayer/AVKitusage anywhere as far as I can tell, andHSUIWindow.image()only acceptsHSImage— no video-capable overload.What's still blocked
The only path I found to video is
hs.ui.webview()+ a hand-rolled HTML5<video autoplay loop muted playsinline>tag. That works, but took two separate debugging sessions:hs.ui— has to go through a webview as a workaround.webview.loadHTML(htmlString)silently refuses to resolve afile://resource referenced inside the HTML string — no error anywhere. Fix: write the HTML to a temp file and load it vialoadURL("file://" + path)instead, which gives WebKit a real base URL.Proposed API (rough sketch, not attached to this exact shape)
hs.ui.window().video(path)— mirrors.image(HSImage), or a standaloneplayer.newFromFile(path)if that fits better.loop(bool),.autoplay(bool),.muted(bool).resizable()/.aspectRatio()— reuse what.image()already hasSecond gap, same overlay pattern:
hs.ui.windowhas no native click-outside/resign-key dismiss — no way to just say "close when the user clicks elsewhere." Has to be hand-rolled with anhs.eventtapwatcher that checks every click on screen against a manually tracked window frame. Something likewindow.dismissOnClickOutside(true)would remove that entirely.Can test against a real file once there's something to try.