#hs.notify

This module allows you to create on screen notifications in the User Notification Center located at the right of the users screen.

Notifications can be sent immediately or scheduled for delivery at a later time, even if that scheduled time occurs when Hammerspoon is not currently running. Currently, if you take action on a notification while Hammerspoon is not running, the callback function is not honored for the first notification clicked upon -- This is expected to be fixed in a future release.

When setting up a callback function, you have the option of specifying it with the creation of the notification (hs.notify.new) or by pre-registering it with hs.notify.register and then referring it to by the tag name specified with hs.notify.register. If you use this registration method for defining your callback functions, and make sure to register all expected callback functions within your init.lua file or files it includes, then callback functions will remain available for existing notifications in the User Notification Center even if Hammerspoon's configuration is reloaded or if Hammerspoon is restarted. If the callback tag is not present when the user acts on the notification, the Hammerspoon console will be raised as a default action.

A shorthand, based upon the original inspiration for this module from Hydra and Mjolnir, hs.notify.show, is provided if you just require a quick and simple informative notification without the bells and whistles.

This module is based in part on code from the previous incarnation of Mjolnir by Steven Degutis.

#API Overview

Constants - Useful values which cannot be changed

activationTypes
defaultNotificationSound

Variables - Configurable values

registry
warnAboutMissingFunctionTag

Functions - API calls offered directly by the extension

deliveredNotifications
register
scheduledNotifications
unregister
unregisterall
withdrawAll
withdrawAllScheduled

Constructors - API calls which return an object, typically one that offers API methods

new
show

Methods - API calls which can only be made on an object returned by a constructor

actionButtonTitle
activationType
actualDeliveryDate
additionalActions
additionalActivationAction
alwaysPresent
alwaysShowAdditionalActions
autoWithdraw
contentImage
delivered
getFunctionTag
hasActionButton
hasReplyButton
informativeText
otherButtonTitle
presented
response
responsePlaceholder
schedule
send
setIdImage
soundName
subTitle
title
withdraw
withdrawAfter

#API Documentation

#Constants

#activationTypes


Signature	`hs.notify.activationTypes[]`
Type	Constant
Description	Convenience array of the possible activation types for a notification, and their reverse for reference.
Notes	Count starts at zero. (implemented in Objective-C)
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 1315

#defaultNotificationSound


Signature	`hs.notify.defaultNotificationSound`
Type	Constant
Description	The string representation of the default notification sound. Use `hs.notify:soundName()` or set the `soundName` attribute in `hs:notify.new()`, to this constant, if you want to use the default sound
Notes	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 1503

#Variables

#registry


Signature	`hs.notify.registry[]`
Type	Variable
Description	A table containing the registered callback functions and their tags.
Notes	This table should not be modified directly. Use the `hs.notify.register(tag, fn)` and `hs.notify.unregister(id)` functions. This table has a __tostring metamethod so you can see the list of registered function tags in the console by typing `hs.notify.registry` See hs.notify.warnAboutMissingFunctionTag for determining the behavior when a notification attempts to perform a callback to a function tag which is not present in this table. This occurrence is most common with notifications which are acted upon by the user after Hammerspoon has been reloaded.
Source	extensions/notify/notify.lua line 253

#warnAboutMissingFunctionTag


Signature	`hs.notify.warnAboutMissingFunctionTag`
Type	Variable
Description	A value indicating whether or not a missing notification function tag should cause a warning. Defaults to `true`.
Notes	None
Source	extensions/notify/notify.lua line 50

#Functions

#deliveredNotifications


Signature	`hs.notify.deliveredNotifications() -> table`
Type	Function
Description	Returns a table containing notifications which have been delivered.
Parameters	None
Returns	a table containing the notification userdata objects for all Hammerspoon notifications currently in the notification center
Notes	Only notifications which have been presented but not cleared, either by the user clicking on the hs.notify:otherButtonTitle or through auto-withdrawal (see hs.notify:autoWithdraw for more details), will be in the array returned. You can use this function along with hs.notify:getFunctionTag to re=register necessary callback functions with hs.notify.register when Hammerspoon is restarted. Since notifications which the user has closed (or cancelled) do not trigger a callback, you can check this table with a timer to see if the user has cleared a notification, e.g. _lua myNotification = hs.notify.new():send() clearCheck = hs.timer.doEvery(10, function() if not hs.fnutils.contains(hs.notify.deliveredNotifications(), myNotification) then if myNotification:activationType() == hs.notify.activationTypes.none then print("You dismissed me!") else print("A regular action occurred, so callback (if any) was invoked") end clearCheck:stop() -- either way, no need to keep polling clearCheck = nil end end)
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 212

#register


Signature	`hs.notify.register(tag, fn) -> id`
Type	Function
Description	Registers a function callback with the specified tag for a notification. The callback function will be invoked when the user clicks on or interacts with a notification.
Parameters	tag - a string tag to identify the registered callback function. Use this as the function tag in hs.notify.new and hs.notify.show fn - the function which should be invoked when a notification with this tag is interacted with.
Returns	a numerical id representing the entry in hs.notify.registry for this function. This number can be used with hs.notify.unregister to unregister a function later if you wish.
Notes	If a function is already registered with the specified tag, it is replaced by with the new one.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/notify.lua line 178

#scheduledNotifications


Signature	`hs.notify.scheduledNotifications() -> table`
Type	Function
Description	Returns a table containing notifications which are scheduled but have not yet been delivered.
Parameters	None
Returns	a table containing the notification userdata objects for all Hammerspoon notifications currently scheduled to be delivered.
Notes	Once a notification has been delivered, it is moved to hs.notify.deliveredNotifications or removed, depending upon the users action. You can use this function along with hs.notify:getFunctionTag to re=register necessary callback functions with hs.notify.register when Hammerspoon is restarted.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 259

#unregister


Signature	`hs.notify.unregister(id\|tag)`
Type	Function
Description	Unregisters a function callback so that it is no longer available as a callback when notifications corresponding to the specified entry are interacted with.
Parameters	id - the numerical id provided by hs.notify.register tag - a string tag representing the callback function to be removed
Returns	None
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/notify.lua line 212

#unregisterall


Signature	`hs.notify.unregisterall()`
Type	Function
Description	Unregisters all functions registered as callbacks.
Parameters	None
Returns	None
Notes	This does not remove the notifications from the User Notification Center, it just removes their callback function for when the user interacts with them. To remove all notifications, see hs.notify.withdrawAll and hs.notify.withdrawAllScheduled
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/notify.lua line 239

#withdrawAll


Signature	`hs.notify.withdrawAll()`
Type	Function
Description	Withdraw all delivered notifications from Hammerspoon
Parameters	None
Returns	None
Notes	This will withdraw all notifications for Hammerspoon, including those not sent by this module or that linger from a previous load of Hammerspoon.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 177

#withdrawAllScheduled


Signature	`hs.notify.withdrawAllScheduled()`
Type	Function
Description	Withdraw all scheduled notifications from Hammerspoon
Parameters	None
Returns	None
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 196

#Constructors

#new

| | | | --------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Signature | hs.notify.new([fn,][attributes]) -> notification | | Type | Constructor | | Description | Creates a new notification object | | Parameters |

fn - An optional function or function-tag, which will be called when the user interacts with notifications. The notification object will be passed as an argument to the function. If you leave this parameter out or specify nil, then no callback will be attached to the notification.
attributes - An optional table for applying attributes to the notification. Possible keys are: alwaysPresent - see hs.notify:alwaysPresent autoWithdraw - see hs.notify:autoWithdraw contentImage - see hs.notify:contentImage informativeText - see hs.notify:informativeText soundName - see hs.notify:soundName subTitle - see hs.notify:subTitle title - see hs.notify:title setIdImage - see hs.notify:setIdImage -- note the border will automatically be set to false if assigned as an attribute in this table. The following can also be set, but will only have an apparent effect on the notification when the user has set Hammerspoon's notification style to "Alert" in the Notification Center panel of System Preferences: actionButtonTitle - see hs.notify:actionButtonTitle hasActionButton - see hs.notify:hasActionButton otherButtonTitle - see hs.notify:otherButtonTitle additionalActions - see hs.notify:additionalActions hasReplyButton - see hs.notify:hasReplyButton responsePlaceholder - see hs.notify:responsePlaceholder alwaysShowAdditionalActions - see hs.notify:alwaysShowAdditionalActions withdrawAfter - see hs.notify:withdrawAfter

| | Returns |

A notification object

| | Notes |

A function-tag is a string key which corresponds to a function stored in the hs.notify.registry table with the hs.notify.register() function.
If a notification does not have a title attribute set, OS X will not display it, so by default it will be set to "Notification". You can use the title key in the attributes table, or call hs.notify:title() before displaying the notification to change this.

#show


Signature	`hs.notify.show(title, subTitle, information[, tag]) -> notification`
Type	Constructor
Description	Shorthand constructor to create and show simple notifications
Parameters	title - the title for the notification subTitle - the subtitle, or second line, of the notification information - the main textual body of the notification tag - a function tag corresponding to a function registered with hs.notify.register
Returns	a notification object
Notes	All three textual parameters are required, though they can be empty strings This function is really a shorthand for `hs.notify.new(...):send()` Notifications created using this function will inherit the default `withdrawAfter` value, which is 5 seconds. To produce persistent notifications you should use `hs.notify.new()` with a `withdrawAfter` attribute of 0.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/notify.lua line 140

#Methods

#actionButtonTitle


Signature	`hs.notify:actionButtonTitle([buttonTitle]) -> notificationObject \| current-setting`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set the label of a notification's action button
Parameters	buttonTitle - An optional string containing the title for the notification's action button. If no parameter is provided, then the current setting is returned.
Returns	The notification object, if buttonTitle is present; otherwise the current setting.
Notes	The affects of this method only apply if the user has set Hammerspoon notifications to `Alert` in the Notification Center pane of System Preferences This value is ignored if hs.notify:hasReplyButton is true.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 555

#activationType


Signature	`hs.notify:activationType() -> number`
Type	Method
Description	Returns how the notification was activated by the user.
Parameters	None
Returns	the integer value corresponding to how the notification was activated by the user. See the table `hs.notify.activationTypes[]` for more information.
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 1255

#actualDeliveryDate


Signature	`hs.notify:actualDeliveryDate() -> number`
Type	Method
Description	Returns the date and time when a notification was delivered
Parameters	None
Returns	A number containing the delivery date/time of the notification, in seconds since the epoch (i.e. 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000)
Notes	You can turn epoch times into a human readable string or a table of date elements with the `os.date()` function.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 1273

#additionalActions


Signature	`hs.notify:additionalActions([actionsTable]) -> notificationObject \| table`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set additional actions which will be displayed for an alert type notification when the user clicks and holds down the action button of the alert.
Parameters	an optional table containing an array of strings specifying the additional options to list for the user to select from the notification.
Returns	The notification object, if an argument is present; otherwise the current value
Notes	The additional items will be listed in a pop-up menu when the user clicks and holds down the mouse button in the action button of the alert. If the user selects one of the additional actions, hs.notify:activationType will equal `hs.notify.activationTypes.additionalActionClicked` See also hs.notify:additionalActivationAction
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 1104

#additionalActivationAction


Signature	`hs.notify:additionalActivationAction() -> string \| nil`
Type	Method
Description	Return the additional action that the user selected from an alert type notification that has additional actions available.
Parameters	None
Returns	If the notification has additional actions assigned with hs.notify:additionalActions and the user selects one, returns a string containing the selected action; otherwise returns nil.
Notes	If the user selects one of the additional actions, hs.notify:activationType will equal `hs.notify.activationTypes.additionalActionClicked` See also hs.notify:additionalActions
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 1165

#alwaysPresent


Signature	`hs.notify:alwaysPresent([alwaysPresent]) -> notificationObject \| current-setting`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set whether a notification should be presented even if this overrides Notification Center's decision process.
Parameters	alwaysPresent - An optional boolean parameter indicating whether the notification should override Notification Center's decision about whether to present the notification or not. Defaults to true. If no parameter is provided, then the current setting is returned.
Returns	The notification object, if alwaysPresent is provided; otherwise the current setting.
Notes	This does not affect the return value of `hs.notify:presented()` -- that will still reflect the decision of the Notification Center Examples of why the users Notification Center would choose not to display a notification would be if Hammerspoon is the currently focussed application, being attached to a projector, or the user having set Do Not Disturb. if the notification was not created by this module, this method will return nil
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 673

#alwaysShowAdditionalActions


Signature	`hs.notify:alwaysShowAdditionalActions([state]) -> notificationObject \| boolean`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set whether an alert notification should always show an alternate action menu.
Parameters	state - An optional boolean, default false, indicating whether the notification should always show an alternate action menu.
Returns	The notification object, if an argument is present; otherwise the current value.
Notes	This method has no effect unless the user has set Hammerspoon notifications to `Alert` in the Notification Center pane of System Preferences. hs.notify:additionalActions must also be used for this method to have any effect. WARNING: This method uses a private API. It could break at any time. Please file an issue if it does.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 950

#autoWithdraw


Signature	`hs.notify:autoWithdraw([shouldWithdraw]) -> notificationObject \| current-setting`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set whether a notification should automatically withdraw once activated
Parameters	shouldWithdraw - An optional boolean indicating whether the notification should automatically withdraw. Defaults to true. If no parameter is provided, then the current setting is returned.
Returns	The notification object, if shouldWithdraw is present; otherwise the current setting.
Notes	This method has no effect if the user has set Hammerspoon notifications to `Alert` in the Notification Center pane of System Preferences: clicking on either the action or other button will clear the notification automatically. If a notification which was created before your last reload (or restart) of Hammerspoon and is clicked upon before hs.notify has been loaded into memory, this setting will not be honored because the initial application delegate is not aware of this option and is set to automatically withdraw all notifications which are acted upon. if the notification was not created by this module, this method will return nil
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 767

#contentImage


Signature	`hs.notify:contentImage([image]) -> notificationObject \| current-setting`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set a notification's content image.
Parameters	image - An optional hs.image parameter containing the image to display. Defaults to nil. If no parameter is provided, then the current setting is returned.
Returns	The notification object, if image is provided; otherwise the current setting.
Notes	See hs.image for details on how to specify or define an image This method is only supported in OS X 10.9 or greater. A warning will be displayed in the console and the method will be treated as a no-op if used on an unsupported system.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/notify.lua line 273

#delivered


Signature	`hs.notify:delivered() -> bool`
Type	Method
Description	Returns whether the notification has been delivered to the Notification Center
Parameters	None
Returns	A boolean indicating whether the notification has been delivered to the users Notification Center
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 1213

#getFunctionTag


Signature	`hs.notify:getFunctionTag() -> functiontag`
Type	Method
Description	Return the name of the function tag the notification will call when activated.
Parameters	None
Returns	The function tag for this notification as a string.
Notes	This tag should correspond to a function in hs.notify.registry and can be used to either add a replacement with `hs.notify.register(...)` or remove it with `hs.notify.unregister(...)` if the notification was not created by this module, this method will return nil
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 737

#hasActionButton


Signature	`hs.notify:hasActionButton([hasButton]) -> notificationObject \| current-setting`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set the presence of an action button in a notification
Parameters	hasButton - An optional boolean indicating whether an action button should be present. If no parameter is provided, then the current setting is returned.
Returns	The notification object, if hasButton is present; otherwise the current setting.
Notes	The affects of this method only apply if the user has set Hammerspoon notifications to `Alert` in the Notification Center pane of System Preferences
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 637

#hasReplyButton


Signature	`hs.notify:hasReplyButton([state]) -> notificationObject \| boolean`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set whether an alert notification has a "Reply" button for additional user input.
Parameters	state - An optional boolean, default false, indicating whether the notification should include a reply button for additional user input.
Returns	The notification object, if an argument is present; otherwise the current value
Notes	This method has no effect unless the user has set Hammerspoon notifications to `Alert` in the Notification Center pane of System Preferences. hs.notify:hasActionButton must also be true or the "Reply" button will not be displayed. If this is set to true, the action button will be "Reply" even if you have set another one with hs.notify:actionButtonTitle.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 912

#informativeText


Signature	`hs.notify:informativeText([informativeText]) -> notificationObject \| current-setting`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set the informative text of a notification
Parameters	informativeText - An optional string containing the informative text to be set on the notification object. This can be an empty string. If `nil` is passed, any existing informative text will be removed. If no parameter is provided, then the current setting is returned.
Returns	The notification object, if informativeText is present; otherwise the current setting.
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 518

#otherButtonTitle


Signature	`hs.notify:otherButtonTitle([buttonTitle]) -> notificationObject \| current-setting`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set the label of a notification's other button
Parameters	buttonTitle - An optional string containing the title for the notification's other button. If no parameter is provided, then the current setting is returned.
Returns	The notification object, if buttonTitle is present; otherwise the current setting.
Notes	The affects of this method only apply if the user has set Hammerspoon notifications to `Alert` in the Notification Center pane of System Preferences Due to OSX limitations, it is NOT possible to get a callback for this button.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 596

#presented


Signature	`hs.notify:presented() -> bool`
Type	Method
Description	Returns whether the users Notification Center decided to display the notification
Parameters	None
Returns	A boolean indicating whether the users Notification Center decided to display the notification
Notes	Examples of why the users Notification Center would choose not to display a notification would be if Hammerspoon is the currently focussed application, being attached to a projector, or the user having set Do Not Disturb.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 1192

#response


Signature	`hs.notify:response() -> string \| nil`
Type	Method
Description	Get the users input from an alert type notification with a reply button.
Parameters	None
Returns	If the notification has a reply button and the user clicks on it, returns a string containing the user input (may be an empty string); otherwise returns nil.
Notes	hs.notify:activationType will equal `hs.notify.activationTypes.replied` if the user clicked on the Reply button and then clicks on Send. See also hs.notify:hasReplyButton
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 1076

#responsePlaceholder


Signature	`hs.notify:responsePlaceholder([string]) -> notificationObject \| string`
Type	Method
Description	Set a placeholder string for alert type notifications with a reply button.
Parameters	`string` - an optional string specifying placeholder text to display in the reply box before the user has types anything in an alert type notification with a reply button.
Returns	The notification object, if an argument is present; otherwise the current value
Notes	In macOS 10.13, this text appears so light that it is almost unreadable; so far no workaround has been found. See also hs.notify:hasReplyButton
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 1035

#schedule


Signature	`hs.notify:schedule(date) -> notificationObject`
Type	Method
Description	Schedules a notification for delivery in the future.
Parameters	date - the date the notification should be delivered to the users Notification Center specified as the number of seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00Z or as a string in rfc3339 format: "YYYY-MM-DD[T]HH:MM:SS[Z]".
Returns	The notification object
Notes	See also hs.notify:send() hs.settings.dateFormat specifies a lua format string which can be used with `os.date()` to properly present the date and time as a string for use with this method.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 346

#send


Signature	`hs.notify:send() -> notificationObject`
Type	Method
Description	Delivers the notification immediately to the users Notification Center.
Parameters	None
Returns	The notification object
Notes	See also hs.notify:schedule() If a notification has been modified, then this will resend it. You can invoke this multiple times if you wish to repeat the same notification.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 312

#setIdImage


Signature	`hs.notify:setIdImage(image[, withBorder]) -> notificationObject`
Type	Method
Description	Set a notification's identification image (replace the Hammerspoon icon with a custom image)
Parameters	image - An `hs.image` object, a string containing an image path, or a string defining an ASCIImage withBorder - An optional boolean to give the notification image a border. Defaults to `false`
Returns	The notification object
Notes	See hs.image for details on how to specify or define an image WARNING: This method uses a private API. It could break at any time. Please file an issue if it does
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/notify.lua line 309

#soundName


Signature	`hs.notify:soundName([soundName]) -> notificationObject \| current-setting`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set the sound for a notification
Parameters	soundName - An optional string containing the name of a sound to play with the notification. If `nil`, no sound will be played. Defaults to `nil`. If no parameter is provided, then the current setting is returned.
Returns	The notification object, if soundName is present; otherwise the current setting.
Notes	Sounds will first be matched against the names of system sounds. If no matches can be found, they will then be searched for in the following paths, in order: `~/Library/Sounds` `/Library/Sounds` `/Network/Sounds` `/System/Library/Sounds`
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 811

#subTitle


Signature	`hs.notify:subTitle([subtitleText]) -> notificationObject \| current-setting`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set the subtitle of a notification
Parameters	subtitleText - An optional string containing the subtitle to be set on the notification object. This can be an empty string. If `nil` is passed, any existing subtitle will be removed. If no parameter is provided, then the current setting is returned.
Returns	The notification object, if subtitleText is present; otherwise the current setting.
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 481

#title


Signature	`hs.notify:title([titleText]) -> notificationObject \| current-setting`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set the title of a notification
Parameters	titleText - An optional string containing the title to be set on the notification object. The default value is "Notification". If `nil` is passed, then the title is set to the empty string. If no parameter is provided, then the current setting is returned.
Returns	The notification object, if titleText is present; otherwise the current setting.
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 444

#withdraw


Signature	`hs.notify:withdraw() -> notificationObject`
Type	Method
Description	Withdraws a delivered notification from the Notification Center.
Parameters	None
Returns	The notification object This method allows you to unlock a dispatched notification so that it can be modified and resent. if the notification was not created by this module, it will still be withdrawn if possible
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 406

#withdrawAfter


Signature	`hs.notify:withdrawAfter([seconds]) -> notificationObject \| number`
Type	Method
Description	Get or set the number of seconds after which to automatically withdraw a notification
Parameters	seconds - An optional number, default 5, of seconds after which to withdraw a notification. A value of 0 will not withdraw a notification automatically
Returns	The notification object, if an argument is present; otherwise the current value.
Notes	While this setting applies to both Banner and Alert styles of notifications, it is functionally meaningless for Banner styles A value of 0 will disable auto-withdrawal if the notification was not created by this module, this method will return nil
Examples	None
Source	extensions/notify/libnotify.m line 992