Simple Mac App is a basic template project in C for making applications that run on the Classic Mac OS (System 7 to MacOS 9). It has the basic framework code needed to handle multiple Mac windows, menu and event management as well as some basic Text Edit and List controls that follow the MacOS 8+ theme support.
During #MARCHintosh 2025 I made a few fun projects in HyperCard, and made it to the point where I feel like I have pushed the tool to it's limits. For MARCHintosh 2026, I want to write "real" classic Mac programs, and this framework is the preparation for that so I can focus on the actual tools and not the boilerplate.
Goals:
- A framework for making small-to-medium sized tools. This means some parts needed for full-fledged document editors like printing are omitted.
- The whole framework should be understandable and debuggable by just skimming through it. This is why I am not using some period commercial framework like Metrowerks PowerPlant.
Default appearance (Apple Platinum):
Also fully supports Appearance/Kaleidoscope schemes:
- Requires a version of Mac OS between System 7.0 and MacOS 9.2.2
- Color QuickDraw
- Compiling requires CodeWarrior 6 (CodeWarrior 4 also works if you recreate the project file manually)
In order to commit the source files to git, the following modifications have been made. These will have to be reversed if you want to compile this code in MPW.
- Line endings have been converted from CR (Classic Mac) to LF (Unix).
- Resource files (rsrc) have been run through DeRez to create flat text files without a resource fork.
This is presented on GitHub for educational purposes only.
- The main version control is done using Apple MPW Projector over AppleTalk (period accurate!), and GitHub is only updated occasionally with merged commits without any commit messages. See file headers for changes.
- If you actually want to build something with this, fetch a native MacOS version off of the BaroNet zone on GlobalTalk.