My py5 experiences on M1 MacOS machine

[hx2A]

Recently I bought a M1 MacOS machine.

The first thing I did is I followed the Thonny + py5 plugin install instructions, as found here:

https://github.com/tabreturn/thonny-py5mode

Everything worked perfectly. Both with the py5 plugin using imported mode and not using the plugin with module mode.

Next I wanted to setup my development environment so I could do development on this machine. I installed the ARM64 DMG Installer from here:

https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads/#jdk17-mac

(I also had to install brew, then use brew to install ant and make. Both are necessary to run the build.)

I was able to run the build. I can import py5 from a python terminal.

However, when I create a sketch and attempt to run it, it will work but if I use the default renderer the window will open up behind everything else. This is not the case when I use the P2D renderer.

I will open a bug for this but before I do that I wanted to ask if anyone else experienced this? And equally important, what are the current outstanding issues with MacOS on Apple Silicon? What can I do to investigate the known issues to make things better for others?

[Maltiec]

I'll ask my former students about M1 experience, as I remember - the main problem was during install and java machine connection.

[wissme]

Hi ! Same problem with me (Mac mini M1, IDLE 3.13, py5). The graphics window pops behind the toplevel window, very annoying...

[hx2A]

Recently I revisited py5 on macOS machines, both with Apple Silicon and Intel CPUs, and came up with a coding change that will significantly improve things for all macOS users.

Consider the following code:

def setup():
    py5.size(500, 500)

def draw():
    py5.rect(py5.mouse_x, py5.mouse_y, 10, 10)

def key_typed(e):
    py5.println(f"key typed - key = {e.get_key()}")

py5.run_sketch()

This will work well on Linux and Windows. It would work well on macOS if I used the P2D renderer. For the default JAVA2D renderer, has three major problems:

1. On Apple Silicon the Sketch window will open behind other windows. (The same would happen on the Intel Apple machine but py5 makes two calls to py5.get_surface().set_always_on_top(True) and then py5.get_surface().set_always_on_top(False). This is a hack that happens to no longer work as of macOS version ~14.x.
2. The window will not receive keyboard events unless I click on it repeatedly. Key presses instead go to the terminal window or wherever else the Sketch was launched from.
3. Nothing appears on the taskbar or dock at the bottom of the screen.

Previously I thought that these were three unrelated problems. This is not correct. It turns out, both number 1 and number 2 are symptoms of number 3.

When the Sketch window does not appear on the dock, macOS does not consider the window to be something that is worthy of getting "focus." Calling py5.get_surface().set_always_on_top(True) can force it to the front, but this is using unnatural means that macOS does not like. Recent versions of macOS changed some of the rules for window focusing, which is why py5.get_surface().set_always_on_top(False) immediately bounces the window to the back.

Not being worthy of focus means the Sketch window can't receive key events. That's why I need to click on it repeatedly to get macOS to acknowledge that I really want to interact with the window.

I figured all of this out because I noticed that if I ran the above code in Jupyter, I would experience problems 1, 2, and 3. But if I changed the renderer to P2D and ran it again, and then changed it back to the default, problems 1, 2, and 3 would go away. This let me know the problem had nothing to do with the JAVA2D code. The Sketch with the P2D renderer puts py5 on the dock, which is why the next Sketch with the JAVA2D renderer works fine.

Anyhow, the problem became how to get the JAVA2D Sketch window to end up in the dock.

The solution I came up with is as follows. On macOS, when you call import py5, you'll see the py5 logo appear on the taskbar. This solves the above problems, and the default renderer JAVA2D works fine.

One consequence is that when the logo appears on the taskbar, wherever you are typing loses focus. This isn't a problem if you are running a python script because you'd see focus going to the Sketch window anyway. When using Jupyter, it is a bit odd but is obviously manageable. It is certainly a minor issue compared to the above problems.

I do think that this is a serious bug and want to get this fix out ASAP. I have finished testing the fix on apple silicon and on an intel mac and it works great for both of them. I do want to double check some things on Windows though - I can leverage what I learned over the past week to improve the code a bit.

I also need to update the documentation. The Special Notes for MacOS users should be updated to reflect the improvements and changes described here.

How does everyone feel about this change? @villares , do you see any problems with the py5 logo appearing on the taskbar when import py5 is called?

[villares]

I see no problem, but then, I'm not a Mac user anymore... But hey, it looks pretty innocuous, let's try this!

[hx2A]

I see no problem, but then, I'm not a Mac user anymore... But hey, it looks pretty innocuous, let's try this!

As a Linux user it seems odd to me that import py5 could cause a browser or terminal to lose focus, but macOS python users already have to deal with losing focus for other reasons, so it is really a minor inconvenience. And since it fixes so many other macOS issues, this is clearly a net gain.