According to the apple docs https://developer.apple.com/reference/foundation/nsusernotification/1416410-identifier
NSUserNotification has a property called identifier which is suppose to replace notifications when the identifier is the same as another notification.
When I was testing this feature out however it seems that the notification is not really replaced, just not sent.
How would I achieve the effect where only one type of notification is present in the notification center but the latest one called is updated to the top?
Sending notification A + notification B + notification A with a 1 minute delay
This is what is being shown on the mac notification center
Without identifier
NotificationA (now)
NotificationB (1 minute ago)
NotificationA (2 minute ago)
With identifier
NotificationB (1 minute ago)
NotificationA (2 minute ago)
Notice how Notification A (2nd time) is not called due to the identifier being present
Desired effect
NotificationA (now)
NotificationB (1 minute ago)
In this situation Notification A is sent again and the previous Notification A is gone
You can delete an existing notification using the NSNotificationCenters removeDeliveredNotification: method.
Just remove and re-add your notification.
Objective-C
[[NSUserNotificationCenter defaultUserNotificationCenter] removeDeliveredNotification:userNotification];
[[NSUserNotificationCenter defaultUserNotificationCenter] deliverNotification:userNotification];
Swift
NSUserNotificationCenter.default.removeDeliveredNotification(userNotification)
NSUserNotificationCenter.default.deliver(userNotification)
I successfully used this technique to show notifications without polluting the notification center.