iPhoto-style sidebar

Question

I'm trying to achieve this "effect" in cocoa (photo taken from Things.app from Cultured Code):

Answer 1

Try using an NSTableView or NSOutlineView with the selection style set to source list:

[outlineView setSelectionHighlightStyle: NSTableViewSelectionHighlightStyleSourceList]

Then create a custom NSCell class that displays your icon and text.

Answer 2

PXSourceList makes creating a source list very easy.