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<!DOCTYPE gsdoc PUBLIC "-//GNUstep//DTD gsdoc 1.0.4//EN" "http://www.gnustep.org/gsdoc-1_0_4.dtd">
<gsdoc base="NSPropertyList" up="Base">
<head>
<title>NSPropertyListSerialization class documentation</title>
<author name="Richard Frith-Macdonald">
<email address="rfm@gnu.org">
rfm@gnu.org
</email>
</author>
<copy>2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</copy>
</head>
<body>
<front><contents /></front>
<chapter>
<heading>
Software documentation for the
NSPropertyListSerialization class
</heading>
<class name="NSPropertyListSerialization" super="NSObject" ovadd="10.0.0">
<declared>Foundation/NSPropertyList.h</declared>
<desc>
<p>
The NSPropertyListSerialization class provides
facilities for serialising and deserializing
property list data in a number of formats. A
property list is roughly an
<ref type="class" id="NSArray">NSArray</ref>
or
<ref type="class" id="NSDictionary">NSDictionary</ref>
object, with these or
<ref type="class" id="NSNumber">NSNumber</ref>
,
<ref type="class" id="NSData">NSData</ref>
,
<ref type="class" id="NSString">NSString</ref>
, or
<ref type="class" id="NSDate">NSDate</ref>
objects as members. (See below.)
</p>
<p>
You do not work with instances of this
class, instead you use a small number of
class methods to serialize and
deserialize property lists.
</p>
<br /> A <em>property list</em> may only
be one of the following classes -
<deflist>
<term>
<ref type="class" id="NSArray">NSArray</ref>
</term>
<desc>
An array which is either empty or
contains only
<em>property list</em> objects. <br />
An array is delimited by round brackets
and its contents are comma
<em>separated</em> (there is no comma
after the last array element).
<example>
( "one", "two", "three" )
</example>
In XML format, an array is an element whose name is
<code>array</code> and whose content is the array
content.
<example>
<array><string>one</string><string>two</string><string>three</string></array>
</example>
</desc>
<term>
<ref type="class" id="NSData">NSData</ref>
</term>
<desc>
An array is represented as a series of pairs of
hexadecimal characters (each pair representing
a byte of data) enclosed in angle brackets. Spaces are
ignored).
<example>
< 54637374 696D67 >
</example>
In XML format, a data object is an element whose name is
<code>data</code> and whose content is a stream of
base64 encoded bytes.
</desc>
<term>
<ref type="class" id="NSDate">NSDate</ref>
</term>
<desc>
Date objects were not traditionally allowed in
<em>property lists</em> but were added when the XML
format was introduced. GNUstep provides an extension
to the traditional <em>property list</em> format to
support date objects, but older code will not read
<em>property lists</em> containing this extension.
<br /> This format consists of an asterisk followed
by the letter 'D' then a date/time in YYYY-MM-DD
HH:MM:SS +/-ZZZZ format, all enclosed within angle
brackets.
<example>
<*D2002-03-22 11:30:00 +0100>
</example>
In XML format, a date object is an element whose name is
<code>date</code> and whose content is a date in the
format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ (or the above dfate
format).
<example>
<date>2002-03-22T11:30:00Z</date>
</example>
</desc>
<term>
<ref type="class" id="NSDictionary">NSDictionary</ref>
</term>
<desc>
A dictionary which is either empty or contains only
<em>string</em> keys and <em>property list</em>
objects. <br /> A dictionary is delimited by curly
brackets and its contents are semicolon
<em>terminated</em> (there is a semicolon after each
value). Each item in the dictionary is a key/value
pair with an equals sign after the key and before the
value.
<example>
{
"key1" = "value1";
}
</example>
In XML format, a dictionary is an element whose name is
<code>dictionary</code> and whose content consists of
pairs of strings and other <em>property list</em>
objects.
<example>
<dictionary>
<string>key1</string>
<string>value1</string>
</dictionary>
</example>
</desc>
<term>
<ref type="class" id="NSNumber">NSNumber</ref>
</term>
<desc>
Number objects were not traditionally allowed in
<em>property lists</em> but were added when the XML
format was introduced. GNUstep provides an extension
to the traditional <em>property list</em> format to
support number objects, but older code will not
read <em>property lists</em> containing this
extension. <br /> Numbers are stored in a
variety of formats depending on their values.
<list>
<item>
boolean... either <code><*BY></code> for
<code>YES</code> or <code><*BN></code> for
<code>NO</code>. <br /> In XML format this is
either <code><true /></code> or
<code><false /></code>
</item>
<item>
integer... <code><*INNN></code> where NNN
is an integer. <br /> In XML format this is
<code><integer>NNN<integer></code>
</item>
<item>
real... <code><*RNNN></code> where NNN is a
real number. <br /> In XML format this is
<code><real>NNN<real></code>
</item>
</list>
</desc>
<term>
<ref type="class" id="NSString">NSString</ref>
</term>
<desc>
A string is either stored literally (if it contains no
spaces or special characters), or is stored as a
quoted string with special characters escaped
where necessary. <br /> Escape conventions are
similar to those normally used in ObjectiveC
programming, using a backslash followed by -
<list>
<item>
<strong>\</strong> a backslash character
</item>
<item>
<strong>"</strong> a quote character
</item>
<item>
<strong>b</strong> a backspace character
</item>
<item>
<strong>n</strong> a newline character
</item>
<item>
<strong>r</strong> a carriage return
character
</item>
<item><strong>t</strong> a tab character</item>
<item>
<strong>OOO</strong> (three octal digits) an
arbitrary ascii character
</item>
<item>
<strong>UXXXX</strong> (where X is a
hexadecimal digit) a an arbitrary unicode
character
</item>
</list>
<example>
"hello world & others"
</example>
In XML format, the string is simply stored in UTF8 format
as the content of a <code>string</code> element, and the
only character escapes required are those used by XML
such as the '&lt;' markup representing a '<'
character.
<example>
<string>hello world &amp; others</string>"
</example>
</desc>
</deflist>
</desc>
<method type="NSData*" factory="yes" ovadd="10.0.0">
<sel>dataFromPropertyList:</sel>
<arg type="id">aPropertyList</arg>
<sel>format:</sel>
<arg type="NSPropertyListFormat">aFormat</arg>
<sel>errorDescription:</sel>
<arg type="NSString**">anErrorString</arg>
<desc>
Creates and returns a data object containing a
serialized representation of plist. The argument
<var>aFormat</var> is used to determine the way in
which the data is serialised, and the
<var>anErrorString</var> argument is a pointer in
which an error message is returned on failure (
<code>nil</code> is returned on success).
</desc>
</method>
<method type="NSData*" factory="yes" ovadd="10.6.0">
<sel>dataWithPropertyList:</sel>
<arg type="id">aPropertyList</arg>
<sel>format:</sel>
<arg type="NSPropertyListFormat">aFormat</arg>
<sel>options:</sel>
<arg type="NSPropertyListWriteOptions">anOption</arg>
<sel>error:</sel>
<arg type="out NSError**">error</arg>
<desc>
<em>Description forthcoming.</em>
</desc>
</method>
<method type="BOOL" factory="yes" ovadd="10.0.0">
<sel>propertyList:</sel>
<arg type="id">aPropertyList</arg>
<sel>isValidForFormat:</sel>
<arg type="NSPropertyListFormat">aFormat</arg>
<desc>
Returns a flag indicating whether it is possible to
serialize <var>aPropertyList</var> in the format
<var>aFormat</var>.
</desc>
</method>
<method type="id" factory="yes" ovadd="10.0.0">
<sel>propertyListFromData:</sel>
<arg type="NSData*">data</arg>
<sel>mutabilityOption:</sel>
<arg type="NSPropertyListMutabilityOptions">anOption</arg>
<sel>format:</sel>
<arg type="NSPropertyListFormat*">aFormat</arg>
<sel>errorDescription:</sel>
<arg type="NSString**">anErrorString</arg>
<desc>
Deserialises dataItem and returns the
resulting property list (or <code>nil</code> if
the <var>data</var> does not contain a property list
serialised in a supported format). <br /> The
argument <var>anOption</var> is used to control
whether the objects making up the deserialized
property list are mutable or not. <br /> The
argument <var>aFormat</var> is either null or a
pointer to a location in which the format of the
serialized property list will be returned.
<br /> Either <code>nil</code> or an error message
will be returned in <var>anErrorString</var>.
</desc>
</method>
<method type="id" factory="yes" ovadd="10.6.0">
<sel>propertyListWithData:</sel>
<arg type="NSData*">data</arg>
<sel>options:</sel>
<arg type="NSPropertyListReadOptions">anOption</arg>
<sel>format:</sel>
<arg type="NSPropertyListFormat*">aFormat</arg>
<sel>error:</sel>
<arg type="out NSError**">error</arg>
<desc>
<em>Description forthcoming.</em>
</desc>
</method>
<method type="id" factory="yes" ovadd="10.6.0">
<sel>propertyListWithStream:</sel>
<arg type="NSInputStream*">stream</arg>
<sel>options:</sel>
<arg type="NSPropertyListReadOptions">anOption</arg>
<sel>format:</sel>
<arg type="NSPropertyListFormat*">aFormat</arg>
<sel>error:</sel>
<arg type="out NSError**">error</arg>
<desc>
<em>Description forthcoming.</em>
</desc>
</method>
<method type="NSInteger" factory="yes" ovadd="10.6.0">
<sel>writePropertyList:</sel>
<arg type="id">aPropertyList</arg>
<sel>toStream:</sel>
<arg type="NSOutputStream*">stream</arg>
<sel>format:</sel>
<arg type="NSPropertyListFormat">aFormat</arg>
<sel>options:</sel>
<arg type="NSPropertyListWriteOptions">anOption</arg>
<sel>error:</sel>
<arg type="out NSError**">error</arg>
<desc>
<em>Description forthcoming.</em>
</desc>
</method>
</class>
</chapter>
</body>
</gsdoc>
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