ibtool(1) General Commands Manual ibtool(1)
NAME
ibtool - compiles, prints, updates, and verifies Interface Builder documents.
SYNOPSIS
ibtool [options] document
DESCRIPTION
ibtool verifies, updates, and prints the contents of an Interface Builder document, generating its output in standard plist format. The
tool follows a "read", "modify", "write", "print" order of operations.
OPTIONS
Specifying Output:
--write path
Write the resulting Interface Builder document to the specified path.
--output-format format
By default, ibtool provides output in the form of an XML property list. Specifying binary1 will instruct ibtool to output a binary
property list. Similarly, xml1 specifies an XML property list, and human-readable-text specifies human readable text.
Compiling:
--compile path
Compile the input file and write it to the specified path. The compile option instructs ibtool to convert an Interface Builder docu-
ment to a file that can be loaded at runtime. The compile option can be combined with --flatten NO to produce an output file that is
both runnable, and editable. Additionally, --warnings, --errors, and --output-format are three other options that are commonly com-
bined with --compile.
--flatten boolean
When combined with the --compile option and a value of NO, --flatten instructs ibtool to produce an output file that is both
runnable, and editable. This option is typically used when preparing a product for localization. If no value is specified, the
default flattening option is YES.
Postprocessing:
--strip path
Remove design-time content from the input Interface Builder NIB document and write the stripped output to path. Stripping a NIB
reduces its size and makes it uneditable.
Loading Plug-ins and Bundles:
--bundle bundlePath
Load the bundle located at bundlePath.
--plugin pluginPath
Load the plug-in located at pluginPath.
--plugin-dir pluginPath
Load all valid plug-ins found in the first level of pluginPath.
Localization:
--previous-file previousFile
Specifies the Interface Builder document from the previous developement iteration for the purpose of incremental localizations.
--incremental-file incrementalFile
Specifies the Interface Builder document from which to take prior localizations during incremental localizations. incrementalFile
will often be the translated version of the document specified with --previous-file.
--localize-incremental
Consolidate the structural and localization changes between the input document, the document specified by previousFile, and the doc-
ument specified by incrementalFile, writing the resulting document to the path specified by --write. When specifying this option,
one MUST provide a --previous-file and an --incremental-file.
Importing:
--import plist
Apply the property values specified in plist to the object in the Interface Builder document with the matching object ID. plist
should be a plist in the format produced by --export, only with the dictionary containing the key com.apple.ibtool.document.export
removed from surrounding the object IDs. Note that setting a property in this manner may not actually modify the value of the prop-
erty, or conversely may alter additional properties. Often, the input to this option is a modified version of the output from
--export. Combine this option with --write in order to produce an Interface Builder document with the modified property values.
--import-strings-file stringsFile
Replace the document's localizable strings with the translations specified by stringsFile. stringsFile must be in the format gener-
ated by --generate-strings-file.
--import-xliff XLIFFDocument
Replace the document's localizable strings with the translations specified by XLIFFDocument. XLIFFDocument must be in the format
generated by --export-xliff.
Exporting:
--export plist
For each object in the Interface Builder document, export the union of the properties specified in plist for each class listed in
plist of which the object is either a member, or a member of a descending class. plist should be a plist composed of a dictionary
with class names for keys, and arrays of property key paths for values. The output is a plist composed of a dictionary under the
key com.apple.ibtool.document.export, where each key is an object ID, and each value is a dictionary of property key paths to their
corresponding value. If a key in the second level dictionary begins with a '.', it isn't a key path. Currently, the only special
key is ".nilKeypaths", which identifies an array of key paths whose value was nil.
An example of the plist format expected for the --export command follows; this sample will export the 'title' property of any NSCell
in the given document.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>NSCell</key>
<array>
<string>title</string>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>
Refactoring:
--convert old-new
Rename the class named 'old' to 'new'. If 'old' ends with an '*', then rename all classes beginning with 'old' to instead begin with
'new'. This Updates all outlet types, class names, custom classes, as well as actual instances.
--upgrade
Upgrade the input Interface Builder document to the latest document type. If the output path is not specified by --write, the
upgraded document will be written to the input path.
Printing File Contents:
--export-strings-file stringsfile
Extract the localizable strings from the Interface Builder document into stringsfile in the format expected by --import-strings-
file.
--export-xliff XLIFFDocument
Extract the localizable strings from the Interface Builder document into XLIFFDocument as an XLIFF XML document in the format
expected by --import-xliff. This argument can be combined with the --source-language and --target-language arguments in order to
specify the resultant XLIFF document's source and target languages.
--source-language sourceLanguage
Specifies the source language of the resultant XLIFF document. This argument MUST be used in conjunction with the --export-xliff
argument. If the --source-language argument is not specified, the language "en" is used by default.
--target-language targetLanguage
Specifies the target language of the resultant XLIFF document. This argument MUST be used in conjunction with the --export-xliff
argument. If the --target-language argument is not specified, no target language is used.
--warnings
Include document warning messages in ibtool's plist output. Warnings will appear under the key com.apple.ibtool.document.warnings,
with messages listed under the subkey message and warning types under the subkey type.
--errors
Include document error messages in ibtool's plist output. Errors will appear under the key com.apple.ibtool.document.errors, with
messages listed under the subkey message and error types under the subkey type.
--notices
Include document notice messages in ibtool's plist output. Notices will appear under the key com.apple.ibtool.document.notices,
with messages listed under the subkey message and error types under the subkey type.
--localizable-strings
Include the document's non-empty localizable strings in ibtool's plist output. The localizable strings are output as a dictionary
under the key com.apple.ibtool.document.localizable-strings, where the keys are the object ids for objects with localizable strings,
and the values are dictionaries of property names and their associated localizable strings. Empty strings are ignored.
--localizable-stringarrays
Include the document's localizable strings that are values of to-many relationships in ibtool's plist output. The to-many localiz-
able strings are output as a dictionary under the key com.apple.ibtool.document.localizable-stringarrays, where the keys are the
object ids for objects with to-many localizable strings, and the values are dictionaries of property names and their associated
array of localizable strings.
--localizable-geometry
Include the document's localizable geometry in ibtool's plist output. The localizable geometry is output as a dictionary under the
key com.apple.ibtool.document.localizable-geometry, where the keys are the object ids for objects with localizable geometry, and the
values are dictionaries of property names and a plist representation of that geometry.
--localizable-other
Include the document's localizable attributes, other than strings and geometry, in ibtool's plist output. These attributes are out-
put as a dictionary under the key com.apple.ibtool.document.localizable-other, where the keys are the object ids for objects with
the localizable attributes, and the values are dictionaries of localizable property names and their associated values.
--localizable-all
Include all the document's localizable attributes in ibtool's plist output. The localizable attributes are output as a dictionary
under the key com.apple.ibtool.document.localizable-all, where the keys are the objects ids of the objects with localizable proper-
ties, and the values are the union of the properties returned by --localizable-strings, --localizable-stringarrays, --localizable-
geometry, and --localizable-other.
--objects
Include the document's objects in ibtool's plist output. The objects are output as a dictionary under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.objects, where the keys are the object ids, and the values are the associated object's properties.
--hierarchy
Include the document's hierarchy in ibtool's plist output. The hierarchy is output as a nested array of dictionaries under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.hierarchy with the subkeys objectID, label, name, children, and customClass.
--connections
Include the document's connections in ibtool's plist output. The connections are output as a dictionary under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.connections, where the keys are the object ids, and the values are dictionaries including the subkeys
type, label, source-id, source-label, destination-id, and destination-label.
--classes
Include the document's classes in ibtool's plist output. The classes are output as a dictionary under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.classes, where the keys are the class names, and the values are dictionaries including the subkeys
actions, outlets, superclass, and class.
--version-history
Print the version of IB/System Version used when this Interface Builder document was last saved. The version history information is
output under the key com.apple.ibtool.document.version-history with the subkey interface-builder-version.
--all Include all the information listed above in ibtool's plist output.
Agent Usage:
--agent-name NAME
Use a named instance of ibtool to act as a server. If no such server exists, create one. It is advantageous to use named agent when
invoking ibtool multiple times in quick succession, since ibtool's setup time can be amortized across several invocation of the
tool. Note that there will be a penalty paid for starting the agent, so not recommended for one-off invocations of the tool.
Version Information:
--version
Print the version of ibtool. The version information is output under the key com.apple.ibtool.version with the subkeys bundle-
version and short-bundle-version.
EXAMPLES
ibtool --export-strings-file file.strings file.nib
ibtool will output a strings file containing all of file.nib's localizable strings.
ibtool --previous-file orig.nib --incremental-file trans.nib --localize-incremental --write newTrans.nib mod.nib
ibtool will leverage orig.nib against changes in mod.nib and localizations from trans.nib, and write the new translated nib.
ibtool --previous-file orig.nib --incremental-file trans.nib --import-strings-file str.strings --localize-incremental mod.nib --write new-
Trans.nib
ibtool will execute in the same manner as above, but will apply the strings from str.strings before writing the document.
ibtool --warnings --errors --notices file.nib > alerts.plist
alerts.plist will contain all warning, error, and notice messages from file.nib.
ibtool --plugin path/to/some.plugin --localizable-geometry file.nib
ibtool will load some.plugin and output a plist of all localizable geometry in file.nib.
ibtool --convert oldName-newName file.nib
ibtool will change all classes with the exact name "oldName" to be named "newName" instead.
ibtool --convert Old'*'-New file
ibtool will change all classes with names beginning with "Old", such as "OldName", "OldClassName", and "OldClass", to instead begin
with "New". For example, the previously mentioned classes would be changed to "NewName", "NewClassName", and "NewClass", respec-
tively.
ibtool --export export.plist file.nib
ibtool will export properties specified in the export.plist, and output a plist mapping Object IDs to property values.
ibtool --agent-name CMPAgent --all file.nib
ibtool will start (or use if already running) an agent named CMPAgent to get the results of --all from file.nib.
ibtool --export-xliff generated.xlf inputDocument.xib
ibtool will create an XLIFF document, "generated.xlf", that contains all of the localizable strings from the input document "input-
Document.xib". As the source and target languages were not specified, English will be used as the source language, and the target
language will not be included.
ibtool --export-xliff generated.xlf --source-language es --target-language fr inputDocument.xib
ibtool will create an XLIFF document, "generated.xlf", that contains all of the localizable strings from the input document "input-
Document.xib". The source language of "generated.xlf" is marked as Spanish, and the target language is marked as French.
ibtool --import-xliff translation.xlf --write translated.xib inputDocument.xib
ibtool will apply the translations found in the XLIFF document "translation.xlf" to the input document "inputDocument.xib", and
write the resulting translated document to "translated.xib".
SEE ALSO
plist(1)
Apple Inc. Aug 15 2008 ibtool(1)