magic-property

Objective-C data records made easy.

magic-property generates immutable Objective-C classes with init, copy, isEqual and hash methods from a simple header file with just a list of properties.

Features

• Automatically generated immutable Objective-C classes
• correct isEqual and hash implementation
• init, new and copy methods for/with all properties
• description method with human-readable output
• all property attributes (e.g. nonatomic, strong) supported
• ARC support
• NSCopying, NSCoding and NSSecureCoding supported
• support for extra method implementations and custom property setters and accessors
• support for custom typedefs and enums
• no special compiler features needed

Usage

Sample Header

A simple header like this is enough to generate the immutable Objective-C class:

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

#import "Address.h"

@interface PhonebookEntry : NSObject
@property (nonatomic, strong, readonly) NSString *name;
@property (nonatomic, strong, readonly) NSString *email;
@property (nonatomic, strong, readonly) NSArray *phoneNumbers;
@property (nonatomic, strong, readonly) NSString *birthday;
@property (nonatomic, strong, readonly) Address *address;
@end

Just add the header file to the input file of the magic-property script and the actual class header and implementation file will be generated by the script.

Custom methods

magic-property can use custom and extra methods to override the default behavior. Simply add the methods to override or to add in a m-file. There is no need to manually add any of the generated methods.

@implementation PhonebookEntry
+ (PhonebookEntry *)parseFromString:(NSString *)
{
   ... // the parse code is added to the final class by the script
}

- (NSString *)serializeToString
{
    ... // this becomes a method of the immutable class
}
@end

XCode Integration

magic-property can be used as standalone script but XCode integration can be setup with these simple steps:

Step 1: Copy magic-property script

Copy the scripts folder to your project.

Step 2: Create folder and property files

Create a folder where the generated code will be placed (e.g. gen) and a folder where all your property header files will go (e.g. property-classes). Add the property header files (*.h) you want to use with magic-property

Step 3: Add the script as a build phase

Add a "Run script" build phase to XCode.

Make sure the script build phase is before compiling sources and add the following code:

scripts/magic-property -o gen property-classes/*.h property-classes/*.m

Make sure to change the paths to the correct location you chose for the magic-property script, generated code folder and input folder.

Step 4: Add generated files

Add the files from the objective-c folder to your project. Build your project once. The build will generate all the necessary files from your property class headers. Add the generated headers and implementation files to your XCode project. Note that you have to add the files again for each new property class header file you create, but not if you change the contents of a property header file.