Questions about .PLISTs

[Eniregnat]

I want to find a stand-alone PLIST viewer or editor. Specifically, I want(ed) to be able to go through the SAFRI History and find particular websites. (Safari crashed when I had 15 or so pages open as tabs.) I have already done the work and used M$ Word to view the file and get the sites, but there has to be a way to go through PLISTs with out dealing with all of the coding gobbely gook.

From what I have gleaned PLISTs are Pearl generated or compliant database files, but that’s all I know.

I’ve searched the forums, but didn’t find anything particularly germane to the quest for a PLIST viewer.

 

[Nermal]

Apple has an app called Property List Editor. It might not be sophisticated enough for you, but it can view and edit plists.

 

[Eniregnat]

Apple has an app called Property List Editor. It might not be sophisticated enough for you, but it can view and edit plists.

Thank you.

Links for others
Information Property List Files

Apple.com ibid
The simplest way to create a new property list or edit an existing list is to use the Property List Editor application. This application ships with the Xcode Tools CD and is installed with the tools in the /Developer/Applications directory. When you launch the application, it automatically opens a new, empty property list for you to edit.

I don't have that on my computer. While I am an ADC member, I haven't purchaced Xcode Tools. There is a refrence for what the codes mean, so technicly I could either script (in AS or DreamCard) something that strips out the codes. Why are there not enfough hours in the day.

Thank you.

By the way, I love how you (and others) are paying hommage to BV.

 

[tag]

While I haven't personally tried this, I did come across this hint at macosxhints which uses a vim script for editing normal/binary .plist files. It can decode and then re-encode the .plist files for editing/modifying, plus you get all the power of vim at your disposal so maybe this will work for you.

 

[Nermal]

While I am an ADC member, I haven't purchaced Xcode Tools.

Don't need to purchase anything, they're a free download

There should also be a copy included on your Tiger DVD (or on a fourth CD if you're using Panther).

 

[caveman_uk]

From what I have gleaned PLISTs are Pearl generated or compliant database files, but that’s all I know.

I’ve searched the forums, but didn’t find anything particularly germane to the quest for a PLIST viewer.

Property List files are just XML text files. They're not specific to perl. The user settings for cocoa apps (for example) are stored in plist format. You can open them in any text viewer. I've had some apps balk at plists that have been saved by something other than Property List Editor or the app that created the plist so I'd make a back-up copy of anything you intend on editing in case you screw up.

 

[robbieduncan]

Property List files are just XML text files. They're not specific to perl. The user settings for cocoa apps (for example) are stored in plist format. You can open them in any text viewer. I've had some apps balk at plists that have been saved by something other than Property List Editor or the app that created the plist so I'd make a back-up copy of anything you intend on editing in case you screw up.

On Tiger this is no longer true Apple decided to make them binary instead. There is a provided command line tool to convert between binary and plain XML though (and applications don't see any difference).

 

[caveman_uk]

My understanding is that you can chose how you want them stored though to be honest I haven't checked.

I tend to use the methods in NSDictionary to open/save plists rather than the NSPropertyListSerialization methods so I've never actually had to choose. I'll check it out and have a look to see if it's still saving stuff out in XML

 

[robbieduncan]

My understanding is that you can chose how you want them stored though to be honest I haven't checked.

I tend to use the methods in NSDictionary to open/save plists rather than the NSPropertyListSerialization methods so I've never actually had to choose. I'll check it out and have a look to see if it's still saving stuff out in XML

Not sure what happens to NSDictionary saves plists, but NSUserDefaults saves in binary not XML on Tiger.

 

[Applespider]

Have a look at this free app Pref Setter which works under Tiger and allows you to view any preference lists and edit them.

Once you launch it, it brings up a list of all the pref files on your Mac with a Spotlight search for finding the one you're after. There's also a spotlight bar within the plist so you can find the exact bit you're looking for. V useful!

 

[Eniregnat]

Thank you.
Stripped out what I needed by hand, and in the near future will try the solutions noted. I will post what works for me, as it might benefit others later on.