macOS Read Prefs .plist File?

[Darkroom]

how is it possible to read a preference file on the computer and store it's string or bool in my app's user defaults?

let's say i see that the prefs file for finder (com.apple.finder.plist) has BOOL:1 on WarnOnEmptyTrash. i would like my app to read that during launch, and act according to this value via an if statement. but how do get that value and place it in a variable for the if statement?

 

[gnasher729]

how is it possible to read a preference file on the computer and store it's string or bool in my app's user defaults?

let's say i see that the prefs file for finder (com.apple.finder.plist) has BOOL:1 on WarnOnEmptyTrash. i would like my app to read that during launch, and act according to this value via an if statement. but how do get that value and place it in a variable for the if statement?

If you use NSUserDefaults, use addSuiteNamed: to add com.app.finder to the list of preferences that are searched.

If you use CFPreferences, pass in the bundle identifier of the application instead of passing kCFPreferencesCurrentApplication.

 

[Darkroom]

thank gnasher729... that was easier than i could have imagined the following code seems to work well:

	NSUserDefaults *defaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
	[defaults addSuiteNamed: @"com.apple.finder" ];
	if ([defaults boolForKey:@"WarnOnEmptyTrash"] == 0)
		{
		NSLog (@"Warn On Empty Trash is 0");
		}
		else
		{
		NSLog (@"Warn On Empty Trash is 1");
		}

 

[Darkroom]

oh... maybe not...

it seems that they take time to synchronize, so i included [defaults synchronize] but it doesn't seem to work? i tried cleaning my build before launching it and i still receive old values after i've changed them.

here is my code

+ (void)initialize
	{
	NSUserDefaults *defaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
	[defaults addSuiteNamed:@"com.apple.finder"];
	[defaults addSuiteNamed:@"com.apple.dock"];
	[defaults synchronize];
	}

- (void)awakeFromNib
	{
	NSUserDefaults *defaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
	if ([defaults boolForKey:@"WarnOnEmptyTrash"] == 0)
		{
		NSLog (@"Warn On Empty Trash is 0");
		}
		else
		{
		NSLog (@"Warn On Empty Trash is 1");
		}

//add more from com.apple.dock
}

the app will eventually display the correct value in NSLog without cleaning, but it takes about a minute... how do i make it instant? if that's even possible? writing "defaults read com.apple.finder" in Terminal also seems to lag behind... so is this the system's fault? is there nothing i can do?\

[EDIT]

also, defaults with String values like "AppleShowAllFiles" seem to work instantly with no lag at all:

if ([[defaults stringForKey:@"AppleShowAllFiles"] isEqualToString:@"FALSE"])
		{
		NSLog (@"it's FALSE");
		}
		else
		{
		NSLog (@"it's TRUE");
		}

 

[Darkroom]

oh... nevermind, it does work.