How to read OSX .plist files from Java?

Question

How to read OSX .plist files from Java?

Camelback

HINT: A .plist is an XML file. – Catechu

HINT @karim79: No. On Mac it can be in binary form too – Windflower

You should probably explain for readers what a .plist file is. It's a Mac file which is, as I understand, an XML-based format in its current incarnation. So, simply use Java's built in XML processing libraries to read it. But perhaps you should also say what you mean by 'read' -- simply get it into memory, parse it, what? – Killick

Actually starting with Mac OS X 10.4 the default format for .plist files is in binary form not in xml form – Windflower

dd-plist enables your Java application to handle property lists of various formats. – Palmerpalmerston

Answer 1

Imho running a commandline tool from Java is not quite the "best way to do the job".

There are several much better ways to deal with binary plist in JAVA: That one I prefere is an usefull little project by Daniel Dreibrodt at: google project hosting

You can also use Apache Commons Configuration (which API is supporting the Property List format). More information about the history of the .plist-format on OSX (which version introduced which format) I wrote up on my blog

Update: There is a new project hosted at source forge called Property List Library, that shall be able to read AND write .plist- I have not tested it, but it sounds interesting.

Rubious

Answer 2

I guess you refer to the plist format used on Mac starting with Mac OS X (and not the NeXTSTEP or GNUstep format).

1. Determine if the file is in XML or binary format
2. If in binary format use the plutil command-line-utility to convert file to xml format
3. Now you have the file in xml format, use any java-xml-library to handle the plist

Windflower

If you're looking for a utility that is available on platforms other than mac, you can look into scw.us/iPhone/plutil. Works fine for me on OS/X and linux, did not try windows. – Unique

Answer 3

You can use this library:

Property List Library (SourceForge)

It will read property list files to objects and vice versa.

Rainwater

Answer 4

Simplified java XML/plist reading.

Beguile

xmlwise does NOT support binary plist format, which is actually the standard on OS X ("[Fatal Error] Info.plist:1:1: Content is not allowed in prolog") – Rubious

Answer 5

These days the Java Preferences API on a Mac automatically uses plist files and they are in binary format. You might be able to read the plist automatically simply by reading the preferences at the "node".

I hope that helps.

Precinct