JSON-like description for Objective-C collection objects (ObjCJSONLikeDescription)

This library makes Objective-C collection objects (e.g. NSDictionary, NSArray, NSSet, and NSOrderSet) return a JSON-like and Unicode string. It would be helpful when using NSLog() or interacting with LLDB or GDB in Xcode console to print collection objects.

There is a problem if you log collection objects in Xcode console. For example, if a dictionary containing Unicode strings and multiple-level collection:

id collection =
@[
  @YES,
  @NO,
  @0,
  @1,
  @[
    @(YES),
    @(NO),
    @(0),
    @(1),
    ],
  @{
    @"你好": @"Hello",
    @"再見": @"Bye"
    }
  ];
NSLog(@"collection: %@", collection);

Results in Xcode console WITHOUT this library:

(
    1,
    0,
    0,
    1,
        (
        1,
        0,
        0,
        1
    ),
        {
        "\U4f60\U597d" = Hello;
        "\U518d\U898b" = Bye;
    }
)

Results in Xcode console WITH this library:

[
	true,
	false,
	0,
	1,
	[
		true,
		false,
		0,
		1
	],
	{
		"你好": "Hello",
		"再見": "Bye"
	}
]

Summary

This library changes description and debugDescription of collection objects:

Elements in collection objects are more JSON-like:.
- String values are always unicodified and embraced by double quotes (").
- Value collection objects (NSArray, NSSet, and NSOrderedSet) are embraced by square brackets ([]), not parentheses (()).
- Key-value pairs are separated by colon (:), not equal sign (=).
- Elements are separated by comma (,), not semicolon (;).
- NSNull in collection objects are showing null, not <null>.
- Boolean object (@YES/@NO) are showing true/false, not 1/0.
- Other objects are also embraced by double quotes (") as a string.
Correct the indentation of collection objects for multiple levels.
Customizable indentation (using tabulators by default) by defining INDT_FOR_DESCRIPTION in the .pch file.

How to use

Just include the library in your project. No extra code is required.

Warning

This library will change the description and debugDescription of some collection classes to return a JSON-like output. Use this library carefully.

Installation

You could install this library via CocoaPods

pod 'ObjCJSONLikeDescription'

or dragging files in ObjCJSONLikeDescription/ into your project manually.

NOTE: This source is an aspect patch using XAspect. You should also include this library in your project too.

Support other classes with subspec

M13OrderedDictionary

pod 'ObjCJSONLikeDescription/M13OrderedDictionary'

About

Author

Xaree Lee (李岡諭, Kang-Yu Lee), an iOS developer from Taiwan.

xareelee@gmail.com

License

This library is released under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more info.

xareelee/ObjCJSONLikeDescription