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Review
CFPlugin
Issue: 1.4 (February/March 2003)
Author: Daniel Howard
Article Description: No description available.
Article Length (in bytes): 3,750
Starting Page Number: 8
RBD Number: 1403
Resource File(s): None
Related Link(s): None
Known Limitations: None
Full text of article...
With the arrival of Mac OS X, Apple has released the Core Foundation classes. Most commonly, these classes are used in Carbon programs. Put simply, the classes give a standard approach to file formatting for Carbon and Cocoa programs. Within this class you can easily create .plist files to your preferences for an application. The significance of the .plist file is that it is an open-ended preferences system that can add great flexibility to your application. In addition, this plugin will enable you to create files fairly easily that are readable by Cocoa programs.
For instance, with the release of my application rapidly approaching, I needed a way to convert the files that were saved with resource forks into a Cocoa understandable data type. If CFPlugin didn't exist I would have had to learn how to access the Resource Fork through Carbon calls and use those in my program. Let me tell you, that's no easy task. Thanks to the hard work by Kevin Ballard, creating that file converter is now pretty simple. Don't get me wrong, this plugin is not the entire Core Foundation classes, but it does have quite a few of the calls. For example, if you want to add an array to a dictionary, you have to iterate through the array and convert everything to a CFString then put it in the dictionary. This approach is still a lot easier than doing all of the work by hand, but it is pretty tedious. It'd be a lot easier if CFPlugin handled arrays in dictionaries.
Also, this plugin lacks documentation or any sort of example file. As it is right now, everything is handled through Plugin Plunger except for the Read Me file which serves as a simple reference. Using CFPlugin can be pretty confusing and will take some testing to get the code to work properly, but it is nothing that will make you pull your hair out. Also, the author will answer almost any question you have. I took the liberty of contacting the author about a few of the problems I was having with the plugin and also about some feature requests. He shared plans that a new version will probably incorporate the dictionary full of arrays and a whole slew of new features (Address Book support, preference calls, and a few others).
As this plugin stands now, it will only have use for those who develop software both with REALbasic and in Cocoa. If you are thinking about delving into Cocoa programming and have already created an application or two in REALbasic this plug-in will help you tremendously. The above suggestions for uses only scratch the surface of what can be done with this tool. Suffice it to say that anyone who knows they will need the Core Foundation classes in their application should take advantage of this plugin.
In Brief Product CFPlugin 1.1.2 Manufacturer Kevin Ballard Price Free System Requirements Mac OS X (10.1+) Contact Info kevin-at-sb.org
http://kevin.sb.org/Software
Pros Free, Easily taps into the Core Foundation classes Cons Limited documentation, Not the full Core Foundation classes Rating (1.0-5.0): 3.6
End of article.
Article copyrighted by REALbasic Developer magazine. All rights reserved.
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