Get an object properties list in Objective-C
I just managed to get the answer myself. By using the Obj-C Runtime Library, I had access to the properties the way I wanted:
- (void)myMethod {
unsigned int outCount, i;
objc_property_t *properties = class_copyPropertyList([self class], &outCount);
for(i = 0; i < outCount; i++) {
objc_property_t property = properties[i];
const char *propName = property_getName(property);
if(propName) {
const char *propType = getPropertyType(property);
NSString *propertyName = [NSString stringWithCString:propName
encoding:[NSString defaultCStringEncoding]];
NSString *propertyType = [NSString stringWithCString:propType
encoding:[NSString defaultCStringEncoding]];
...
}
}
free(properties);
}
This required me to make a 'getPropertyType' C function, which is mainly taken from an Apple code sample (can't remember right now the exact source):
static const char *getPropertyType(objc_property_t property) {
const char *attributes = property_getAttributes(property);
char buffer[1 + strlen(attributes)];
strcpy(buffer, attributes);
char *state = buffer, *attribute;
while ((attribute = strsep(&state, ",")) != NULL) {
if (attribute[0] == 'T') {
if (strlen(attribute) <= 4) {
break;
}
return (const char *)[[NSData dataWithBytes:(attribute + 3) length:strlen(attribute) - 4] bytes];
}
}
return "@";
}
@boliva's answer is good, but needs a little extra to handle primitives, like int, long, float, double, etc.
I built off of his to add this functionality.
// PropertyUtil.h
#import
@interface PropertyUtil : NSObject
+ (NSDictionary *)classPropsFor:(Class)klass;
@end
// PropertyUtil.m
#import "PropertyUtil.h"
#import "objc/runtime.h"
@implementation PropertyUtil
static const char * getPropertyType(objc_property_t property) {
const char *attributes = property_getAttributes(property);
printf("attributes=%s\n", attributes);
char buffer[1 + strlen(attributes)];
strcpy(buffer, attributes);
char *state = buffer, *attribute;
while ((attribute = strsep(&state, ",")) != NULL) {
if (attribute[0] == 'T' && attribute[1] != '@') {
// it's a C primitive type:
/*
if you want a list of what will be returned for these primitives, search online for
"objective-c" "Property Attribute Description Examples"
apple docs list plenty of examples of what you get for int "i", long "l", unsigned "I", struct, etc.
*/
return (const char *)[[NSData dataWithBytes:(attribute + 1) length:strlen(attribute) - 1] bytes];
}
else if (attribute[0] == 'T' && attribute[1] == '@' && strlen(attribute) == 2) {
// it's an ObjC id type:
return "id";
}
else if (attribute[0] == 'T' && attribute[1] == '@') {
// it's another ObjC object type:
return (const char *)[[NSData dataWithBytes:(attribute + 3) length:strlen(attribute) - 4] bytes];
}
}
return "";
}
+ (NSDictionary *)classPropsFor:(Class)klass
{
if (klass == NULL) {
return nil;
}
NSMutableDictionary *results = [[[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init] autorelease];
unsigned int outCount, i;
objc_property_t *properties = class_copyPropertyList(klass, &outCount);
for (i = 0; i < outCount; i++) {
objc_property_t property = properties[i];
const char *propName = property_getName(property);
if(propName) {
const char *propType = getPropertyType(property);
NSString *propertyName = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:propName];
NSString *propertyType = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:propType];
[results setObject:propertyType forKey:propertyName];
}
}
free(properties);
// returning a copy here to make sure the dictionary is immutable
return [NSDictionary dictionaryWithDictionary:results];
}
@end