Write Old-Style ASCII Property Lists like a Boss

write-oldstyle-plist.m

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

#define BEGIN_AUTORELEASEPOOL @autoreleasepool {
#define END_AUTORELEASEPOOL }

int main(int argc, const char **arg)
{
    BEGIN_AUTORELEASEPOOL

    NSError *err;
    //const char bytes[] = { 0xDE, 0xAD };
    NSDictionary *plist = @{
        @"one": @1,
        @"two": @2,
        @"three": @3,
        @"stringy": @"noquotesneeded",
        @"quoted": @"the spaces require quotes",
        @"Null?": NSNull.null,
        @"date": NSDate.now,
        //@"data": [NSData dataWithBytes:bytes length:2],
    };
    NSLog(@"plist? %@", plist);

    NSLog(@"valid old-style? %@", @([NSPropertyListSerialization
        propertyList:plist
        isValidForFormat:NSPropertyListOpenStepFormat])
    );
    NSLog(@"valid plist? %@", @([NSPropertyListSerialization
        propertyList:plist
        isValidForFormat:NSPropertyListXMLFormat_v1_0])
    );
    NSLog(@"valid json? %@", @([NSJSONSerialization isValidJSONObject:plist]));

    // writes a readable old-style plist except when NSData is included
    [plist.description writeToFile:@"/Users/eddie/garbage.plist"
        atomically:YES
        encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding
        error:&err
    ];
    
    if (err)
        NSLog(@"write err? %@", err);
    else
        NSLog(@"readable? %@", [NSDictionary
            dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:@"/Users/eddie/garbage.plist"]);

    END_AUTORELEASEPOOL

    return 0;
}