ibtool(1) man page

ibtool(1) General Commands Manual ibtool(1)

NAME
ibtool - compiles, prints, updates, and verifies Interface Builder
documents.

SYNOPSIS
ibtool [options] document

DESCRIPTION
ibtool verifies, updates, and prints the contents of an Interface
Builder document, generating its output in standard plist format. The
tool follows a "read", "modify", "write", "print" order of operations.

OPTIONS
Specifying Output:
--write path
Write the resulting Interface Builder document to the specified
path.

--output-format format
By default, ibtool provides output in the form of an XML
property list. Specifying binary1 will instruct ibtool to output
a binary property list. Similarly, xml1 specifies an XML
property list, and human-readable-text specifies human readable
text.

Compiling:
--compile path
Compile the input file and write it to the specified path. The
compile option instructs ibtool to convert an Interface Builder
document to a file that can be loaded at runtime. The compile
option can be combined with --flatten NO to produce an output
file that is both runnable, and editable. Additionally,
--warnings, --errors, and --output-format are three other
options that are commonly combined with --compile.

--flatten boolean
When combined with the --compile option and a value of NO,
--flatten instructs ibtool to produce an output file that is
both runnable, and editable. This option is typically used when
preparing a product for localization. If no value is specified,
the default flattening option is YES.

--module moduleName
Specifies the module name to include in applicable custom class
names at runtime. The module name should match the
PRODUCT_MODULE_NAME build setting of the target for which the
Interface Builder document is being compiled. This option is
required for compiling any document that contains an object
whose custom class is a Swift class and whose
customModuleProvider attribute is set to target.

Postprocessing:
--strip path
Remove design-time content from the input Interface Builder NIB
document and write the stripped output to path. Stripping a NIB
reduces its size and makes it uneditable.

Loading Bundles:
--bundle bundlePath
Load the bundle located at bundlePath.

Localization:
--previous-file previousFile
Specifies the Interface Builder document from the previous
development iteration for the purpose of incremental
localizations.

--incremental-file incrementalFile
Specifies the Interface Builder document from which to take
prior localizations during incremental localizations.
incrementalFile will often be the translated version of the
document specified with --previous-file.

--localize-incremental
Consolidate the structural and localization changes between the
input document, the document specified by previousFile, and the
document specified by incrementalFile, writing the resulting
document to the path specified by --write. When specifying this
option, one MUST provide a --previous-file and an
--incremental-file.

--reference-external-strings-file
When combined with the --compile option, this flag indicates
that the files in the Base.lproj locale folder should be
compiled to reference the matching external strings files found
in the other locales when loaded. Available on 10.8 and later.

--companion-strings-file locale:stringsFile
When combined with the --compile option, --companion-strings-
file specifies the locale and input path of a strings file
associated with the compiled document. ibtool will copy the
strings file into the lproj directory for that locale. If ibtool
renames the output compiled document, it will rename the output
strings file as well. This option implies --reference-external-
strings-file and should be repeated once for each associated
strings file. The output path provided with --compile must be
located in a directory named "Base.lproj".

Importing:
--import plist
Apply the property values specified in plist to the object in
the Interface Builder document with the matching object ID.
plist should be a plist in the format produced by --export, only
with the dictionary containing the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.export removed from surrounding the
object IDs. Note that setting a property in this manner may not
actually modify the value of the property, or conversely may
alter additional properties. Often, the input to this option is
a modified version of the output from --export. Combine this
option with --write in order to produce an Interface Builder
document with the modified property values.

--import-strings-file stringsFile
Replace the document's localizable strings with the translations
specified by stringsFile. stringsFile must be in the format
generated by --generate-strings-file.

--import-xliff XLIFFDocument
Replace the document's localizable strings with the translations
specified by XLIFFDocument. XLIFFDocument must be in the format
generated by --export-xliff.

Exporting:
--export plist
For each object in the Interface Builder document, export the
union of the properties specified in plist for each class listed
in plist of which the object is either a member, or a member of
a descending class. plist should be a plist composed of a
dictionary with class names for keys, and arrays of property key
paths for values. The output is a plist composed of a
dictionary under the key com.apple.ibtool.document.export, where
each key is an object ID, and each value is a dictionary of
property key paths to their corresponding value. If a key in
the second level dictionary begins with a ´.´, it isn't a key
path. Currently, the only special key is ".nilKeypaths", which
identifies an array of key paths whose value was nil.

An example of the plist format expected for the --export command
follows; this sample will export the 'title' property of any
NSCell in the given document.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>NSCell</key>
<array>
<string>title</string>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>

Refactoring:
--convert old-new
Rename the class named 'old' to 'new'. If 'old' ends with an
'*', then rename all classes beginning with 'old' to instead
begin with 'new'. This Updates all outlet types, class names,
custom classes, as well as actual instances.

--upgrade
Upgrade the input Interface Builder document to the latest
document type. If the output path is not specified by --write,
the upgraded document will be written to the input path.

--remove-plugin-dependencies
Remove any dependencies on Interface Builder 3 plug-ins so that
the document may be used in Xcode, and write the resulting
document to the path specified by --write. Instances of objects
integrated by plug-ins are replaced with instances of classes
integrated by system frameworks and the custom class is set to
correspond to the old class. For each attribute set on the
object, a corresponding User Defined Runtime Attribute is set on
the resulting object where possible. Any unconverted key paths
are reported. Conversion may result in changes to runtime
behavior, thus converted files must be verified.

Working with Auto Layout:
--enable-auto-layout
Enables Auto Layout in the given document and writes the
resulting document to the path specified by --write.

--update-frames
Adjust the frames of misplaced or ambiguous objects to match
their constraints. All misplaced and ambiguous objects in the
output document specified by --write are affected by this
option. Frames can only be updated in Xcode 5.0 documents that
use Auto Layout.

--update-constraints
Adjust the constraint constants of misplaced objects so that the
objects match their frames. All misplaced objects in the output
document specified by --write are affected by this option.
Constraints can only be updated in Xcode 5.0 documents that use
Auto Layout.

Printing File Contents:
--export-strings-file stringsfile
Extract the localizable strings from the Interface Builder
document into stringsfile in the format expected by
--import-strings-file.

--export-xliff XLIFFDocument
Extract the localizable strings from the Interface Builder
document into XLIFFDocument as an XLIFF XML document in the
format expected by --import-xliff. This argument can be
combined with the --source-language and --target-language
arguments in order to specify the resultant XLIFF document's
source and target languages.

--source-language sourceLanguage
Specifies the source language of the resultant XLIFF document.
This argument MUST be used in conjunction with the
--export-xliff argument. If the --source-language argument is
not specified, the language "en" is used by default.

--target-language targetLanguage
Specifies the target language of the resultant XLIFF document.
This argument MUST be used in conjunction with the
--export-xliff argument. If the --target-language argument is
not specified, no target language is used.

--warnings
Include document warning messages in ibtool's plist output.
Warnings will appear under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.warnings, with messages listed under
the subkey message and warning types under the subkey type.

--errors
Include document error messages in ibtool's plist output.
Errors will appear under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.errors, with messages listed under the
subkey message and error types under the subkey type.

--notices
Include document notice messages in ibtool's plist output.
Notices will appear under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.notices, with messages listed under
the subkey message and error types under the subkey type.

--localizable-strings
Include the document's non-empty localizable strings in ibtool's
plist output. The localizable strings are output as a
dictionary under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.localizable-strings, where the keys
are the object ids for objects with localizable strings, and the
values are dictionaries of property names and their associated
localizable strings. Empty strings are ignored.

--localizable-stringarrays
Include the document's localizable strings that are values of
to-many relationships in ibtool's plist output. The to-many
localizable strings are output as a dictionary under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.localizable-stringarrays, where the
keys are the object ids for objects with to-many localizable
strings, and the values are dictionaries of property names and
their associated array of localizable strings.

--localizable-geometry
Include the document's localizable geometry in ibtool's plist
output. The localizable geometry is output as a dictionary
under the key com.apple.ibtool.document.localizable-geometry,
where the keys are the object ids for objects with localizable
geometry, and the values are dictionaries of property names and
a plist representation of that geometry.

--localizable-other
Include the document's localizable attributes, other than
strings and geometry, in ibtool's plist output. These
attributes are output as a dictionary under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.localizable-other, where the keys are
the object ids for objects with the localizable attributes, and
the values are dictionaries of localizable property names and
their associated values.

--localizable-to-many-relationships
Include the document's localizable to-many relationships in
ibtool's plist output. These attributes are output as a
dictionary under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.localizable-to-many-relationships,
where the keys are the object ids for objects with the
localizable attributes, and the values are dictionaries of
localizable property names and their associated values.

--localizable-all
Include all the document's localizable attributes in ibtool's
plist output. The localizable attributes are output as a
dictionary under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.localizable-all, where the keys are
the objects ids of the objects with localizable properties, and
the values are the union of the properties returned by
--localizable-strings, --localizable-stringarrays,
--localizable-geometry, and --localizable-other.
--localizable-to-many-relationships.

--objects
Include the document's objects in ibtool's plist output. The
objects are output as a dictionary under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.objects, where the keys are the object
ids, and the values are the associated object's properties.

--hierarchy
Include the document's hierarchy in ibtool's plist output. The
hierarchy is output as a nested array of dictionaries under the
key com.apple.ibtool.document.hierarchy with the subkeys
objectID, label, name, children, and customClass.

--connections
Include the document's connections in ibtool's plist output.
The connections are output as a dictionary under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.connections, where the keys are the
object ids, and the values are dictionaries including the
subkeys destination-id, destination-label, label, source-id,
source-label, and type.

--classes
Include the document's classes in ibtool's plist output. The
classes are output as a dictionary under the key
com.apple.ibtool.document.classes, where the keys are the class
names, and the values are dictionaries including the subkeys
actions, outlets, superclass, and class.

--version-history
Print the version of IB/System Version used when the document
was last saved. The version history information is output under
the key com.apple.ibtool.document.version-history with the
subkey interface-builder-version.

--all Include all the information listed above in ibtool's plist
output.

Version Information:
--version
Print the version of ibtool. The version information is output
under the key com.apple.ibtool.version with the subkeys
bundle-version and short-bundle-version.

EXAMPLES
ibtool --export-strings-file file.strings file.nib
ibtool will output a strings file containing all of file.nib's
localizable strings.

ibtool --previous-file orig.nib --incremental-file trans.nib
--localize-incremental --write newTrans.nib mod.nib
ibtool will leverage orig.nib against changes in mod.nib and
localizations from trans.nib, and write the new translated nib.

ibtool --previous-file orig.nib --incremental-file trans.nib
--import-strings-file str.strings --localize-incremental mod.nib
--write newTrans.nib
ibtool will execute in the same manner as above, but will apply
the strings from str.strings before writing the document.

ibtool --warnings --errors --notices file.nib > alerts.plist
alerts.plist will contain all warning, error, and notice
messages from file.nib.

ibtool --plugin path/to/some.plugin --localizable-geometry file.nib
ibtool will load some.plugin and output a plist of all
localizable geometry in file.nib.

ibtool --convert oldName-newName file.nib
ibtool will change all classes with the exact name "oldName" to
be named "newName" instead.

ibtool --convert Old'*'-New file
ibtool will change all classes with names beginning with "Old",
such as "OldName", "OldClassName", and "OldClass", to instead
begin with "New". For example, the previously mentioned classes
would be changed to "NewName", "NewClassName", and "NewClass",
respectively.

ibtool --export export.plist file.nib
ibtool will export properties specified in the export.plist, and
output a plist mapping Object IDs to property values.

ibtool --export-xliff generated.xlf inputDocument.xib
ibtool will create an XLIFF document, "generated.xlf", that
contains all of the localizable strings from the input document
"inputDocument.xib". As the source and target languages were
not specified, English will be used as the source language, and
the target language will not be included.

ibtool --export-xliff generated.xlf --source-language es
--target-language fr inputDocument.xib
ibtool will create an XLIFF document, "generated.xlf", that
contains all of the localizable strings from the input document
"inputDocument.xib". The source language of "generated.xlf" is
marked as Spanish, and the target language is marked as French.

ibtool --import-xliff translation.xlf --write translated.xib
inputDocument.xib
ibtool will apply the translations found in the XLIFF document
"translation.xlf" to the input document "inputDocument.xib", and
write the resulting translated document to "translated.xib".