plist2

Converts between .tmLanguage(.plist), .json, .cson and .yaml formats

Disclaimer:

• The main task of this library is to work with .plist(.tmLanguage, .tmTheme) files. The native code is written to work with the .plist. It does not parse any xml, but only plist!
• To work with the .cson, a custom code was also written, therefore, it does not pull unnecessary dependencies.
• The library ignores some inaccuracies, but there is no complete validation.
• Spec .plist can contain tag <data>some base64 content</data>. See spec. This library does not convert it to anything, but in the JS/TS files you will get such an object: { "%binary64%": 'some base64 content' }. You can process it yourself.
• All comments (in .list and .cson) are placed in a hidden object %comments%. You won't see them when compiling to a json and yaml.
• To work with .yaml the yaml library was used. But, the tag !!binary "base64 code" will be converted to { "%binary64%": 'base64 code' } and vice versa. It will probably be possible to pass comments between plist and yaml in the future.

Usage:

Install:

npm i plist2 # yarn add plist2
# or globally (the library has CLI):
npm i -g plist2

Use in js/ts:

import {
  // JS
  js2cson,
  js2json,
  js2plist,
  js2yaml,
  // JSON
  json2cson,
  json2js,
  json2plist,
  json2yaml,
  // CSON
  cson2js,
  cson2json,
  cson2plist,
  cson2yaml,
  // PLIST
  plist2cson,
  plist2js,
  plist2json,
  plist2yaml,
  // YAML
  yaml2cson,
  yaml2js,
  yaml2json,
  yaml2plist
} from 'plist2'

// or
import js2json from 'plist2/js2json' // and other ...

// or
const js2json = require('plist2').js2json // and other ...

// or
const js2json = require('plist2/js2json').default // and other ...

Function types (typescript):

// JS
type js2cson = (js: any, indent: number | string = 2): string
type js2json = (js: any, indent: number | string = 2): string
type js2plist = (js: any, indent: number | string = 2): string
type js2yaml = (js: any, indent: number | string = 2): string
// JSON
type json2js = (json: string): any
type json2cson = (json: string, indent: number | string = 2): string
type json2plist = (json: string, indent: number | string = 2): string
type json2yaml = (json: string, indent: number | string = 2): string
// CSON
type cson2js = (json: string): any
type cson2json = (json: string, indent: number | string = 2): string
type cson2plist = (json: string, indent: number | string = 2): string
type cson2yaml = (json: string, indent: number | string = 2): string
// PLIST
type plist2js = (plist: string): any
type plist2cson = (plist: string, indent: number | string = 2): string
type plist2json = (plist: string, indent: number | string = 2): string
type plist2yaml = (plist: string, indent: number | string = 2): string
// YAML
type yaml2js = (yaml: string): any
type yaml2cson = (yaml: string, indent: number | string = 2): string
type yaml2json = (yaml: string, indent: number | string = 2): string
type yaml2plist = (yaml: string, indent: number | string = 2): string

Example:

const sourcePlist = `
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>dataExample</key>
    <data>cGxpc3Qy</data>

    <!-- Comment example -->
    <key>dateExample</key>
    <date>2021-12-21T00:00:00Z</date>

    <key>  string1  </key>
    <string>  not trim this string and key  </string>

    <key>
      string2  </key>
    <string>  partially trim this string and key  
    </string>

    <key>array</key>
    <array>
      <string>foo<!--comment in tag-->bar</string>
    </array>

    <key>object</key>
    <dict>
      <key>key</key>
      <string>value</string>
    </dict>

    <key>boolean</key>
    <true/>

    <key>numberInteger</key>
    <integer>234</integer>
    <key>numberFloat</key>
    <real>234.656</real>

    <key>incorrect values and tags (it will also work)</key>
    <array12345>
      <integer>234.23445</integer>
      </true>
      <FALSE>
    </ARRAY>

  </dict>
</plist>
`

const res = plist2js(sourcePlist)
console.log(res)
// Result:
expect(res).toEqual({
  // You have to deal with the `base64` data yourself
  dataExample: { '%binary64%': 'cGxpc3Qy' },
  dateExample: new Date('2021-12-21T00:00:00Z'),
  // not trim - if the tag is on the same line
  '  string1  ': '  not trim this string and key  ',
  // trim - if the tag was moved
  'string2  ': '  partially trim this string and key',
  array: ['foobar' /* %comments%: { 0: ['comment in tag'] } */],
  object: { key: 'value' },
  boolean: true,
  numberInteger: 234,
  numberFloat: 234.656,
  // Even the wrong data was processed
  'incorrect values and tags (it will also work)': [234, true, false],
  // This is a hidden object with comments.
  // It will not be displayed when converting to a `JSON` and `YAML`
  '%comments%': {
    dateExample: [' Comment example ']
  }
})

console.log(js2json(res)) // see below
console.log(js2cson(res)) // see below

Result json:

{
  "dataExample": { "%binary64%": "cGxpc3Qy" },
  "dateExample": "2021-12-21T00:00:00.000Z",
  "  string1  ": "  not trim this string and key  ",
  "string2  ": "  partially trim this string and key",
  "array": ["foobar"],
  "object": { "key": "value" },
  "boolean": true,
  "numberInteger": 234,
  "numberFloat": 234.656,
  "incorrect values and tags (it will also work)": [234, true, false]
}

Result cson:

dataExample:
  '%binary64%': 'cGxpc3Qy'
#  Comment example
dateExample: '2021-12-21T00:00:00.000Z'
'  string1  ': '  not trim this string and key  '
'string2  ': '  partially trim this string and key'
array: [
  # comment in tag
  'foobar'
]
object:
  key: 'value'
boolean: true
numberInteger: 234
numberFloat: 234.656
'incorrect values and tags (it will also work)': [
  234
  true
  false
]

The %comments% are gone, and the document itself looks more compact.

CLI:

If the library is installed globally: Here you can see examples of the conversion.

# auto detect extnames: `json`, 'cson' and 'yaml' ('yml')
# other extnames will be recognized as a 'plist'

# plist2 [inputFile] [outputFile-or-extName]

# example yaml->plist
plist2 somefile.yaml somefile.plist # create somefile.plist

# or yaml->plist
plist2 somefile.YML-TEST tmLanguage # create somefile.YML-TEST.tmLanguage

# or plist->json
plist2 somefile.plist .json # create somefile.plist.json

# or json->yaml
plist2 somefile.json ./folder/newfile.yml # create ./folder/newfile.yml

# or json->cson
plist2 somefile.json /newfile.json.cson # create /newfile.json.cson

Lisence

MIT