What is an .xcodeproj file?
Xcode tracks “projects” with a file called SomeProject.xcodeproj.
Actually, like workspaces, it’s not a file at all - it’s a directory.
The important file in it is project.pbxproj (“Project Builder XCode Project”).
The rough syntax looks like:
// !$*UTF8*$!
{
foo = {
isa = blah;
jtzht = (
qux /* jyrjhetz */,
barf /* grhtz */,
);
bam = 0;
};
bar = blah /* some comment */;
}So you have:
- comments with
//or with/* ... */ - key-value things with
{ key1 = value1; key2 = value2; ... } - lists with
( element1, element2, ... ) - booleans (
YESandNO) - atoms (e.g.
blah) representing themselves - numbers (e.g.
0)
It’s roughly JSON in its expressiveness.
The first is special and mandatory: it indicates the encoding of the rest of the file.
A project.pbxproj file is pretty big; it contains boatloads of settings about your project. It mainly says:
- What files the project contains
- What build configurations it has, e.g. compiler flags
The overall schema is pretty simple:
// !$*UTF8*$!
{
archiveVersion = 1;
classes = {
};
objectVersion = 46;
objects = {
FD9C41C61DDE16AB001EC7D1 = ...;
FD9C41D31DDE16AB001EC7D1 = ...;
...
};
rootObject = FD9C41C61DDE16AB001EC7D1;
}The objects dictionary is the important bit. It defines a GRAPH. The keys of the dictionary are the vertices, and each object definition can reference other objects. Xcode creates odd IDs for objects, e.g. FD9C41C61DDE16AB001EC7D1.
A distinguished object is the rootObject. This defines the project.
There are a few different kinds of “object”. Each is a dictionary with an isa property. There are many types: PBXBuildFile, PBXFileReference, PBXFrameworksBuildPhase, PBXGroup, PBXNativeTarget, PBXProject, PBXHeadersBuildPhase, PBXResourcesBuildPhase, PBXSourcesBuildPhase, PBXVariantGroup, XCBuildConfiguration, XCConfigurationList, PBXContainerItemProxy, XCConfigurationList, PBXTargetDependency.
The object dictionary is grouped by this type, with each section delimited by a comment, e.g.:
objects = {
/* Begin PBXBuildFile section */
FD9C41D41DDE16AB001EC7D1 = ...;
FD9C41DD1DDE1FD0001EC7D1 = ...;
/* End PBXBuildFile section */
/* Begin PBXFileReference section */
FD9C41CF1DDE16AB001EC7D1 = ...;
FD9C41D21DDE16AB001EC7D1 = ...;
FD9C41D31DDE16AB001EC7D1 = ...;
FD9C41DC1DDE1FD0001EC7D1 = ...;
/* End PBXFileReference section */
...
/* Begin XCConfigurationList section */
FD9C41C91DDE16AB001EC7D1 = ...;
FD9C41D71DDE16AB001EC7D1 = ...;
/* End XCConfigurationList section */
};Examples of objects:
{isa = PBXBuildFile; fileRef = FD9C41D21DDE16AB001EC7D1; settings = { ... }; };{isa = PBXFileReference; lastKnownFileType = sourcecode.c.h; path = foo.h; sourceTree = "<group>"; };- ...
This page copyright James Fisher 2016. Content is not associated with my employer.
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