NSExceptional / Objective-Clean

Objective-Clean

Objective-Clean is a VS Code extension to modernize old Objective-C code. We've all been there: you crack open a project written by someone who learned Objc 20 years ago and never got into the habit of using collection literals and subscripting syntax, and you wish you could flip a switch to convert that code to use modern Objective-C syntax!

Well, now you can!

Features

This extension comes with a single command, Convert File to Modern Objective-C Syntax, that will only do the following:

• Convert NSNumber initializers to use NSNumber literals
• Convert NS[Mutable]Dictionary|Array initializers to use collection literals
• Convert NS[Mutable]Dictionary|Array accessors to use subscripting syntax

Demo.mp4

Known Issues

For most operations, this extension uses simple regex find and replace. As a result, there may be edge cases it cannot handle or won't handle correctly without a full-blown parser. Some contrived examples:

• [[foo bar] objectForKey:key] may not be handled, in order for [object method:[dict objectForKey:key]] to work
• [[foo bar:foo[1]] objectForKey:key] may result in [[foo bar:foo1]][key]

TODO

• Implement stricter parsing for dictionary initializers
• Implement a parser for collection accessors instead of using regex
• Split all functionality into individual commands
  • Add a command to run a list of other commands of this extension
  • Add setting to choose "default" commands to run in the above setting

Add new commands for the following:

• alloc-init calls to new
• Collection initWithCapacity: calls to new/alloc-init
• Accesses of known class properties to dot syntax (i.e. UIColor.redColor, UIDevice.currentDevice)
• [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero] to new/alloc-init
• CGRect(0, 0, 0, 0) to CGRectZero
• Remove unnecessary casts in message sends, such as [(NSNumber *)foo boolValue]
• Enforce proper method declaration format, i.e. -(void) foo: (id ) bar to - (void)foo:(id)bar

Release Notes

See the changelog