Delete unused ressources from Localizable.strings - xcode

I'm using BartyCrouch to maintain an up-to-date localized project. My project is currently translated in 4 different languages, and I'm going to add some new languages. My issue is that my base Localizable.strings file has about 200-300 resources, even though there are probably less than 100 currently used in the project.
I'm looking for the best way to remove the un-referenced localized strings in the project, all while keeping the currently localized values.
Is there any native solution or do I have to use a third party? And if so, is there anything automatic?

Well, I definitely didn't look hard enough. I think it's worth posting an answer instead of deleting the question because I don't think the answer is on Stackoverflow yet.
https://github.com/ijoshsmith/abandoned-strings
This little gem will do exactly this. Easy to use. Simply download the zip file, use the Terminal to go into the "AbandonedStrings" folder containing a single "main.swift" file.
Then, on the terminal, enter: ./main.swift /the/path/to/your/project
This will display a list of all the unused ressources.
Then, if you also want the script to delete them, simply add "write" at the end of the command.
Watch out though: it will delete all the Storyboard localized ressources, so commit your project before and simply discard the changes.

Related

Why Derived Data - why do we need it

For years I have just blindly excepted that once in a while I need to delete the Derived Data folder.
The Internet - mostly comes up with ways to delete it :-)
Can someone explain why we need Derived Data and not just have output relative to each
project in Xcode - I am sure it is something smart, but what?
Note:
I know how to change it, but it is more if there is any thoughts behind having it.
I also know how to git ignore.
So if it is for speeding up builds, there must be a way to reference other Derived Data frameworks in projects?
Thanks
The module-based nature of Swift building and linking requires the creation of dozens of ancillary files (apinotesc and pcm files) in the module cache. It is cheaper and (subsequently) faster to create these once for all projects. Thus the default is that there is one location for one module cache.
Another advantage is that when cleaning up the derived data files (which take up a lot of room) — as you yourself admit one needs to do from time to time — it is easier to find them all if they are in once location together. Imagine if they were distributed inside every individual project folder!
Can someone explain why we need Derived Data and not just have output relative to each project in Xcode - I am sure it is something smart, but what?
The files in the derived data folder are intermediate files. Having them around let's Xcode avoid doing work that it has already done previously, and so speeds up your builds. If you delete those files, there's no long-term harm done -- Xcode just has to go and create them again. That takes time, so your build will take longer, but otherwise you'll get the same result.
The reason not to put them in the project folder is that they're not really party of the project. If you use version control (you do, right?), you wouldn't want to have to configure your software to ignore parts of the project, and you wouldn't want to commit any of those derived data files either. And again, removing the derived data files doesn't change the project at all; it only changes what Xcode remembers about the project from one build to the next.

Batch rename my classes to change my project prefix?

I've created a project and built out a several model classes. I've decided that I'd like to recycle them as a separate framework. In doing so, I want to change my class prefix of those files. The issue is, of course, that I now have to batch rename my files and my classes. I could use the refactor tool, but I have tens of classes, so it would be tedious. Is there a good way to automate the process? For reference, I'm using Xcode 5.
For anyone looking for an answer, I think I have a solution, although it's something I'd like to see built in to Xcode. I've filed a radar.(#15261680)
I had three things to worry about here:
The class names themselves. The class prefixes didn't match the framework that I wanted to put them in.
The file names. Even if I did a careful global search and replace and changed the class prefixes, the file names would be wrong.
The Xcode project references. Xcode keeps a list of your files, and I had to be sure that Xcode would know where to find my files, in the event that I renamed them.
What I did:
I did a global search and replace. Instead of clicking "Replace All", I used the "Review" pane, so I was able to exclude about ten or so cases that I wanted to keep with the original prefix.
I found a utility to do a batch rename. Now my files and classes all match nicely.
Uh oh! Xcode doesn't know where my files are, now. To fix this, I opened the .pbxproj file and did another careful search and replace. (I made sure to quit Xcode first, so my changes wouldn't be overwritten automatically.)
This was a bit of an involved process, and I was hoping that there was a tool or Xcode feature to help me do this, but alas, not yet.

NSFileCoordinator correct usage

when writing a file using NSFileCoordinator i need to specify the correct NSFileCoordinatorWritingOptions. Although they are explained in detail, I am not sure when to use which one. The available options are:
NSFileCoordinatorWritingForDeleting
NSFileCoordinatorWritingForReplacing
NSFileCoordinatorWritingForMoving
NSFileCoordinatorWritingForMerging
For example, what option is the correct one if I want to create a file (a plist for example)?
Wich one when I modify a file?
Can someone explain the NSFileCoordinatorWritingOptions for a better understanding?
I agree, documentation is not complete on that front, and hard to understand. And no sample code is available even for basic operations like these.
I try to think of these options in the perspective of other apps that have that specific file open, that helps getting the whole picture.
Pass no option (0) to simply update the file and notify others of your changes.
Let's say you are deleting a file that TextEdit currently displays, by providing the NSFileCoordinatorWritingForDeleting option, you're telling TextEdit to close the file as it does not exist anymore (or it could propose to save it to another place if it's in memory). It acts because of deletion.
If you're overwriting a file (as opposed to updating a file), you want about that same behavior for other apps. That's NSFileCoordinatorWritingForReplacing.
NSFileCoordinatorWritingForMoving says other apps to track the file to it's new location, so that it can be later updated.
NSFileCoordinatorWritingForMerging asks other processes to first commit their changes so that you can then merge your own changes with those.
To answer your question, you should use NSFileCoordinatorWritingForReplacing when creating a new file (even when no file exists, as it was to appear in the mean time from another app, you'd be replacing it with your own, unrelated contents). And NSFileCoordinatorWritingForMerging should be used when updating an existing file with new data, as it allows integrating the latest changes to that file immediately (instead of doing later with conflict resolution).

Visual Studio Solution -- Any way to create a "special" folder?

Basically, I want one of my folders to appear above the other folders as a type of "special folder", similar to how Properties has it's own special place even though it's a folder, same with App_Data, etc.
Is this possible?
By default, Visual Studio doesn't support adding special project folders. The Properties folder is hard-coded to behave the way that it does.
However, anything is possible with code. You could build an extension to do this, but it wouldn't be simple. You'd probably need to mess around with the IVsHierarchy or even implement a project subtype.
Basically, I want one of my folders to
appear above the other folders as a
type of "special folder", similar to
how Properties has it's own special
place even though it's a folder, same
with App_Data, etc.
Is this possible?
Yes:
Do it manually through the IDE
Write your own script to
generate/modify your *.sln/*.vcproj
For (1) "manual" on solutions in the IDE: Solution Explorer, right-click on Solution node==>Add==>New Solution Folder.
While typically the folders are sorted alphabetically (I'd insert a leading underscore to force your special folder to the top), solution folders inserted manually on my MSVS2008 leave the new folder "at the top", even though it should have bumped down when alphabetically sorted. However, folders under a Project (which are called "Filters") are always sorted alphabetically, and added similarly from the right-click, and then you can modify their "filter properties" with file name globs for what you want in there (e.g., add a filter glob for "*.MY_EXTENSION1;*.MY_EXTENSION2").
We chose (2), and we generate our own *.sln and *.vcproj, adding our own folders/filters. I've not seen any utilities on the web to help with that (so we had to write our own). The formats are not too hard to reverse engineer, but it's largely undocumented XML, so you have to experiment. There are only a couple good web articles explaining what's in the file, like this one:
http://tim.oreilly.com/pub/a/dotnet/excerpt/vshacks_chap1/index.html?page=4
On the "bright side", the files are only XML, so in developing our scripts we merely made changes through the IDE, saved, and compared the "diffs" for what change we want. Those changes are what our scripts insert when we modify our files. So, if you modify the file manually, you can similarly just "diff" the file to see what changed, and make your own script. (IMHO, this is the fastest and easiest route, since tools generally do not exist to manipulate these files.)
Tools like CMake and QMake generate *.vcproj/*.sln, but don't really do the folder customization thing like you're talking. However, we look at their output too, because, "there's more than one way to do things" in these files, and the files seem to have many undocumented features for doing different clever things that somehow these tools have "discovered" (so you can try to copy their generated output).
We found the .NET APIs to work with these files as too much work, and not really designed for that type of manipulation, but YMMV.
VS 2012 has a feature that I just found, and it solved this problem for me. It may not be new to VS.
Create a folder under the project with a leading "_" (to get it sorted first).
On the folder's properties set "Namespace Provider" to false.
VS (or ReSharper?) code analysis then does not complain that "the namespace does not match file location", which was the source of irritation for me that would otherwise have kept me from going this route.
Although there is no easy way to add Custom Folder, there is an easy way to "steal" Properties custom folder.
Add a regular folder to the project. For example MyCustomerFolder.
Open proj file xml. Find line
<AppDesignerFolder>Properties</AppDesignerFolder>
replace with
<AppDesignerFolder>MyCustomFolder</AppDesignerFolder>
Reload the project.
Now you've got a custom folder, that will always stick to the top.

XCode: Project portability: How to handle code files shared between applications?

As I create more applications, my /code/shared/* increases.
this creates a problem: zipping and sending a project is no longer trivial. it looks like my options are:
in Xcode set shared files to use absolute path. Then every time I zip and send, I must also zip and send /code/shared/* and give instructions, and hope the recipient doesn't have anything already at that location.
this is really not practical; it makes the zip file too big
maintain a separate copy of my library files for each project
this is not really acceptable as a modification/improvements would have to be implemented everywhere separately. this makes maintenance unreasonably cumbersome.
some utility to go through every file in the Xcode project, figure out the lowest common folder, and create a zipped file structure that only contains the necessary files, but in their correct relative folder locations, so that the code will still build
(3) is what I'm looking for, but I have a feeling it doesn't as yet exist.
Anyone?
You should rethink your current process. The workflow you're describing in (3) is not normal. This all sounds very complicated and all basically handled with relative ease if you were using source control. (3) just doesn't exist and likely never will.
A properly configured SCM will allow you to manage multiple versions of multiple libraries (packages) and allow you to share projects (in branches) without ever requiring zipping up anything.

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