I would like to find all unused methods & properties of a class and see if they can be deleted.
I'm currently trying to implement this with analyzer package: https://pub.dev/packages/analyzer
But maybe there is easier way.
Related
I'm trying to add a new file to my Xcode project using Xcode 6.1.1 and Xcode now has a "File type" option where you select between "Empty File, Category, Protocol, Extension"
Can someone explain the differences between these and what the default to select would be? My file is a subclass of NSObject.
Thanks
Category
Categories are used to help modularize and organize class definitions. They allow you to take a (complex) class definition and spread it over several organized classes. It is not the same as subclassing. Although categories do allow you to override methods, Objective-C has no way of determining which method definition should be used, so you should never use a category to override methods. Instead, create a subclass that overrides the method as per usual.
Categories can contain protected methods, which "allow arbitrary files to 'opt-in' to a portion of an API by simply importing the category." (Check out the articles linked below.)
Extension
Extensions provide similar functionality to categories, except that you must implement the extension's API in the main implementation file.
Extensions can also be used to create a formal private API. Ordinarily, if you wanted to create private methods, you would write them in the implementation block, but would exclude them from the interface block. However, if you have an extensive group of methods that you would like to remain private, this becomes cumbersome and difficult to read/maintain. Using extensions, you can define the private methods in both the interface and implementation blocks of the .m file. As long as you do not include it in the respective .h file, these methods will be treated as private methods.
Extensions can also be used to make previously declared properties that are read-only outside the class read-write within the class (using the "self." syntax).
Protocol
Protocols allow for abstracted horizontal relationships across various (sometimes unrelated) classes and class hierarchies. A protocol consists of an API that can be used by a variety of classes, regardless of whether or not they are related. This allows you to modify/add some class functionality through a potentially wide range of classes without having to subclass them and alter their own class hierarchies.
In order to use a protocol, a class only needs to:
1. Include the protocol's name inside angled brackets <> after the class/superclass name declaration
2. Implement the protocol's methods
Protocols can also be useful for type checking.
Empty File
An empty file is just that - an empty file. You give it a name, but it contains no class information whatsoever (no generated methods, blocks, comments, etc.).
Sources: RyPress article on Categories and Extensions and RyPress article on Protocols. Both articles have helpful examples of each tool.
I have a class written in Objective-C and I want to have another similar one. Except for few details. Is there any smart way of copying class implementation and making another class? I'd like to change few things, but ctrl+c + ctrl+v sounds so unintuitive.
Regards
PS. edit: I have multiple classes to implement, also I'd like to have neat solution for future.
Use class inheritance.
Implement class A with the common functionality
Derive classes B and C from A to add functional differences.
Take a look at Classes Inherit from Other Classes.
If you like to simply add a method without subclassing, see Categories Add Methods to Existing Classes. But be aware what you shouldn't do with categories!
If you like to change values, add appropriate properties to the interface declaration.
In Objective-C, is there a way to list the categories on a particular class at runtime?
With the Objective-C runtime functions I can obtain details for the class and instance methods, class hierarchy, instance variables, etc. but seemingly not the category information.
Looking at F-Script, I see that it doesn't display category information (indeed, it appears not to display methods from categories at all). On the other hand, class-dump extracts category information but this is from the binary and not at runtime.
There's a mention of struct objc_category in objc/runtime.h but this looks to be private. Is there a supported way?
from "The Objective-C Programming Language" in the SDK doc:
Category methods can do anything that methods defined in the class proper can do. At runtime, there’s no difference.
the support for objc_category struct has been removed with modern objective-c (ios, 10.5), making this information opaque.
I'm afraid you can't get the information you want.
Is it ok to create dependencies between categories in Objective C? Also between the categories and their base class?
I know that there should be no difference at runtime, they probably are just merged together at compile-time. For instance, let us say i break down my class B into:
B(base class)
B+categ1
B+categ2
B+categ3
My question is, is it wrong to either:
a) import B+categ2 and B+categ3 in B.m
b) import B+categ1 in B+categ3?
I'm asking both performance-wise and conceptually.
EDIT:
What would you suggest for a single screen app? Categories or Extending that class?
There's nothing deeply wrong with it, but it may suggest an overuse of categories. While they are a powerful tool for certain problems, and definitely can create some conveniences, I generally wouldn't build a complex system on them.
I usually find that overuse of categories is based on too much IS-A thinking rather than HAS-A thinking. In other words, if you're putting a lot of categories on an class to act as a fancy kind of subclassing, you may be better off using composition instead. Rather than adding lots of category methods to NSArray (as an example), you would want an data object that has an NSArray property and provides the interface you want.
But this is just advice if you're overusing categories. There's no fundamental problem with having categories import other categories. However, this claim is incorrect:
I know that there should be no difference at runtime, they probably are just merged together at compile-time.
Categories are resolved at runtime, not compile-time. The one major danger of that is that if two categories implement the same method, then the behavior is undefined. This is why you should never use categories to override methods, only to add them.
Avoid having a base class depend on a category of itself. Exceptions to this rule are made for private categories (use extensions instead) and categories intended to be used by subclasses of the base class. These are specialized exceptions and should not be thought of as a proper general purpose solution.
For categories depending on categories, if you make sure the dependency graph never has a cycle, then you should be fine.
As a final bit of advice, be explicit about dependencies.
// A+c2
#import "A+c1.h" // A(c2) relies on A(c1) declared methods/properties.
…
// A+c3
#import "A+c1.h" // A(c3) relies on A(c1) declared methods/properties.
#import "A+c2.h" // A(c3) relies on A(c2) declared methods/properties.
Even though A(c3) is implicitly including A(c1) by importing "A+c2.h", I still explicitly import it. This will save frustration as code changes in the future.
I am learning objective-C and I know we can use extension to add some private members to an interface.
But the book said there should be nothing in the ()
I read the following code snippet
#interface Tree(Private)
- (void)blah:(int)num;
#end
I am wondering why there is Private inside ()
You can put any name in the class category declaration, usually indicating the purpose of that category.
So in your case author of the code wanted to tell that those methods are for internal use of the class itself and are not intented to be called from other classes
The declaration in your example is precisely called a category (not an extension).
You can add as many categories as you like to any given Class (even if you don't have access to the source code). Categories allow you to add new methods to a class, but not new ivars nor properties. [1]
Each category has a name, which is the bit between parenthesis. There should not be two different categories for the same Class with the same name.
When the name is empty, this is called an extension. Extensions have some slight differences with categories: you can add ivars and properties to extensions and you can only use them for Classes for which you have access to the source code. [1]
Usually, extensions (like the example in your book) are declared at the top of the .m file, and are used for declaring methods, ivars and/or properties that are to be used only within that file (usually comprised of a single Class).
P.D.: If you really want to add new properties through categories as opposed to through extensions you can actually do so using associated objects [2][3].
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/cocoa/conceptual/ProgrammingWithObjectiveC/CustomizingExistingClasses/CustomizingExistingClasses.html
Defining a property in iOS class extension
http://oleb.net/blog/2011/05/faking-ivars-in-objc-categories-with-associative-references/
In the case that is considered as a category, but since it's on the .m file, it will have the same effect. You can also see the tips from Xcode:
Being the mid one considered something like Tree(description) and the last one Tree ()
There are two closely related concepts here: class categories and class extensions. Class categories include a name inside the parenthesis and are most commonly used to add methods to existing classes or to organize methods into logical groups. Class extensions extend the internal implementation of the class (i.e. are used to define private properties, methods, etc).
More details can be found on Apple's dev site:
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/cocoa/conceptual/ProgrammingWithObjectiveC/CustomizingExistingClasses/CustomizingExistingClasses.html