diff -r ffa851df0825 -r 2fb8b9db1c86 symbian-qemu-0.9.1-12/python-2.6.1/Doc/library/plistlib.rst --- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/symbian-qemu-0.9.1-12/python-2.6.1/Doc/library/plistlib.rst Fri Jul 31 15:01:17 2009 +0100 @@ -0,0 +1,134 @@ +:mod:`plistlib` --- Generate and parse Mac OS X ``.plist`` files +================================================================ + +.. module:: plistlib + :synopsis: Generate and parse Mac OS X plist files. +.. moduleauthor:: Jack Jansen +.. sectionauthor:: Georg Brandl +.. (harvested from docstrings in the original file) + +.. versionchanged:: 2.6 + This module was previously only available in the Mac-specific library, it is + now available for all platforms. + +.. index:: + pair: plist; file + single: property list + +This module provides an interface for reading and writing the "property list" +XML files used mainly by Mac OS X. + +The property list (``.plist``) file format is a simple XML pickle supporting +basic object types, like dictionaries, lists, numbers and strings. Usually the +top level object is a dictionary. + +Values can be strings, integers, floats, booleans, tuples, lists, dictionaries +(but only with string keys), :class:`Data` or :class:`datetime.datetime` +objects. String values (including dictionary keys) may be unicode strings -- +they will be written out as UTF-8. + +The ```` plist type is supported through the :class:`Data` class. This is +a thin wrapper around a Python string. Use :class:`Data` if your strings +contain control characters. + +.. seealso:: + + `PList manual page ` + Apple's documentation of the file format. + + +This module defines the following functions: + +.. function:: readPlist(pathOrFile) + + Read a plist file. *pathOrFile* may either be a file name or a (readable) + file object. Return the unpacked root object (which usually is a + dictionary). + + The XML data is parsed using the Expat parser from :mod:`xml.parsers.expat` + -- see its documentation for possible exceptions on ill-formed XML. + Unknown elements will simply be ignored by the plist parser. + + +.. function:: writePlist(rootObject, pathOrFile) + + Write *rootObject* to a plist file. *pathOrFile* may either be a file name + or a (writable) file object. + + A :exc:`TypeError` will be raised if the object is of an unsupported type or + a container that contains objects of unsupported types. + + +.. function:: readPlistFromString(data) + + Read a plist from a string. Return the root object. + + +.. function:: writePlistToString(rootObject) + + Return *rootObject* as a plist-formatted string. + + + +.. function:: readPlistFromResource(path[, restype='plst'[, resid=0]]) + + Read a plist from the resource with type *restype* from the resource fork of + *path*. Availability: Mac OS X. + + .. warning:: + + In 3.0, this function is removed. + + + +.. function:: writePlistToResource(rootObject, path[, restype='plst'[, resid=0]]) + + Write *rootObject* as a resource with type *restype* to the resource fork of + *path*. Availability: Mac OS X. + + .. warning:: + + In 3.0, this function is removed. + + + +The following class is available: + +.. class:: Data(data) + + Return a "data" wrapper object around the string *data*. This is used in + functions converting from/to plists to represent the ```` type + available in plists. + + It has one attribute, :attr:`data`, that can be used to retrieve the Python + string stored in it. + + +Examples +-------- + +Generating a plist:: + + pl = dict( + aString="Doodah", + aList=["A", "B", 12, 32.1, [1, 2, 3]], + aFloat = 0.1, + anInt = 728, + aDict=dict( + anotherString="", + aUnicodeValue=u'M\xe4ssig, Ma\xdf', + aTrueValue=True, + aFalseValue=False, + ), + someData = Data(""), + someMoreData = Data("" * 10), + aDate = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(time.mktime(time.gmtime())), + ) + # unicode keys are possible, but a little awkward to use: + pl[u'\xc5benraa'] = "That was a unicode key." + writePlist(pl, fileName) + +Parsing a plist:: + + pl = readPlist(pathOrFile) + print pl["aKey"]