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javaplist

Java plist parsing: how to determine if an NSObject is an array or a dictionary

I am using a Java library for parsing plist files.

This is how you parse a file:

File file = new File("Info.plist");
NSDictionary rootDict = (NSDictionary)PropertyListParser.parse(file);

As you can see, the parse method returns an NSObject object, which you cast to NSDictionary or NSArray depending on what you're working with.

But what if I don't know whether the root is a dictionary or an array? Given an NSObject instance, how can I tell what does it represent?

Solution

  • Use instanceof operator.

    if (myObject instanceof NSArray) {
    //do something
} else if (myObject instanceof NSDictionary) {
    //do another thing
} else {
    // (myObject instanceof NSObject) another subclass of NSObject
}