Module plist 

Contains logic and data structures used to parse and deserialize NSKeyedArchiver property list files into native Rust data structures.

The main entry point is parse_ns_keyed_archiver(). For normal property lists, use plist_as_dictionary().

Overview

The NSKeyedArchiver format is a property list-based serialization protocol used by Apple’s Foundation framework. It stores object graphs in a keyed format, allowing for more flexible deserialization and better handling of object references compared to the older typedstream format.

Origin

Introduced in Mac OS X 10.2 as part of the Foundation framework, NSKeyedArchiver replaced NSArchiver (typedstream) system as Apple’s primary object serialization mechanism.

Features

• Pure Rust implementation for efficient and safe deserialization
• Support for both XML and binary property list formats
• No dependencies on Apple frameworks
• Robust error handling for malformed or invalid archives

Functions

extract_array_key

Extract an array from a specific key in a collection

extract_bytes_key

Extract bytes from a specific key in a collection

extract_dict_idx

Extract a dictionary from a specific index in a collection

extract_dictionary

Extract a dictionary from a specific key in a collection

extract_int_key

Extract an int from a specific key in a collection

extract_string_key

Extract an &str from a specific key in a collection

get_bool_from_dict

Extract a bool from a key-value pair that looks like {key: true}

get_float_from_nested_dict

Extract a float from a key-value pair that looks like {key: {key: 1.2}}

get_owned_string_from_dict

Extract an owned string from a key-value pair that looks like {key: String("value")}

get_string_from_dict

Extract a string from a key-value pair that looks like {key: String("value")}

get_string_from_nested_dict

Extract a string from a key-value pair that looks like {key: {key: String("value")}}

get_value_from_dict

Extract an inner dict from a key-value pair that looks like {key: {key2: val}}

parse_ns_keyed_archiver

Serialize a message’s payload_data BLOB in the NSKeyedArchiver format to a Dictionary that follows the references in the XML document’s UID pointers. First, we find the root of the document, then walk the structure, promoting values to the places where their pointers are stored.

plist_as_dictionary

Extract a dictionary from table plist data.