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Editing property lists

PrefEdit additionally contains a property list editor which allows you to open, view, and edit property list (plist) files of any kind. You can use the property list editor of PrefEdit to open preference files if necessary. However, it is not recommended to access preference files directly because in this case you are basically changing the entries “behind the back” of Mac OS X's preference system. Modify preference settings via the domain overview whenever possible.

There are only a few cases where it makes sense to open a preferences file directly:

• when you like to access parts of the preferences database currently not active in your login session, namely preference settings of other users, or computer-specific settings for a computer which is not the current computer.
• after PrefEdit has informed you that the settings you have been editing in a preferences window are no longer synchronized with the persistent copy of the preference database stored on disk. This can only happen if another application is running which is writing changes to the same preference domain you are currently editing. To resolve this conflict, you can open the preferences file directly, reviewing which settings have been changed in comparison with the in-memory copy of the preferences database.

Keep in mind that the property list editor in PrefEdit handles its documents exactly as what they are: just property lists stored in files. This part of PrefEdit is not (and should not be) “aware” that specific property lists could be in use as preference files.

When working with property lists, PrefEdit will use document windows very similar to its preference windows. You will notice the following differences:

• The columns MCX and Manifest are missing because they don't make sense when working with general property lists.
• For the same reason, the buttons to display the preference search path or to launch applications are also missing.
• You cannot change the sort order of the display. The list will always be displayed in the order stored in the file.
• It is not necessary to “apply” changes. When you are finished editing the list, you can just save your changes to the current or a different file, like in any other application working with files.
• The entry at the top level of a property list never has a name or key. PrefEdit displays the comment Root instead because the top entry could be used to become the root of a logical tree of nested entries.
• At the bottom of the window, PrefEdit shows a message if the current property list is compliant with the form needed to use it as a potential preference file.

In all other aspects, a property list window behaves like a preference window, so we don't need to repeat the same instructions here.

Converting the format of a property list file

To convert between the 2+1 different file formats available for property list files, perform the following steps:

1. Open the property list file to convert in PrefEdit.
2. Select the menu item File > Save As… or press the key combination ⌘+⇧+S.
3. In the field Save As, enter a new file name which should be used to save the copy of the converted list.
4. Use the pop-up button File Format to select either XML Property List or Binary Property List.
5. Press the button Save to create the converted file.

Although dictionaries are data structures without a predefined sort order, there is an implicit order in which the dictionary keys are listed. PrefEdit uses different policies for XML and binary property lists: When opening or saving an XML file, the exact order of the keys as they appear in the XML text will be maintained. When opening or saving a binary file, PrefEdit will use the key order internally used by Mac OS X to guarantee fast search access to dictionary entries.

Searching for entries in a property list

The Find panel of the property list editor is identical to that of a preference window, so the same instructions apply and don't need to be repeated here.