Adding a script menu to XCode to reformat code using astyle

Although XCode has its own “code beautifier” built-in function (Format->Re-indent), it didn’t make it for me. It seems it is more tuned up for Objective C, but with a lot of my code being C++, these are among the biggest annoyances:

• The first line after private/public/protected were indented one more tab from what it should be
  
• Some of the Qt macros were also improperly indented
• It didn’t do anything to other elements of code beautification, like spaces between operators, breaking up complex statementes, etc.

So, I reverted to the trusted astyle which I use in Linux. The integration with the XCode IDE works well. Here’s what I did:

1) Installed astyle. Strange enough not Fink or Darwinports have it at this time available on their default trees. So I had to compile it from source and install it on /usr/local/bin

2) On ~/Library/Application Support/Apple/Developer Tools/Scripts/ created a new script with the code shown below. On my particular setup, I had previously copied the scripts from /Library/Application Support/Apple/Developer Tools/Scripts/ into my personal directory, so it has the default structure Apple uses. You may have a different organization. In my case, the script is under 10-User Scripts/40-Code/30-astyle.sh

#! /bin/sh
#
# astyle.sh - Reformats code using astyle
#
# -- PB User Script Info --

# %%%{PBXName=Reformat with astyle}%%%
# %%%{PBXInput=AllText}%%%
# %%%{PBXOutput=ReplaceAllText}%%%
# %%%{PBXKeyEquivalent=}%%%

echo -n "%%%{PBXSelection}%%%"
/usr/local/bin/astyle --style=kr -s4SKNap < &0 2>/dev/null
echo -n "%%%{PBXSelection}%%%"

3) Reloaded the script menus in XCode. All set!

The script is taking all the text of the front window when it is called, running it through astyle and replacing all the text with the result. The settings –style=kr -s4SKNap are my personal preferences. You may want something different. However, don’t forget the 2>/dev/null, otherwise the greeting messages that astyle sends to stderr will mix into your code.

astyle can read a .astylerc on your home directory, which perhaps is nicer than specifying the switches as I did, but I’m lazy.

Happy reformatting!