Use Class Extension for Selective Visibility in Objective-C

Question

Would it make any sense to put class extensions in their own .h files and #import them selectively to get various levels of visibility for a class' methods and properties? If this is a bad idea (or would not work), why?

Answer 1

It is a great idea and exactly why Class Extensions were designed (and why they are different than categories).

Namely, you can:

Foo.h

@interface Foo:NSObject
...public API here...
@property(readonly, copy) NSString *name;
@end

Foo_FrameworkOnly.h

@interface Foo()
@property(readwrite, copy) NSString *name;
@end

Foo.m

#import "Foo.h"
#import "Foo_FrameworkOnly.h"

@interface Foo()
... truly implementation private gunk, including properties go here ...
@end

@implementation Foo
@synthesize name = name_;
@end

And effectively have a property that is publicly readonly and privately read write for only the implementation files that import Foo_FrameworkOnly.h.

Answer 2

Class extension (as opposed to subclassing) in Objective-C is accomplished with Categories. In Xcode, go to File > New > File and select Objective-C Category. It will ask you what to call the category and what class it should extend. You'll get a .h/.m pair in which to put your interface and implementation, respectively. If you want access to the features provided in your extension, just import its .h file.