OTStringKit(TM) is designed to assist software developers in manipulating strings. The OTStringKit is a set of Objective-C classes, protocols and categories, C macros and constants which encapsulate a wide variety of character string related functions. This software allows programmers to manipulate strings, paths, regular expressions and data as objects, while significantly reducing memory allocation errors. The kit's categories for NeXT's AppKit objects allow interaction based on string objects instead of character buffers and eliminate the possibility of memory overruns.

"We believe that OTStringKit will give NEXTSTEP users the ability to quickly develop commercial-quality applications while significantly reducing the potential for errors," said Alex Cone, President of Objective Technologies. "This product is part of our continuing commitment to helping the NEXTSTEP community develop high-quality custom applications in dramatically reduced timeframes," Cone said.

OTStringKit Objects

OTString class

The OTString class provides an object oriented encapsulation of C (NULL terminated) strings. OTStrings support all of the basic C string operations (strcpy, strcmp, rindex, sprintf, scanf, etc..) in an object oriented manner. The OTString class also implements fully transparent memory management of C strings.

OTRegex class

The OTRegex class encapsulates the regular expression engine provided by the functions described in the Regex(3) man page. By providing an object oriented encapsulation, it is extremely easy to use regular expressions in conjunction with other OTStringKit classes to greatly simplify the coding involved in parsing relatively complex pieces of data.

OTPath class

Instances of the OTPath class are used to encapsulate a path to a file or directory. Among other path related operations, the OTPath class provides object oriented versions of the functionality provided by the C-shell "test" and path (:d:t:r:h) operators.

OTDataString class

The OTDataString class is designed to encapsulate instances of various different types of data. The OTDataString class supports simple data types such as strings, integers, booleans, floats, doubles and objects. It can also store, retrieve and manipulate times and dates in several different forms.

OTParseString class

The OTParseString class can be used for many simple parsing needs. OTParseString is designed to take a buffer of text and break it into a list of substrings (instances of OTString or any other class that responds to the OTStrings protocol) with the separator between substrings being either a single character or a regular expression.

NeXT AppKit Extensions

Included with the OTStringKit is a category to Object that acts as a temporary instance server. This server provides a more efficient method of obtaining scratch or short-term usage objects than alloc/init and free. As an added benefit, since all temporary instances are allocated from the same common zone in memory, the developer does not have to worry about short-term objects causing memory fragmentation.

The OTStringKit also provides several convenient string object categories for NeXT's Text, NXBrowser and NXBundle objects.

Finally, OTStringKit is the only software ever to receive a perfect five cubes in a review by NeXTWORLD Magazine.

System Requirements

OTStringKit runs under NEXTSTEP 3.3 for NeXT, Intel, HPPA, and Sparc.


$649 for a single machine license.
All prices are U.S. prices only and are subject to change without notice.

There are no run-time fees for applications developed using these objects. Educational customers receive a 50% discount. Site licenses are available. Contact Objective Technologies Inc. for site license information.


Objective Technologies Inc.
90-07 68th Ave., Forest Hills, NY 11375
email: cs@object.com voice: 718.997.9741
OTStringKit Description Page - Copyright © 1995-2004 Objective Technologies, Inc. ® All rights reserved.