Using mogenerator

Overview

mogenerator is a command-line tool which generally requires a few arguments to produce useful results. In most cases your mogenerator command will be something like

mogenerator --model [PATH TO MODEL] --output-dir [OUTPUT PATH]

Swift users would also want to add --swift:

mogenerator --swift --model [PATH TO MODEL] --output-dir [OUTPUT PATH]

However there are many other possibilties. The full set of arguments can be found below.

Keep in mind that although mogenerator generates source code files, it doesn't automatically add them to your Xcode project. You'll need to do that after generating the files.

You should run mogenerator any time you change your data model. Not all data model changes will cause changes in generated code. For example, adding a new attribute would mean adding a new property in generated code. Adding an index to an attribute, however, would have no effect on your subclass code. If you're not sure, go ahead and re-run mogenerator to be safe.

Complete Lisf of Arguments

Argument	Description
--model PATH, -m PATH	Path to the model file. If the path is for a .xcdatamodeld directory, mogenerator uses the current version of the model as configured in Xcode. You can use the path to a .xcdatamodel to force mogenerator to use a specific model version.
--output-dir DIR, -O DIR	Location to use for generated files. If either --machine-dir or human-dir is used, they take precedence over this argument for the appropriate files.
--human-dir DIR, -H DIR	Output directory for machine files, which are regenerated every time mogenerator runs.
--machine-dir DIR, -M DIR	Output directory for human files, which are only generated if they don't already exist.
--swift, -S	Generate Swift templates instead of Objective-C. Without this, Ojbective-C is assumed
--configuration CONFIG, -C CONFIG	Only consider entities included in the named configuration. With this argument mogenerator looks in the model file for a specific configuration and ignores any entities that aren't part of that configuration.
--base-class CLASS	Custom base class. By default, generated classes inherit from NSManagedObject. Use this argument to inherit from a different class.
--base-class-import TEXT	Imports base class as #import TEXT (Objective-C) or import TEXT (Swift) for all generated files.
--base-class-force CLASS	Same as --base-class except will force all entities to have the specified base class. Even if a super entity exists.
--includem PATH	Generate aggregate include file for .m files for both human and machine generated source files. PATH should be the full path to a file which will contain #import statements for every generated .m file. This argument has no effect if --swift is used.
--includeh PATH	Generate aggregate include file for .h files for human generated source files only. PATH should be the full path to a file which will contain #import statements for every generated .h class. This argument has no effect if --swift is used.
--template-path PATH	Path to custom template files (absolute or relative to model path). Not necessary unless you are using custom templates.
--template-group NAME	Name of template group. This argument causes mogenerator to search the Application Support directory for a folder with the specified name and to look for template files there. If template-path is used, this argument is ignored.
--template-var KEY=VALUE	A key-value pair to pass to the template file. This may be used more than once. Consult template files for possible keys and acceptable values.
--list-source-files	List files that would be generated but don't generate the files.
--orphaned	Only list files whose entities no longer exist.
--v2, -2	No effect.
--version	Display mogenerator version and exit
--help, -h (or no arguments)	Print help, including a list of possible arguments.

Historical note

Older versions of mogenerator included an Xcode extension to generate code called "Xmo'd". This was based on an old Xcode extension system that stopped working several years ago.