UUID Generator

UUID Generator is a free and simple Mac OS X application for generating Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs).

UUID Generator facilitates creation of UUID’s by providing a GUI interface for UUID generation, as well as providing your choice of generation algorithm: time/Ethernet based or pure random number algorithm. While Mac OS X provides the uuidgen command line tool, UUID Generator provides a superior experience:

• Generate as a string, e.g. CA77B528-E5CC-11D6-B898-0030654120A4
• Generate as individual UUID bytes, e.g.:  {0xCA,0×77,0xB5,0×28,0xE5,0xCC,0×11,0xD6,0xB8,0×98,0×00,0×30,0×65,0×41,0×20,0xA4}
• Generate as a CMPluginFactoryID, e.g.
• #define YOUR_CMPLUGINFACTORYID ( CFUUIDGetConstantUUIDWithBytes( NULL,0xCA,0×77,0xB5,0×28,0xE5,0xCC,0×11,0xD6,0xB8,0×98,0×00,0×30,0×65,0×41,0×20,0xA4 ) ) /*CA77B528-E5CC-11D6-B898-0030654120A4*/
• Output to the Clipboard or to stdout
• Your choice of generation algorithms: CFUUID; e2fsprogs; e2fsprogs, force random; e2fsprogs, force time
• A GUI-based interface provides for ease of access. Just double-click to generate your UUID.
• UUID Generator utilizes the Mac OS X Services architecture to provide UUID generation services from within your application. Working in Xcode? Just go to the Services Menu to easily obtain your UUID and have it inserted directly into your source code.

uuidgen may exist and may work, but as developers we understand simplicity and efficiency. The less we have to fumble with something, the more we can remain focused on our task at hand. UUID Generator was written to make UUID generation simple and easy, so we could focus on the real work that matters.

Testimonial

Apple provides a bit of sample code for generating a UUID, and there’s even a uuidgen command-line tool built into Mac OS X, but my preferred solution is to use John C. Daub’s UUID Generator. The reason for this is that, as you can see in the source code, the UUID must be in a very specific format. Neither Apple’s sample code nor the uuidgen tool produce a value in this format. The UUID Generator tool however, can produce a UUID in several formats, including the one required for a CMI. It can even place the UUID directly on the clipboard for you, so that all you have to do it switch to Xcode and paste it in. (Oh, and it’s free, too!)

- Steven Disbrow, O’Reilly MacDevCenter, “Inside Contextual Menus” 04 June 2004