Tuesday, August 16, 2011

How to Save array of custom class in NSUserDefaults ?

Lets say we have an array sampleArray which stores some objects of class called "MyClass"

       sampleArray=[[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
    
    
    MyClass *obj1=[[MyClass alloc]init];
    obj1.name=@"Reetu";
    obj1.sex=@"F";
    obj1.income=@"12";
    obj1.city=@"GUN";
    obj1.mothername=@"ReetuSr.";
    obj1.ethnicity=@"Asian";
    obj1.fathername=@"ReetuDad";
    obj1.countOpen=1;
    [sampleArray addObject:obj1];
    
    MyClass *obj2=[[MyClass alloc]init];
    obj2.name=@"Pinku";
    obj2.sex=@"M";
    obj2.income=@"1223";
    obj2.city=@"ASC";
    obj2.mothername=@"PinkuSr.";
    obj2.ethnicity=@"American";
    obj2.fathername=@"PinkuDad";
    obj2.countOpen=2;
    [sampleArray addObject:obj2];
    
    MyClass *obj3=[[MyClass alloc]init];
    obj3.name=@"Mike";
    obj3.sex=@"M";
    obj3.income=@"125";
    obj3.city=@"PENN";
    obj3.mothername=@"Fred.";
    obj3.ethnicity=@"Caucasian";
    obj3.fathername=@"Fred";
    obj3.countOpen=6;
    [sampleArray addObject:obj3];





Now you want to save this array called sampleArray in NSUserDefault. You will have to use following code.
       NSUserDefaults *userDefault=[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
    NSData *myEncodedObject = [NSKeyedArchiver archivedDataWithRootObject:sampleArray];
    [userDefault setObject:myEncodedObject forKey:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"sample"]];




    

As you can see, you will have to use NSKeyedArchiver. you can't use straightforward setObject here otherwise you will get warning like:


-[NSUserDefaults setObject:forKey:]: Attempt to insert non-property value '' of class 'MyClass'.


Later on, when you want to fetch your array from NSUserDefault, you can write following code. Remember it will return non-mutable array.

       //Lets decode it now
    NSData *myDecodedObject = [userDefault objectForKey: [NSString stringWithFormat:@"sample"]];
    NSArray *decodedArray =[NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithData: myDecodedObject];
    
    
    //Print the array received from User's Default 
    for (MyClass *item in decodedArray) {

        NSLog(@"name=%@",item.name);
        NSLog(@"sex=%@",item.sex);
        NSLog(@"income=%@",item.income);
        NSLog(@"city=%@",item.city);
        NSLog(@"-----------");
    }
    


Well. Last thing, don't forget to add following encode and decode method in your MyClass.


- (void)encodeWithCoder:(NSCoder *)encoder
{
    
    //Encode properties, other class variables, etc
    [encoder encodeObject:self.name forKey:@"name"];
    [encoder encodeObject:self.sex forKey:@"sex"];
    [encoder encodeObject:self.income forKey:@"income"];
    [encoder encodeObject:self.city forKey:@"city"];
    [encoder encodeObject:self.mothername forKey:@"mothername"];
    [encoder encodeObject:self.ethnicity forKey:@"ethnicity"];
    [encoder encodeObject:self.fathername forKey:@"fathername"];    
    [encoder encodeObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:self.countOpen] forKey:@"destinationCode"];

    
}
- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)decoder
{
    self = [super init];
    if( self != nil )
    {
        self.name = [decoder decodeObjectForKey:@"name"];
        self.sex = [decoder decodeObjectForKey:@"sex"];
        self.income = [decoder decodeObjectForKey:@"income"];
        self.city = [decoder decodeObjectForKey:@"city"];
        self.mothername = [decoder decodeObjectForKey:@"mothername"];
        self.ethnicity = [decoder decodeObjectForKey:@"ethnicity"];
        self.fathername = [decoder decodeObjectForKey:@"fathername"];
        self.countOpen = [[decoder decodeObjectForKey:@"countOpen"] intValue];
        
    }
    return self;
}


where MyClass has declaration as following


@interface MyClass : NSObject {
    
    NSString *name;
NSString *sex;
NSString *income;
NSString *city;
NSString *mothername;
NSString *ethnicity;
NSString *fathername;
    int countOpen;
}


I have created a sample code for those who still need some clarification. Hope this helps.

Download the Sample Code.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for this. It was a great help to me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very good tutorial. But I have one question, how to get NSMutableArray like variable in Class???

    ReplyDelete
  3. thank u so much it helped me a lot :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Perfect Article solved my problem and made me clear

    ReplyDelete