Custom objects in array stored in a plist - nsarray

Question

I've got some custom class objects that i store in an array, this array is then stored in a dictionary with a key. This is then saved and will be loaded when the app is loaded/ reloaded.
Now the issues is that i can't seem to get the custom objects back out, when i load the array it comes back as empty. I must be doing something wrong with either writing or loading the data but i can't figure out what exactly.
Here's the code i have so far:
CustomClass.H file:
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#interface PersonClass : NSObject <NSCoding>
#property (nonatomic,strong) NSString *personName;
#property (nonatomic,strong) NSString *personNo;
#property (nonatomic,strong) NSString *personNotes;
#property (nonatomic) BOOL switchPersonality;
#property (nonatomic) BOOL switchChemistry;
#property (nonatomic) BOOL switchLooks;
#property (nonatomic) BOOL switchHumour;
#property (nonatomic) int personRating;
#property (nonatomic,strong) NSNumber *personRecord;
- (id)initWithName:(NSString *)iPersonName PersonNo:(NSString *)iPersonNo PersonNotes:(NSString *)iPersonNotes SwitchChemistry:(BOOL *)iSwitchChemistry SwitchHumour:(BOOL *)iSwitchHumour SwitchLooks:(BOOL *)iSwitchLooks SwitchPersonality:(BOOL *)iSwitchPersonality PersonRating:(int *)iPersonRating PersonRecord:(NSNumber *)iPersonRecord;
#end
Custom Class.M file:
- (void)encodeWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aCoder{
[aCoder encodeObject:personName forKey:#"pName"];
[aCoder encodeObject:personNo forKey:#"pNo"];
[aCoder encodeObject:personNotes forKey:#"pNotes"];
[aCoder encodeInt:personRating forKey:#"pRating"];
[aCoder encodeObject:personRecord forKey:#"pRecord"];
[aCoder encodeBool:switchChemistry forKey:#"sChemistry"];
[aCoder encodeBool:switchHumour forKey:#"sHumour"];
[aCoder encodeBool:switchLooks forKey:#"sLooks"];
[aCoder encodeBool:switchPersonality forKey:#"sPersonality"];
}
-(id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder{
if (self = [super init]){
self.personName = [aDecoder decodeObjectForKey:#"pName"];
self.personNo = [aDecoder decodeObjectForKey:#"pNo"];
self.personNotes = [aDecoder decodeObjectForKey:#"pNotes"];
self.personRating = [aDecoder decodeIntForKey:#"pRating"];
self.personRecord = [aDecoder decodeObjectForKey:#"pRecord"];
self.switchChemistry = [aDecoder decodeBoolForKey:#"sChemistry"];
self.switchHumour = [aDecoder decodeBoolForKey:#"sHumour"];
self.switchLooks = [aDecoder decodeBoolForKey:#"sLooks"];
self.switchPersonality = [aDecoder decodeBoolForKey:#"sPersonality"];
}
return self;
}
The save Method:
- (void)saveData{
// get paths from root direcory
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains (NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
// get documents path
NSString *documentsPath = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
// get the path to our Data/plist file
NSString *plistPath = [documentsPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"data.plist"];
NSLog(#"PList Path %#",plistPath);
//new array
NSMutableArray *newEntries = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
NSLog(#"NEW ENTRIES BEFORE %#",newEntries);
for (PersonClass *person in peopleEntries) {
//encode the object
[NSKeyedArchiver archivedDataWithRootObject:person];
// add the object to the entries
[newEntries addObject:person];
}
NSLog(#"NEW ENTRIES AFTER %#",newEntries);
[newEntries writeToFile:plistPath atomically:YES];
// create dictionary with arrays and their corresponding keys
NSDictionary *plistDict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjects: [NSMutableArray arrayWithObjects:newEntries, recordId, nil] forKeys:[NSMutableArray arrayWithObjects: #"peopleEntries",#"recordId", nil]];
NSLog(#"DICTIONARY IS IN SAVE %#",plistDict);
NSString *error = nil;
// check if plistData exists
if(plistDict)
{
// write plistData to our Data.plist file
[plistDict writeToFile:plistPath atomically:YES];
}
else
{
NSLog(#"Error in saveData: %#", error);
}
NSLog(#"Save RUN");
}
The load Method:
- (void)loadData{
// get paths from root direcory
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains (NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
// get documents path
NSString *documentsPath = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
// get the path to our Data/plist file
NSString *plistPath = [documentsPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"data.plist"];
NSLog(#"PList Path %#",plistPath);
// check to see if data.plist exists in documents
if (![[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:plistPath])
{
// return without loading
NSLog(#"RETURNING");
return;
}
// get saved dictionary
NSDictionary *dictionaryTemp = [[NSDictionary alloc]initWithContentsOfFile:plistPath];
NSLog(#"DICTIONARY IS LOAD %#",dictionaryTemp);
if (!dictionaryTemp)
{
NSLog(#"Error reading plist:");
}
// temporary array
NSMutableArray *holderOne = [dictionaryTemp objectForKey:#"peopleEntries"];
// array to be populated
NSMutableArray *holderTwo = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
NSLog(#"HOLDER ONE IS BEFORE %#",holderOne);
NSLog(#"HOLDER TWO IS BEFORE %#",holderTwo);
// go through the array and pull out person classes
for (NSData *person in holderOne) {
// temp array
NSData *entry = [holderOne objectAtIndex:person]; // check the object at index might be an issue???
NSLog(#"ENTRY IS %#",entry);
//deencode the object
[NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithData:entry];
// add the object to the entries
[holderTwo addObject:entry];
}
NSLog(#"HOLDER ONE IS AFTER %#",holderOne);
NSLog(#"HOLDER TWO IS AFTER %#",holderTwo);
// assign values
peopleEntries = [NSMutableArray arrayWithArray:holderTwo];
NSLog(#"DICTIONARY IS AFTER ADDING %#",dictionaryTemp);
recordId = [NSNumber numberWithInt:[[dictionaryTemp objectForKey:#"recordId"]integerValue]];
NSLog(#"recordId is %#",recordId);
NSLog(#"LOAD RUN");
}

Answer 1

OK i finally discovered the issue, i was extending my class from the NSObject subclass which does not implement the NSCoder protocol so i was encoding and decoding my object in the incorrect way. It should have been done in the following way:
- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)decoder {
if (self = [super init]) {
self.personName = [decoder decodeObjectForKey:#"pName"];
self.personNo = [decoder decodeObjectForKey:#"pNo"];
self.personNotes = [decoder decodeObjectForKey:#"pNotes"];
self.personRating = [decoder decodeObjectForKey:#"pRating"];
self.switchChemistry = [decoder decodeBoolForKey:#"sChemistry"];
self.switchHumour = [decoder decodeBoolForKey:#"sHumour"];
self.switchLooks = [decoder decodeBoolForKey:#"sLooks"];
self.switchPersonality = [decoder decodeBoolForKey:#"sPersonality"];
}
return self;
}
- (void)encodeWithCoder:(NSCoder *)encoder {
[encoder encodeObject:personName forKey:#"pName"];
[encoder encodeObject:personNo forKey:#"pNo"];
[encoder encodeObject:personNotes forKey:#"pNotes"];
[encoder encodeObject:personRating forKey:#"pRating"];
[encoder encodeBool:switchChemistry forKey:#"sChemistry"];
[encoder encodeBool:switchHumour forKey:#"sHumour"];
[encoder encodeBool:switchLooks forKey:#"sLooks"];
[encoder encodeBool:switchPersonality forKey:#"sPersonality"];
}
These objects were then added into an array and i was looping through each object in the array and decoding. This was not correct you can simply encode or decode the entire array with te objects as so:
Decode:
NSData *peopleData;
peopleEntries = [NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithData:peopleData];
Encode:
NSMutableArray *peopleEntries;
NSData *personData = [NSKeyedArchiver archivedDataWithRootObject:[[GlobalData sharedGlobalData]peopleEntries]];