Adding items to plist

[archaicsoftware]

Alright, I am using a plist to load data into a tableview. I have all of that working just fine. I have also successfully copied the plist from the bundle to the documents folder.

I need some help figuring out the code needed to add an item to the plist. Here is the structure of the plist thus far

NSDictionary (ROOT)
- NSArray (The Array I am Accessing
- Item 0 (DICTIONARY)
- Name - String
- Category - String
- Image - String
- Item 1 (DICTIONARY)
- Name - String
- Category - String
- Image - String
- Item 2 (DICTIONARY)
- Name - String
- Category - String
- Image - String
- Item 3 (THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO ADD)
- Name - String
- Category - String
- Image - String

I am not sure how to edit the plist. Here is the code i have so far (which is pretty much a hacking together of crap I searched for on the internet)

NSString *docsDir = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDire ctory,NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *path = [docsDir stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Fav.plist"]; //3

NSMutableDictionary *favPlist = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithContentsOfFile: path];

//here add elements to data file and write data to file
NSDictionary *newDictionary = [[[NSDictionary alloc] init] autorelease];
newDictionary = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:trickTitle,@"Title", trickDifficulty, @"Difficulty",trickDescription, @"Description", posterLocation, @"Poster", videoLocation, @"Play", nil];

[favPlist setObject:newDictionary forKey:@"Fav"];
[favPlist writeToFileath atomically:YES];
[favPlist release];

[garyshaf]

Originally Posted by archaicsoftware

Alright, I am using a plist to load data into a tableview. I have all of that working just fine. I have also successfully copied the plist from the bundle to the documents folder.

I need some help figuring out the code needed to add an item to the plist. Here is the structure of the plist thus far

NSDictionary (ROOT)
- NSArray (The Array I am Accessing
- Item 0 (DICTIONARY)
- Name - String
- Category - String
- Image - String
- Item 1 (DICTIONARY)
- Name - String
- Category - String
- Image - String
- Item 2 (DICTIONARY)
- Name - String
- Category - String
- Image - String
- Item 3 (THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO ADD)
- Name - String
- Category - String
- Image - String

I am not sure how to edit the plist. Here is the code i have so far (which is pretty much a hacking together of crap I searched for on the internet)

NSString *docsDir = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDire ctory,NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *path = [docsDir stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Fav.plist"]; //3

NSMutableDictionary *favPlist = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithContentsOfFile: path];

//here add elements to data file and write data to file
NSDictionary *newDictionary = [[[NSDictionary alloc] init] autorelease];
newDictionary = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:trickTitle,@"Title", trickDifficulty, @"Difficulty",trickDescription, @"Description", posterLocation, @"Poster", videoLocation, @"Play", nil];

[favPlist setObject:newDictionary forKey:@"Fav"];
[favPlist writeToFileath atomically:YES];
[favPlist release];

Learning NSDictionary concepts is quite important. Please take the time to go over the Apple documents, it'll help you tremendously in the future.

I personally like property list more than Core Data. They're easier to work with than the core data framework.

Anyway here is some code I have that may help you understand better:

sessionDict = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:pathToUserCopyOfPlist];
		
			//NSLog(@"sessionDict: %@", sessionDict);
		
			NSMutableDictionary *existingDict = (NSMutableDictionary *)sessionDict;
		
			//NSLog(@"existingDict: %@", existingDict);
	
			NSMutableArray *array = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
		
			NSMutableArray *holdingArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
		
			for (int i = 0; i < [sessionDict count]; i++) {
			
				existingDict = [sessionDict objectAtIndex:i];
			
				if (![[existingDict valueForKey:@"name"] isEqualToString:@""]) {
				
					[array addObject:[existingDict valueForKey:@"name"]];
				
					[holdingArray addObject:existingDict];
				}
			
			}
		
			NSMutableDictionary *newDict = [[NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithObjects:
										 [NSArray arrayWithObjects:[NSArray arrayWithObjects:nil, nil], [NSArray arrayWithObjects:nil, nil], @"", [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] valueForKey:@"DefaultTimerValue"], myTextField.text, nil] forKeys:
										 [NSArray arrayWithObjects:@"images",@"moods",@"notes",@"timer", @"name", nil]] retain];
		

			[holdingArray addObject:newDict];
		
			//NSLog(@"holdingArray: %@", holdingArray);
		
			[holdingArray writeToFile:pathToUserCopyOfPlist atomically:YES];
		
			[holdingArray release];
			[array release];
			[existingDict release];
			[newDict release];

Remember, adding to the property list is simply adding a new object to the array. When modifying, you'll need to find the index of the object first, then set its 'valueForKey'.

Hope this helps.

Good luck!
- Gary