How to Save & Load Custom Object ?

Usually, we use NSKeyedArchiver to serialize an object and write it to a file.
Correspondingly, NSKeyedUnarchiver is used to get the object from the file.

The NSKeyedArchiver’s interface is like this:

+ (BOOL)archiveRootObject:(id)rootObject toFile:(NSString *)path;

NSKeyedArchiver is a NSCoder. The rootObject should conform to the protocol NSCoding.

@protocol NSCoding
 
- (void)encodeWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aCoder;
- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder;
 
@end

Lets Take One Example : 
For example, now we have a customObject:

@interface CustomObject : NSObject <NSCoding> {
    NSString*   mStringValue;
    int         mIntValue;
    BOOL        mBOOLValue;
}
 
@property (non-atomic, retain) NSString *stringValue;
@property (nonatomic, assign) int       intValue;
@property (nonatomic, assign) BOOL      boolValue;
 
@end

It conforms to NSCoding, so we need to implement those two methods in the .m file

#define kEncodeKeyStringValue   @"kEncodeKeyStringValue" 
#define kEncodeKeyIntValue      @"kEncodeKeyIntValue" 
#define kEncodeKeyBOOLValue     @"kEncodeKeyBOOLValue" 
 
#pragma mark - NSCoding
- (void)encodeWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aCoder {
    [aCoder encodeObject:self.stringValue   forKey:kEncodeKeyStringValue];
    [aCoder encodeInt:self.intValue         forKey:kEncodeKeyIntValue];
    [aCoder encodeBool:self.boolValue       forKey:kEncodeKeyBOOLValue];
}
 
- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)aDecoder {
    if ((self = [super init]))
    {
        self.stringValue = [aDecoder decodeObjectForKey:kEncodeKeyStringValue];
        self.intValue    = [aDecoder decodeIntForKey:kEncodeKeyIntValue];
        self.boolValue   = [aDecoder decodeBoolForKey:kEncodeKeyBOOLValue];
    }
    return self;
}

Now, we can save and load a customObject like:

- (IBAction)saveObjectPlain:(id)sender {
 
    printf("==========================================\n");
    printf("saveObjectPlain===========================\n");
    printf("==========================================\n");
 
    //< Create and Save the Object
    {
        CustomObject *obj = [[[CustomObject alloc] init] autorelease];
        obj.stringValue = @"The String Value";
        obj.intValue    = 12345;
        obj.boolValue   = YES;
        [NSKeyedArchiver archiveRootObject:obj toFile:[self tempFilePath]];
        printf("Save: \n %s \n", [[obj description] cStringUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]);
    }
 
    //< Load and Print the Object
    {
        CustomObject *obj = [NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithFile:[self tempFilePath]];
        printf("Load: \n %s \n", [[obj description] cStringUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]);
    }
 
    printf("==========================================\n");
}

Quite easy, right?

How about to save/load an array of our CustomObjects?
Since NSArray conforms to protocol NSCoding, it is quite straightforward.

- (IBAction)saveObjectsInArray:(id)sender {
 
    printf("==========================================\n");
    printf("saveObjectsInArray========================\n");
    printf("==========================================\n");
 
    //< Create Two Keys and Save the Object
    {
        CustomObject *obj1 = [[[CustomObject alloc] init] autorelease];
        obj1.stringValue = @"The String Value 1";
        obj1.intValue    = 12345;
        obj1.boolValue   = YES;
 
        CustomObject *obj2 = [[[CustomObject alloc] init] autorelease];
        obj2.stringValue = @"The String Value 2";
        obj2.intValue    = 54321;
        obj2.boolValue   = NO;
 
        NSArray *array = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:obj1, obj2, nil];
        [NSKeyedArchiver archiveRootObject:array toFile:[self tempFilePath]];
 
        printf("Save: \n %s \n ", [[array description] cStringUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]);
    }
 
    //< Load and Print the Object
    {
        NSArray *array = [NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithFile:[self tempFilePath]];
        printf("Load: \n %s \n ", [[array description] cStringUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]);
    }
 
    printf("==========================================\n");
}

So, if there is a member variable of type NSArray in our CustomObject,
we need to make sure the array contains only objects conform to NSCoding.
Otherwise, an exception of unrecognized selector [.. encodeWithCoder:] will be raised.

One step further, how to save/load a NSDictionary has a CustomObject as the key and another CustomObject as the Object.

This is actually another problem. We need to make sure CustomObject can be used as a key in the NSDictionary.
According to the documentation, NSDictionary requires its key to conform to the protocol NSCopying.

@protocol NSCopying
 
- (id)copyWithZone:(NSZone *)zone;
 
@end

The key object needs to be copied to a specified piece of memory described by NSZone.
The implementation is like:

#pragma mark - NSCopying
- (id)copyWithZone:(NSZone *)zone {
    CustomObject *copy = [[CustomObject allocWithZone:zone] init];
    copy.stringValue = [[self.stringValue copy] autorelease];
    copy.intValue = self.intValue;
    copy.boolValue = self.boolValue;
    return copy;
}

We use allocWithZone to allocate a CustomObject on the indicated piece of memory.
Then copy member variables to the new instance.

The save/load procedure is like:

- (IBAction)saveObjectAsKey:(id)sender {
 
    printf("==========================================\n");
    printf("saveObjectAsKey===========================\n");
    printf("==========================================\n");
 
    //< Create Two Keys and Save the Object
    {
        CustomObject *keyObj = [[[CustomObject alloc] init] autorelease];
        keyObj.stringValue = @"The String Value Key";
        keyObj.intValue    = 12345;
        keyObj.boolValue   = YES;
 
        CustomObject *valObj = [[[CustomObject alloc] init] autorelease];
        valObj.stringValue = @"The String Value Value";
        valObj.intValue    = 54321;
        valObj.boolValue   = NO;
 
        NSDictionary *dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObject:valObj forKey:keyObj];
        [NSKeyedArchiver archiveRootObject:dict toFile:[self tempFilePath]];
 
        printf("Save: \n %s \n", [[dict description] cStringUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]);
    }
 
    //< Load and Print the Object
    {
        NSDictionary *dict = [NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithFile:[self tempFilePath]];
        printf("Load: \n %s \n", [[dict description] cStringUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]);
    }
 
    printf("==========================================\n");
}

Hope it helps! :)