iOS Application Configuration File

Question

In a C# application I always used an app.config file to save some data for my application to load when needed (e.g Connection String).

Wha

Answer 1

If you're just storing a relatively simple set of configuration stuff, you can simply use NSDictionary's serialization methods (I don't know how to link to the methods directory in the class doc):

NSString *settingsPath = [@"~/pathtoconfig.plist" stringByExpandingTildeInPath];

NSMutableDictionary *settings = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
if([[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:settingsPath]){
    settings = [NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:settingsPath];
}

// writing settings
[settings writeToFile:settingsPath atomically:YES];

Since I don't know how familiar you are with objective-c, I'll also note:

• In iOS, the home directory refers to the application's sandboxed directory.
• I recommend reading a little bit up on reference counting. Although objective-c, as of iOS5, now automatically reference counts for you, there are some edge cases to be aware about (Here's a SO question on ARC)