Objective C Data Caching on iOS

Question

I am pulling data from an API and then building out my data objects with it. I want to cache this data for the future. I have been storing the string from the api in NSUserDef

Answer 1

Have you noticed the NSCache?

An NSCache object is a mutable collection that stores key-value pairs, similar to an NSDictionary object. The NSCache class provides a programmatic interface to adding and removing objects and setting eviction policies based on the total cost and number of objects in the cache...

Answer 2

What type of data? If its text/string bases SQLLite would probably be the best.

Answer 3

I'd store the computed/parsed data in either a Core Data store, or in NSData flat files in your application's Documents directory. You're correct that storing that in NSUserDefaults and then re parsing feels a little overkill.

Answer 4

Personally I'm quite fond of the EGOCache classes, I use them quite a lot in my projects:

https://github.com/enormego/EGOCache

The classes are easy to use, I used to have my own classes with a similar design, but these are just more well-rounded, so I decided to stick with them (don't wanna reinvent the wheel).

Answer 5

I vote Core Data

Answer 6

There are many different solutions to this problem and there is no "right" way to do it. A few popular options are:

• Core Data - Apple's framework for persistence. Very performant, but more difficult.
• SQLite - Fast and flexible, but bare bones.
• Plists - Basically writing a file to disk, you have to read and write manually.
• NSUserDefaults - The lightest weight "key-value" option.

I would encourage you to read up on all four and see which one works best for you.