NSDictionary becomes NSCFString when I save to NSUserDefaults in Swift - swift

Question

NSDictionary becomes NSCFString when I save to NSUserDefaults:
class SecondViewController: UIViewController {
#IBOutlet var questionforsave: UITextField!
#IBOutlet var answerforsave: UITextField!
var answersSaved = [String:String]()
#IBAction func savePressed(sender: AnyObject) {
if questionforsave.text.isEmpty || answerforsave.text.isEmpty{
let alert = UIAlertView()
alert.title = "Empty fields"
alert.message = "Please Enter Text In Both Text Fields"
alert.addButtonWithTitle("Ok")
alert.show()
}else{
println("is ok")
var answerSave = answerforsave.text
var questionSave = questionforsave.text
answersSaved[questionSave] = answerSave
let alert = UIAlertView()
alert.title = "Success!"
alert.message = "It worked!"
alert.addButtonWithTitle("Awesome!")
alert.show()
NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().setObject(answersSaved, forKey: "answersSaved")
println(answersSaved)
}
}
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
println(answersSaved)
if NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().objectForKey("answersSaved") != nil {
answersSaved = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().objectForKey("answersSaved") as! [String:String]
}else{
println("No Defaults")
}
}
override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
override func touchesBegan(touches: Set<NSObject>, withEvent event: UIEvent) {
self.view.endEditing(true)
}
func textFieldShouldReturn(textField: UITextField!) -> Bool {
//do the stuff here
resignFirstResponder()
return true
}
}

Answer 1

Your issue is that you are setting a string and then trying to retrieve a dictionary, but I would recommend using if let to retrieve the dictionary and then optionally cast it to be [String: String]:
var answersSaved = [String: String]()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
if let answersFromDefaults = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().dictionaryForKey("answersSaved") as? [String: String] {
answersSaved = answersFromDefaults
} else {
// Failed to retrieve value from NSUserDefaults
}
answersSaved = ["test": "a"] // Set answersSaved somewhere in your code
}
#IBAction func saveButtonPressed(sender: UIBarButtonItem) {
NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().setObject(answersSaved, forKey: "answersSaved")
}

Answer 2

NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().setObject("answersSaved", forKey: "answersSaved")
You're writing the string "answersSaved" into NSUserDefaults. I assume you meant answersSaved.

Answer 3

You should cast it optionally as a [String:String] dictionary.
Try this:
if let answersFromDefaults = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().dictionaryForKey("answersSaved") as? [String: String] {
answersSaved = answersFromDefaults
} else {
// Failed to retrieve value from NSUserDefaults
}

Answer 4

When you load the dictionary into NSUserDefaults you should do it like this:
NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().setObject(answersSaved, forKey: "answersSaved")
This saves it as a generic NSObject. When you want to read out the data though use the command:
answersSaved = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().dictionaryForKey("answersSaved")
This should specify that the object is a Dictionary