Creating a plist if one doesn't exist - iphone

Question

I've got a bit of code that imports settings into my app from an email, but it only works if the plist it imports the settings into already exists.
This is the code I'm using currently to import the settings and write to the plist.
-(BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application openURL:(NSURL *)url sourceApplication:(NSString *)sourceApplication annotation:(id)annotation {
if (url){
NSDictionary *openedDictionary = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfURL:url];
// get paths from root direcory
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains (NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
// get documents path
NSString *documentsPath = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
// get the path to our Data/plist file
NSString *plistPath = [documentsPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"Data.plist"];
NSDictionary *originalDictionary = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:plistPath];
NSMutableDictionary *newDictionary = [originalDictionary mutableCopy];
for (NSString *key in openedDictionary) {
if (!newDictionary[key]) {
newDictionary[key] = openedDictionary[key];
}
}
[newDictionary writeToFile:plistPath atomically:YES];
}
NSError *error = nil;
if (![[NSFileManager defaultManager] removeItemAtURL:url error:&error]) {
NSLog(#"error while deleting: %#", [error localizedDescription]);
}
return YES;
}
But what I need to do is create that Data.plist if it's not there, or alternatively rename the plist that's emailed to Data.plist and store it provided there isn't already a Data.plist.

Answer 1

Here is how I would create the property list through code and retrieve data from it as well.
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *path = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"plist.plist"]; NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
if (![fileManager fileExistsAtPath: path])
{
path = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent: [NSString stringWithFormat: #"plist.plist"] ];
}
NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
NSMutableDictionary *data;
if ([fileManager fileExistsAtPath: path])
{
data = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithContentsOfFile: path];
}
else
{
// If the file doesn’t exist, create an empty dictionary
data = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
}
//To insert the data into the plist
int value = 5;
[data setObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:value] forKey:#"value"];
[data writeToFile: path atomically:YES];
[data release];
// To retrieve the data from the plist
NSMutableDictionary *savedStock = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithContentsOfFile: path];
int value1;
value1 = [[savedStock objectForKey:#"value"] intValue];
NSLog(#"%i",value1);
[savedStock release];

Answer 2

NSFileManager *defaultManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
if ([defaultManager fileExistsAtPath:plistPath])
{
// rename the file
}
else
{
//create empty file
}
this is how you can create empty plist file
NSDictionary *dict = [NSDictionary dictionary];
//you can create file in any path in app sandbox, for example I'm creating in document dir.
NSString *FilePathWithName = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
FilePathWithName = [FilePathWithName stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"name.plist"];
[dict writeToFile:FilePathWithName atomically:YES];
and for renaming what you can do is, you can load the .plist/.property file (that you want to rename) as dictionary and write that Dictionary with new name (write plist as above) and delete the .plist/.property file.

Answer 3

NSFileManager *defaultManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
if ([defaultManager fileExistsAtPath:plistPath]) {
//Do stuff with path
}
else {
//Write a plist to the path
}