Is there a way to shorten my CountryViewController.m without hard coding? - iphone

Question

I would like to know if there's a way to shorten my CountryViewController.m because I will be adding another else if statement every time I add a new country.
I am using a UITableViews that pushes a new table view.
RootViewController.m
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    
    self.tableView = [[UITableView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero style:UITableViewStyleGrouped];
    
    ASIA = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    EU = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    [ASIA addObject: #"China"];
    [ASIA addObject: #"Japan"];
    [ASIA addObject: #"Korea"];
    [EU addObject: #"France"];
    [EU addObject: #"Italy"];
    [EU addObject: #"Switzerland"];
    self.title = #"Continent";
}
CountryViewController.m
- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
[super viewWillAppear: animated];
if ([self.title isEqualToString: #"China"]) {
_listOfCities = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
[_listOfCities addObject: #"Beijing"];
[_listOfCities addObject: #"Hong Kong"];
}
else if ([self.title isEqualToString: #"Japan"]){
_listOfCities = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
[_listOfCities addObject: #"Tokyo"];
}
else if ([self.title isEqualToString: #"Korea"]){
_listOfCities = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
[_listOfCities addObject: #"Seoul"];
}
else if ([self.title isEqualToString: #"France"]){
_listOfCities = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
[_listOfCities addObject: #"Paris"];
[_listOfCities addObject: #"Versailles"];
}
else if ([self.title isEqualToString: #"Italy"]){
_listOfCities = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
[_listOfCities addObject: #"Rome"];
}
else if ([self.title isEqualToString: #"Switzerland"]){
_listOfCities = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
[_listOfCities addObject: #"Bern"];
}
[self.tableView reloadData];
}

Answer 1

A simple way is to use a property list and include that as a bundle resource (i.e. just add it to your project).
For example, if your property list looks like this:
You can then load it with
countries = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:#"CountryData" ofType:#"plist"]];
and use it as a normal dictionary or array, i.e.
- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
[super viewWillAppear: animated];
NSString* countryName = self.title;
NSDictionary* country = [countries objectForKey:countryName];
NSArray* cities = [country objectForKey:#"Cities"];
NSString* continent = [country objectForKey:#"Continent"];
_listOfCities = cities;
[self.tableView reloadData];
}
Plist files can be edited easily in XCode.