Downloading plist with ASIHTTPRequest works only partially - iphone

Question

I have a game where there are different categories to play with. These categories are basically plist files. So, if in the future, I want to add plists, the user should be able to download a plist and play new levels. So what I am aiming for is:
Download .plist from URL
Save .plist file in documents directory on iphone (forever)
use .plist
Here is what I did and it works (console logs "finished !!"), but if I check whether the file is in the documents directory, there is no response (the boolean fileExists stays NO).
-(void)startGame:(id)sender{
NSArray *categoriesArray = [[GameStateSingleton sharedMySingleton] categoriesArray];
NSString *category = [NSString stringWithFormat:[categoriesArray objectAtIndex:[sender tag]]];
NSString *thePath = [mainPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#.plist",category]];
NSDictionary *categoryPlist = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:thePath];
if(categoryPlist != nil){
[[GameStateSingleton sharedMySingleton]setCurrentCategory:category];
[[GameStateSingleton sharedMySingleton]updateHexCountAndInitalTime];
[[CCDirector sharedDirector]replaceScene:[CCTransitionFade transitionWithDuration:TRANSITIONDURATION scene:[LevelSets scene]]];
}
else{
[self plistForCategory:category];
NSString* documentsPath = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *myCategory= [documentsPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#.plist",category]];
BOOL fileExists = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:myCategory];
if(fileExists == YES){
[[GameStateSingleton sharedMySingleton]setCurrentCategory:category];
[[GameStateSingleton sharedMySingleton]updateHexCountAndInitalTime];
[[CCDirector sharedDirector]replaceScene:[CCTransitionFade transitionWithDuration:TRANSITIONDURATION scene:[LevelSets scene]]];
NSLog(#"category exists now");
}
}
}
-(void)plistForCategory:(NSString*)category
{
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[ NSString stringWithFormat:#"http://www.tinycles.com/wannaplay/plists/%#.plist",category]];
ASIHTTPRequest *request = [ASIHTTPRequest requestWithURL:url];
[request setDownloadDestinationPath:documentsDirectory];
[request setDelegate:self];
[request startAsynchronous];
}
- (void)requestFinished:(ASIHTTPRequest *)request
{
NSLog(#"finished !!");
}
- (void)requestFailed:(ASIHTTPRequest *)request
{
// Download failed. This is why.
NSError *error = [request error];
NSLog(#"%#", error);
}

Answer 1

Maybe the problem is because you're starting an async request, so if the request has not finished, your if(fileExist==YES) still returns NO; i suggest you in this case to start a sync request:
- (IBAction)startRequest:(id)sender
{
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:LINK_TO_PLIST];
ASIHTTPRequest *request = [ASIHTTPRequest requestWithURL:url];
[request setDownloadDestinationPath:DOC_PATH];
[request startSynchronous];
NSError *error = [request error];
if (!error) {
//start your game after the file is downloaded
}
}