Is it possible to read and update settings plist - iphone

Question

Just a quick question. I am bit unsure about this.
When I add a Settings.plist to my Objective C iPhone project and read the settings from it. Is it possible to update settings in this file? Or is this file only readable and should I create a copy at another location like this:
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
and check for its existence at launch?

Answer 1

You can't edit the files you included in your app through Xcode, so you could copy it to the user's document folder.
However, as you're interested in a settings plist file, I advise you to save the settings using NSUserDefaults, which automatically saves a .plist file: In the app's delegate on applicationDidFinishLoading write
NSUserDefaults *defaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
if (![defaults boolForKey:#"firstRunComplete"]) {
[defaults setObject:optionOne forKey:#"optionOne"]; //replace
[defaults setObject:optionTwo forKey:#"optionTwo"]; //replace
[defaults setBool:YES forKey:#"firstRunComplete"];
[defaults synchronize];
}
And when you want to change one of the options
NSUserDefaults *defaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
[defaults setObject:optionOne forKey:#"optionOne"]; //replace
[defaults setObject:optionTwo forKey:#"optionTwo"]; //replace
[defaults synchronize];
Alternatively you can use this method for editing plist files:
NSMutableDictionary* plistDict = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:filePath];
[plistDict writeToFile:filePath atomically: YES];