NSDictionary read data - iphone

Question

I have now tried to get this to work for a few hours but just cannot get it right.
I have the following code:
NSDictionary* dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
[NSArray arrayWithObjects:#"currentGame1", #"currentGameType1", #"currentGameQuestion1", #"currentGameRightAnswers1", #"currentGameType1", #"numberOfType0Games1", #"type0Results1", #"numberOfType1Games1", #"type1Results1",#"numberOfType2Games1", #"type2Results1",nil], #"Player1",
[NSArray arrayWithObjects:#"currentGame2", #"currentGameType2", #"currentGameQuestion2", #"currentGameRightAnswers2", #"currentGameType2", #"numberOfType0Games2", #"type0Results2", #"numberOfType1Games2", #"type1Results2",#"numberOfType2Games2", #"type2Results2",nil], #"Player2",
[NSArray arrayWithObjects:#"currentGame3", #"currentGameType3", #"currentGameQuestion3", #"currentGameRightAnswers3", #"currentGameType3", #"numberOfType0Games3", #"type0Results3", #"numberOfType1Games3", #"type1Results3",#"numberOfType2Games3", #"type2Results3",nil], #"Player3",nil];
[dict writeToFile:#"/Users/MikaelB/Desktop/xxxxPlayer.plist" atomically: TRUE];
NSMutableDictionary *readDict = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:#"/Users/MikaelB/Desktop/xxxxPlayer.plist"];
NSLog(#"readDict: %#", readDict);
NSLog(#"= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =");
for (NSArray *key in [readDict allKeysForObject:#"Player6"]) {
NSLog(#"Key: %#", key);
}
The for loops is just part of the tests i do to try to extract data from the dictionary and is one of many different ways i have tested.
My question is if there is someone nice who can show me how to extract a record (key + objects) and NSLog it?
Cheers

Answer 1

If you are trying to save the game state for a number of players, you may be going about it the wrong way. I don't want to stand in the way of your current progress, but I would like to point out some avenues for improvement.
First point: NSDictionary objects (and plists, for that matter) can store data in a tree structure, so there is no need to have a different set of keys for each user:
NSDictionary* dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
[NSArray arrayWithObjects:#"currentGame", #"currentGameType", ..., nil],
#"player1",
[NSArray arrayWithObjects:#"currentGame", #"currentGameType", ..., nil],
#"player2",
..., nil];
Second point: Taking this one step further, I think what you really want is another complete dictionary for each player:
NSMutableDictionary * playerInfo;
playerInfo = [NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithCapcity:0];
[playerInfo setObject:#"1" forKey:#"currentGame"];
[playerInfo setObject:#"2" forKey:#"currentGameType"];
[playerInfo setObject:#"what's up?" forKey:#"currentGameQuestion"];
...
NSMutableDictionary * allPlayers;
allPlayers = [NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithCapcity:0];
NSInteger playerNum;
for (playerNum = 1; playerNum <= 6; playerNum++) {
NSString * key = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"Player%d", playerNum];
[allPlayers setObject:playerInfo forKey:key];
}
Now, after saving and reading the allPlayers dictionary, you would access a single record as follows:
NSDictionary * player2Info = [readDict objectForKey:#"player2"];
NSLog(#"%#", player2Info); // show all keys and values for player 2
NSLog(#"%#", [player2Info valueForKey:#"currentGame"]; // show a single value
Third point: If you are storing a game state for several users, the proper way to do it (from an OO point of view) is to create a Player class and then load and save instances of this class. At a glance, it would look like this:
#interface Player {
NSString * currentGame;
NSString * currentGameType;
NSString * currentGameQuestion;
...
}
#property (nonatomic, copy) NSString * currentGame;
#property (nonatomic, copy) NSString * currentGameType;
#property (nonatomic, copy) NSString * currentGameQuestion;
...
- (void)loadFromDictionary:(NSDictionary *)dict;
- (NSDictionary *)saveAsDictionary;
#end
#implementation Player
#synthesize currentGame;
#synthesize currentGameType;
#synthesize currentGameQuestion;
...
- (void)loadFromDictionary:(NSDictionary *)dict {
[self setCurrentGame:[dict objectForKey:#"currentGame"]];
[self setCurrentGameType:[dict objectForKey:#"currentGameType"]];
[self setCurrentGameQuestion:[dict objectForKey:#"currentGameQuestion"]];
...
}
- (NSDictionary *)saveAsDictionary {
return [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
currentGame, #"currentGame";
currentGameType, #"currentGameType";
currentGameQuestion, #"currentGameQuestion";
...
nil];
}
#end
Now, you can load and save players as follows:
Player * player1 = [[[Player alloc] init] autorelease];
Player * player2 = [[[Player alloc] init] autorelease];
...
NSDictionary * players = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
[player1 saveAsDictionary], #"Player1",
[player2 saveAsDictionary], #"Player2",
...
nil];
// save dictionary
[players writeToFile:...
// load dictionary
NSDictionary * readDict = ...
[player1 loadFromDictionary:[readDict objectForKey:#"Player1"]];
[player2 loadFromDictionary:[readDict objectForKey:#"Player2"]];
...
See also:
Nested arrays in Objective-C ( NSMutableArray ) (player objects)
What's the best way to store and retrieve multi-dimensional NSMutableArrays? (property list serialization)

Answer 2

Well, your dictionary doesn't contain #"Player6", just 1-3.
And #"Player6" is your key, so you want the object not the key!
for (NSArray *object in [dict objectForKey:#"Player1"]) {
NSLog(#"Value: %#", object);
}