iPhone Currency input using NSDecimal instead of float - iphone

Question

iPhone/Objective-C/Cocoa newbie here. Based on a number of posts on stackoverflow, I have cobbled together an IBAction that I'm using in a basic iPhone calculator app that I'm building. The IBAction works with the numeric keypad to allow entry of decimal numbers without having to enter a decimal point.
I am trying very hard to adhere to the "use NSDecimal when dealing with currency" adage although I am finding it difficult to do so like so many others who have posted questions. I am making steady progress, but have hit a wall that I'm sure will look trivial after I get my head around NSDecimal and Format Specifications.
Here is the IBAction I'm using (it is triggered by Editing Changed UITextField Event):
// called when user touches a key or button
- (IBAction)processKeystrokes:(id)sender
{
static BOOL toggle = YES; // was this method triggered by the user?
// the user touched the keypad
if (toggle)
{
toggle = NO;
// retrieve the strings in input fields
NSString *currencyField1Text = currencyField1.text;
NSString *currencyField2Text = currencyField2.text;
if (sender == currencyField1) {
currencyField1Text = [currencyField1Text stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#"." withString:#""];
float currency = [currencyFieldText floatValue]/100;
currencyField1.text = [#"" stringByAppendingFormat:#"%0.2f", currency];
}
else if (sender == currencyField2) {
currencyField2Text = [currencyField2Text stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#"." withString:#""];
NSDecimalNumber *currency2 = [[NSDecimalNumber decimalNumberWithString:currencyField2Text] decimalNumberByDividingBy:[NSDecimalNumber decimalNumberWithString:#"100"]];
currencyField2.text = [#"" stringByAppendingFormat:#"%#", currency2];
}
else {
NSLog(#"Some unexpected input");
}
}
else
{
toggle = YES;
}
} // end method calculateResults
The currencyField1 code segment uses floats, the currencyField2 segment uses NSDecimal.
The currencyField1 segment works as desired: displays all numbers with two digits after the decimal point (even when the delete key is used to delete all entered digits); however it suffers from and illustrates perfectly the problem with using floats when dealing with large currency values: rounding errors show up when entered numbers exceed 8 digits.
The currencyField2 segment avoids rounding error problem by using NSDecimal instead of float; however it does not always display numbers with two digits after the decimal point -- this is shown when the delete key is used to delete all entered digits. I believe the problem is due to this line of code:
currencyField2.text = [#"" stringByAppendingFormat:#"%#", currency2];
This is the corollary to the following line that produces the desired format for floats:
currencyField1.text = [#"" stringByAppendingFormat:#"%0.2f", currency];
So, I think I need the equivalent of #"%0.2f" for formatting the display of a "0" value NSDecimalNumber. I have been at this for so many hours that I'm embarrassed, but I just can't figure it out.
Any help or pointers are appreciated.
EDIT: I incorporated the NSNumberFormatter object (similar to what Brad describes in his comment) which seems to have solved the problem. However, I would like some feedback on refactoring the code now that I have it working. Here's the revised code:
// called when user touches a key or button
- (IBAction)processKeystrokes:(id)sender
{
static BOOL toggle = YES; // was this method triggered by the user?
// the user touched the keypad
if (toggle)
{
toggle = NO;
// retrieve the strings in input fields
NSString *currencyField1Text = currencyField1.text;
NSString *currencyField2Text = currencyField2.text;
// new code elements
NSNumberFormatter * nf = [[[NSNumberFormatter alloc] init]autorelease];
[nf setNumberStyle:NSNumberFormatterCurrencyStyle];
[nf setCurrencySymbol:#""];
[nf setCurrencyGroupingSeparator:#""];
if (sender == currencyField1) {
currencyField1Text = [currencyField1Text stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#"." withString:#""];
NSDecimalNumber *currency = [[NSDecimalNumber decimalNumberWithString:currencyField1Text] decimalNumberByDividingBy:[NSDecimalNumber decimalNumberWithString:#"100"]];
currencyField1.text = [nf stringFromNumber:currency];
}
else if (sender == currencyField2) {
currencyField2Text = [currencyField2Text stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#"." withString:#""];
NSDecimalNumber *currency2 = [[NSDecimalNumber decimalNumberWithString:currencyField2Text] decimalNumberByDividingBy:[NSDecimalNumber decimalNumberWithString:#"100"]];
currencyField2.text = [nf stringFromNumber:currency2];
}
else {
NSLog(#"Some unexpected input");
}
}
else
{
toggle = YES;
}
} // end method calculateResults
It addresses my initial problem, but I would appreciate any advice on how to improve it. Thanks.

Answer 1

If you want to guarantee 2 digits after the decimal point for your text value, you could use an NSNumberFormatter like in the following code (drawn from the answer here):
NSNumberFormatter *decimalNumberFormatter = [[NSNumberFormatter alloc] init];
[decimalNumberFormatter setMinimumFractionDigits:2];
[decimalNumberFormatter setMaximumFractionDigits:2];
currencyField2.text = [decimalNumberFormatter stringFromNumber:currency2];
[decimalNumberFormatter release];
I believe this should preserve the precision of the NSDecimalNumber. Personally, I prefer to use the NSDecimal C struct for performance reasons, but that's a little harder to get values into and out of.

Answer 2

Can't you use the -setFormat: method (of NSNumberFormatter) instead for the NSNumberFormatter? Seems one should be able to configure it for your purposes and you wouldn't have to deal with weird "hacks" on a currency formatted string.
For more info see:
Apple's docs on -setFormat
Accepted format strings