What is the best way to store an NSString?

Question

I'm making an iOS app in Xcode 4 that needs to save one NSString variable. Does anyone know if using a .plist file is the best way to do this if so, what code do you need to store and retrive NSStrings?

Any help would be awesome!

Actually I introduced that error in the last line (oops)! – Robert Karl Oct 13 '12 at 06:18 — Robert Karl, Oct 13 '12 at 06:18

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 13 '12 at 06:10

4

Best place would be to store it in NSUserDefaults:

[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:@"My String" forKey:@"kMyStringKey"];

Then to call it:

lblMyLabel.text = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] objectForKey:@"kMyStringKey"];

answered Oct 13 '12 at 06:10

WrightsCS

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Yep, I would do this. You beat me to the punch! :) – Robert Karl Oct 13 '12 at 06:11
Thank you heaps!!! ill give that a go (sorry 4 da bad gramma ;) – Bastian2025 Oct 13 '12 at 10:34

justin · Answer 2 · 2012-10-13T06:17:03.080

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there are multiple ways to store an NSString because needs vary. Plist in this case is more than necessary (based on the description).

Option A You could just use: - [NSString writeToURL:atomically:encoding:error:]. in this case, you only need to remember the file URL and encoding you saved it in.

Option B another option would be to save it via NSCoding -- this allows NSString to choose the serialized representation it finds is best, given the string it represents.

edited Oct 13 '12 at 06:17

answered Oct 13 '12 at 06:11

justin

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I'm curious why you don't recommend `NSUserDefaults` here. Any info on that? – Robert Karl Oct 13 '12 at 06:23
@RobertKarl two reasons: a) it's not specified in the OP that the value *belongs* in user defaults. therefore, i assume it does not belong there. b) using WrightCS's example; that is effectively a glorified/persistent global value. also not safe to assume that is compatible with the OP's needs because there can be only one value for that key. therefore, i don't recommend `NSUserDefaults` as the "best way" to store an arbitrary `NSString`. that the OP suggested a plist file also suggests that a file is more in line with the OP's usage. will dig up a link for point a… – justin Oct 13 '12 at 06:41
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@RobertKarl see Peter Hosey's well-worded explanation of when to use and when not to use `NSUserDefaults` here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5520797/when-not-to-abuse-nsuserdefaults – justin Oct 13 '12 at 06:45
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Thanks, I appreciate it! I may need to edit my apps ;) – Robert Karl Oct 13 '12 at 07:55

What is the best way to store an NSString?

2 Answers2