Attempt to set a non-property-list object as an NS

Question

I thought I knew what was causing this error, but I can't seem to figure out what I did wrong.

Here is the full error message I am getting:

Attempt to set a non-property-list object (
   "<BC_Person: 0x8f3c140>"
) as an NSUserDefaults value for key personDataArray

I have a Person class that I think is conforming to the NSCoding protocol, where I have both of these methods in my person class:

- (void)encodeWithCoder:(NSCoder *)coder {
    [coder encodeObject:self.personsName forKey:@"BCPersonsName"];
    [coder encodeObject:self.personsBills forKey:@"BCPersonsBillsArray"];
}

- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)coder {
    self = [super init];
    if (self) {
        self.personsName = [coder decodeObjectForKey:@"BCPersonsName"];
        self.personsBills = [coder decodeObjectForKey:@"BCPersonsBillsArray"];
    }
    return self;
}

At some point in the app, the NSString in the BC_PersonClass is set, and I have a DataSave class that I think is handling the encoding the properties in my BC_PersonClass. Here is the code I am using from the DataSave class:

- (void)savePersonArrayData:(BC_Person *)personObject
{
   // NSLog(@"name of the person %@", personObject.personsName);

    [mutableDataArray addObject:personObject];

    // set the temp array to the mutableData array
    tempMuteArray = [NSMutableArray arrayWithArray:mutableDataArray];

    // save the person object as nsData
    NSData *personEncodedObject = [NSKeyedArchiver archivedDataWithRootObject:personObject];

    // first add the person object to the mutable array
    [tempMuteArray addObject:personEncodedObject];

    // NSLog(@"Objects in the array %lu", (unsigned long)mutableDataArray.count);

    // now we set that data array to the mutable array for saving
    dataArray = [[NSArray alloc] initWithArray:mutableDataArray];
    //dataArray = [NSArray arrayWithArray:mutableDataArray];

    // save the object to NS User Defaults
    NSUserDefaults *userData = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
    [userData setObject:dataArray forKey:@"personDataArray"];
    [userData synchronize];
}

I hope this is enough code to give you an idea o what I am trying to do. Again I know my problem lie with how I am encoding my properties in my BC_Person class, I just can't seem to figure out what though I'm doing wrong.

Thanks for the help!

Answer 1

To save:

NSUserDefaults *currentDefaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
NSData *data = [NSKeyedArchiver archivedDataWithRootObject:yourObject];
[currentDefaults setObject:data forKey:@"yourKeyName"];

To Get:

NSData *data = [currentDefaults objectForKey:@"yourKeyName"];
yourObjectType * token = [NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithData:data];

For Remove

[currentDefaults removeObjectForKey:@"yourKeyName"];

Answer 2

It seems rather wasteful to me to run through the array and encode the objects into NSData yourself. Your error BC_Person is a non-property-list object is telling you that the framework doesn't know how to serialize your person object.

So all that is needed is to ensure that your person object conforms to NSCoding then you can simply convert your array of custom objects into NSData and store that to defaults. Heres a playground:

Edit: Writing to NSUserDefaults is broken on Xcode 7 so the playground will archive to data and back and print an output. The UserDefaults step is included in case its fixed at a later point

//: Playground - noun: a place where people can play

import Foundation

class Person: NSObject, NSCoding {
    let surname: String
    let firstname: String

    required init(firstname:String, surname:String) {
        self.firstname = firstname
        self.surname = surname
        super.init()
    }

    //MARK: - NSCoding -
    required init(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        surname = aDecoder.decodeObjectForKey("surname") as! String
        firstname = aDecoder.decodeObjectForKey("firstname") as! String
    }

    func encodeWithCoder(aCoder: NSCoder) {
        aCoder.encodeObject(firstname, forKey: "firstname")
        aCoder.encodeObject(surname, forKey: "surname")
    }
}

//: ### Now lets define a function to convert our array to NSData

func archivePeople(people:[Person]) -> NSData {
    let archivedObject = NSKeyedArchiver.archivedDataWithRootObject(people as NSArray)
    return archivedObject
}

//: ### Create some people

let people = [Person(firstname: "johnny", surname:"appleseed"),Person(firstname: "peter", surname: "mill")]

//: ### Archive our people to NSData

let peopleData = archivePeople(people)

if let unarchivedPeople = NSKeyedUnarchiver.unarchiveObjectWithData(peopleData) as? [Person] {
    for person in unarchivedPeople {
        print("\(person.firstname), you have been unarchived")
    }
} else {
    print("Failed to unarchive people")
}

//: ### Lets try use NSUserDefaults
let UserDefaultsPeopleKey = "peoplekey"
func savePeople(people:[Person]) {
    let archivedObject = archivePeople(people)
    let defaults = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults()
    defaults.setObject(archivedObject, forKey: UserDefaultsPeopleKey)
    defaults.synchronize()
}

func retrievePeople() -> [Person]? {
    if let unarchivedObject = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().objectForKey(UserDefaultsPeopleKey) as? NSData {
        return NSKeyedUnarchiver.unarchiveObjectWithData(unarchivedObject) as? [Person]
    }
    return nil
}

if let retrievedPeople = retrievePeople() {
    for person in retrievedPeople {
        print("\(person.firstname), you have been unarchived")
    }
} else {
    print("Writing to UserDefaults is still broken in playgrounds")
}

And Voila, you have stored an array of custom objects into NSUserDefaults

Answer 3

https://developer.apple.com/reference/foundation/userdefaults

A default object must be a property list—that is, an instance of (or for collections, a combination of instances of): NSData, NSString, NSNumber, NSDate, NSArray, or NSDictionary.

If you want to store any other type of object, you should typically archive it to create an instance of NSData. For more details, see Preferences and Settings Programming Guide.

Answer 4

The code you posted tries to save an array of custom objects to NSUserDefaults. You can't do that. Implementing the NSCoding methods doesn't help. You can only store things like NSArray, NSDictionary, NSString, NSData, NSNumber, and NSDate in NSUserDefaults.

You need to convert the object to NSData (like you have in some of the code) and store that NSData in NSUserDefaults. You can even store an NSArray of NSData if you need to.

When you read back the array you need to unarchive the NSData to get back your BC_Person objects.

Perhaps you want this:

- (void)savePersonArrayData:(BC_Person *)personObject {
    [mutableDataArray addObject:personObject];

    NSMutableArray *archiveArray = [NSMutableArray arrayWithCapacity:mutableDataArray.count];
    for (BC_Person *personObject in mutableDataArray) { 
        NSData *personEncodedObject = [NSKeyedArchiver archivedDataWithRootObject:personObject];
        [archiveArray addObject:personEncodedObject];
    }

    NSUserDefaults *userData = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
    [userData setObject:archiveArray forKey:@"personDataArray"];
}

Answer 5

Swift 3 Solution

Simple utility class

class ArchiveUtil {

    private static let PeopleKey = "PeopleKey"

    private static func archivePeople(people : [Human]) -> NSData {

        return NSKeyedArchiver.archivedData(withRootObject: people as NSArray) as NSData
    }

    static func loadPeople() -> [Human]? {

        if let unarchivedObject = UserDefaults.standard.object(forKey: PeopleKey) as? Data {

            return NSKeyedUnarchiver.unarchiveObject(with: unarchivedObject as Data) as? [Human]
        }

        return nil
    }

    static func savePeople(people : [Human]?) {

        let archivedObject = archivePeople(people: people!)
        UserDefaults.standard.set(archivedObject, forKey: PeopleKey)
        UserDefaults.standard.synchronize()
    }

}

Model Class

class Human: NSObject, NSCoding {

    var name:String?
    var age:Int?

    required init(n:String, a:Int) {

        name = n
        age = a
    }


    required init(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {

        name = aDecoder.decodeObject(forKey: "name") as? String
        age = aDecoder.decodeInteger(forKey: "age")
    }


    public func encode(with aCoder: NSCoder) {

        aCoder.encode(name, forKey: "name")
        aCoder.encode(age, forKey: "age")

    }
}

How to call

var people = [Human]()

people.append(Human(n: "Sazzad", a: 21))
people.append(Human(n: "Hissain", a: 22))
people.append(Human(n: "Khan", a: 23))

ArchiveUtil.savePeople(people: people)

let others = ArchiveUtil.loadPeople()

for human in others! {

    print("name = \(human.name!), age = \(human.age!)")
}

Answer 6

First off, rmaddy's answer (above) is right: implementing NSCoding doesn't help. However, you need to implement NSCoding to use NSKeyedArchiver and all that, so it's just one more step... converting via NSData.

Example methods

- (NSUserDefaults *) defaults {
    return [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
}

- (void) persistObj:(id)value forKey:(NSString *)key {
    [self.defaults setObject:value  forKey:key];
    [self.defaults synchronize];
}

- (void) persistObjAsData:(id)encodableObject forKey:(NSString *)key {
    NSData *data = [NSKeyedArchiver archivedDataWithRootObject:encodableObject];
    [self persistObj:data forKey:key];
}    

- (id) objectFromDataWithKey:(NSString*)key {
    NSData *data = [self.defaults objectForKey:key];
    return [NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithData:data];
}

So you can wrap your NSCoding objects in an NSArray or NSDictionary or whatever...