Retrieve data from plist

Question

I have a plist and inside that an array and then set of dictionary elements? How can I retrieve data from the plist to my array?

How can I get category names in one array?

Answer 1

Objective-C

// Read plist from bundle and get Root Dictionary out of it
NSDictionary *dictRoot = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"data" ofType:@"plist"]];

// Your dictionary contains an array of dictionary
// Now pull an Array out of it.
NSArray *arrayList = [NSArray arrayWithArray:[dictRoot objectForKey:@"catlist"]];

// Now a loop through Array to fetch single Item from catList which is Dictionary
[arrayList enumerateObjectsUsingBlock:^(id obj, NSUInteger index, BOOL *stop) {
    // Fetch Single Item
    // Here obj will return a dictionary
    NSLog(@"Category name : %@",[obj valueForKey:@"category_name"]);
    NSLog(@"Category id   : %@",[obj valueForKey:@"cid"]);
}];

Swift

// Read plist from bundle and get Root Dictionary out of it
var dictRoot: [NSObject : AnyObject] = [NSObject : AnyObject].dictionaryWithContentsOfFile(NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("data", ofType: "plist"))
// Your dictionary contains an array of dictionary
// Now pull an Array out of it.
var arrayList: [AnyObject] = [AnyObject].arrayWithArray((dictRoot["catlist"] as! String))
// Now a loop through Array to fetch single Item from catList which is Dictionary
arrayList.enumerateObjectsUsingBlock({(obj: AnyObject, index: UInt, stop: Bool) -> Void in
    // Fetch Single Item
    // Here obj will return a dictionary
    NSLog("Category name : %@", obj["category_name"])
    NSLog("Category id   : %@", obj["cid"])
})

Swift 2.0 Code

var myDict: NSDictionary?
    if let path = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("data", ofType: "plist") {
        myDict = NSDictionary(contentsOfFile: path)
    }
    let arrayList:Array = myDict?.valueForKey("catlist") as! Array<NSDictionary>
    print(arrayList)

    // Enumerating through the list
    for item in arrayList  {
        print(item)

    }

Swift 3.0

// Read plist from bundle and get Root Dictionary out of it
var dictRoot: NSDictionary?
if let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "data", ofType: "plist") {
    dictRoot = NSDictionary(contentsOfFile: path)
}

if let dict = dictRoot
{
    // Your dictionary contains an array of dictionary
    // Now pull an Array out of it.
    var arrayList:[NSDictionary] = dictRoot?["catlist"] as! Array
    // Now a loop through Array to fetch single Item from catList which is Dictionary
    arrayList.forEach({ (dict) in
        print("Category Name \(dict["category_name"]!)")
        print("Category Id \(dict["cid"])")
    })
}

Answer 2

1. Get your file path from bundle or from any directory
2. Get the array from dictionary retrieved from plist

3. Get dictionary stored in array

   NSString *plistFilePath  = [[NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"test.plist"];
   
   NSDictionary *list = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:plistFilePath];
   NSLog(@"%@",list);
   NSArray      *data = [list objectForKey:@"catlist"];
   for(int i=0; i< [data count]; i++)
   {
       NSMutableDictionary *details=[data objectAtIndex:i];
       NSLog(@"%@",[details objectForKey:@"category_name"]);
       NSLog(@"%@",[details objectForKey:@"cid"]);
   
   }
   

Answer 3

PropertyListDecoder can be used to decode plist file directly to object. For details see this answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/60389142/5662893

Answer 4

do add .plist file in Targets => Copy bundle resource With the above in reply