How to save an array of objects to NSUserDefault with swift?

From the Property List Programming Guide:

If a property-list object is a container (that is, an array or dictionary), all objects contained within it must also be property-list objects. If an array or dictionary contains objects that are not property-list objects, then you cannot save and restore the hierarchy of data using the various property-list methods and functions.

You'll need to convert the object to and from an NSData instance using NSKeyedArchiver and NSKeyedUnarchiver.

For example:

func savePlaces(){
    let placesArray = [Place(lat: 123, lng: 123, name: "hi")]
    let placesData = NSKeyedArchiver.archivedDataWithRootObject(placesArray)
    NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().setObject(placesData, forKey: "places")
}

func loadPlaces(){
    let placesData = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().objectForKey("places") as? NSData

    if let placesData = placesData {
        let placesArray = NSKeyedUnarchiver.unarchiveObjectWithData(placesData) as? [Place]

        if let placesArray = placesArray {
            // do something…
        }

    }
}

Swift 3 & 4

The following is the complete example code in Swift 3 & 4.

import Foundation

class Place: NSObject, NSCoding {

    var latitude: Double
    var longitude: Double
    var name: String

    init(latitude: Double, longitude: Double, name: String) {
        self.latitude = latitude
        self.longitude = longitude
        self.name = name
    }

    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        self.latitude = aDecoder.decodeDouble(forKey: "latitude")
        self.longitude = aDecoder.decodeDouble(forKey: "longitude")
        self.name = aDecoder.decodeObject(forKey: "name") as? String ?? ""
    }

    func encode(with aCoder: NSCoder) {
        aCoder.encode(latitude, forKey: "latitude")
        aCoder.encode(longitude, forKey: "longitude")
        aCoder.encode(name, forKey: "name")
    }
}

func savePlaces() {
    var placesArray: [Place] = []
    placesArray.append(Place(latitude: 12, longitude: 21, name: "place 1"))
    placesArray.append(Place(latitude: 23, longitude: 32, name: "place 2"))
    placesArray.append(Place(latitude: 34, longitude: 43, name: "place 3"))

    let placesData = NSKeyedArchiver.archivedData(withRootObject: placesArray)
    UserDefaults.standard.set(placesData, forKey: "places")
}

func loadPlaces() {
    guard let placesData = UserDefaults.standard.object(forKey: "places") as? NSData else {
        print("'places' not found in UserDefaults")
        return
    }

    guard let placesArray = NSKeyedUnarchiver.unarchiveObject(with: placesData as Data) as? [Place] else {
        print("Could not unarchive from placesData")
        return
    }

    for place in placesArray {
        print("")
        print("place.latitude: \(place.latitude)")
        print("place.longitude: \(place.longitude)")
        print("place.name: \(place.name)")
    }
}

 

Example Use:

savePlaces()
loadPlaces()

 

Console Output:

place.latitude: 12.0
place.longitude: 21.0
place.name: 'place 1'

place.latitude: 23.0
place.longitude: 32.0
place.name: 'place 2'

place.latitude: 34.0
place.longitude: 43.0
place.name: 'place 3'

Swift 4

We need to serialize our swift object to save it into userDefaults.

In swift 4 we can use Codable protocol, which makes our life easy on serialization and JSON parsing

Workflow(Save swift object in UserDefaults):

  1. Confirm Codable protocol to model class(class Place : Codable).
  2. Create object of class.
  3. Serialize that class using JsonEncoder class.
  4. Save serialized(Data) object to UserDefaults.

Workflow(Get swift object from UserDefaults):

  1. Get data from UserDefaults(Which will return Serialized(Data) object)
  2. Decode Data using JsonDecoder class

Swift 4 Code: 

class Place: Codable {
    var latitude: Double
    var longitude: Double

    init(lat : Double, long: Double) {
        self.latitude = lat
        self.longitude = long
    }

    public static func savePlaces(){
        var placeArray = [Place]()
        let place1 = Place(lat: 10.0, long: 12.0)
        let place2 = Place(lat: 5.0, long: 6.7)
        let place3 = Place(lat: 4.3, long: 6.7)
        placeArray.append(place1)
        placeArray.append(place2)
        placeArray.append(place3)
        let placesData = try! JSONEncoder().encode(placeArray)
        UserDefaults.standard.set(placesData, forKey: "places")
    }

    public static func getPlaces() -> [Place]?{
        let placeData = UserDefaults.standard.data(forKey: "places")
        let placeArray = try! JSONDecoder().decode([Place].self, from: placeData!)
        return placeArray
    }
}

In Swift 4.0+ we can use the type alias Codable which consist of 2 protocols: Decodable & Encodable.

For convenience, I've created a generic decode and encode methods that are type constrained to Codable:

extension UserDefaults {
    func decode<T : Codable>(for type : T.Type, using key : String) -> T? {
        let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
        guard let data = defaults.object(forKey: key) as? Data else {return nil}
        let decodedObject = try? PropertyListDecoder().decode(type, from: data)
        return decodedObject
    }
    
    func encode<T : Codable>(for type : T, using key : String) {
        let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
        let encodedData = try? PropertyListEncoder().encode(type)
        defaults.set(encodedData, forKey: key)
    }
}

Usage - saving an object/array/dictionary:

Let's say we have a custom object:

struct MyObject: Codable {
    let counter: Int
    let message: String
}

and we have created an instance from it:

let myObjectInstance = MyObject(counter: 10, message: "hi there")

Using the generic extension above we can now save this object as follow:

UserDefaults.standard.encode(for: myObjectInstance, using: String(describing: MyObject.self))

Saving an array of the same type:

UserDefaults.standard.encode(for:[myFirstObjectInstance, mySecondObjectInstance], using: String(describing: MyObject.self))

Saving a dictionary with that type:

let dictionary = ["HashMe" : myObjectInstance]
UserDefaults.standard.encode(for: dictionary, using: String(describing: MyObject.self))

Usage - loading an object/array/dictionary:

Loading a single object:

let myDecodedObject = UserDefaults.standard.decode(for: MyObject.self, using: String(describing: MyObject.self))

Loading an array of the same type:

let myDecodedObject = UserDefaults.standard.decode(for: [MyObject].self, using: String(describing: MyObject.self))

Loading a dictionary with that type:

let myDecodedObject = UserDefaults.standard.decode(for: ["HashMe" : myObjectInstance].self, using: String(describing: MyObject.self))

Tags:

Ios

Swift

Nsuserdefaults

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