iOS NSMutableDictionary storing variables

[DennisBlah]

Hi all,

I'm working on a dictionary which is holding all kinds of info that will be used all over in the app.

My question is.. How can I 'add' variables instead of overwriting it all ?

My dictionary is going to hold multiple dictionaries.
How can I add a new dictionary that is already set up with a temporary holder, into my main dictionary

NSMutableDictionary *temp = [NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys: nil];
while(....) {
 [temp setObject: @"testy" forKey: @"variable"];
 ...
}
 [mainDictionary setObject: temp forKey: @"main"];

This is overwriting all values inside main. However I just want to add this temp dictionary to the main. How can I do this ?

-----
Temporary solved by workaround.

Looking into core data or sqlite3

 

[xStep]

Sounds to me like you are reusing the key "main". Each 'temp' dictionary needs it's own unique name when adding it to another dictionary, e.g.: main1, main2, etc.

 

[DennisBlah]

Sounds to me like you are reusing the key "main". Each 'temp' dictionary needs it's own unique name when adding it to another dictionary, e.g.: main1, main2, etc.

Indeed. But the thing is.

The app will represent multiple ehmm... lets say companies.
mainDictionary:
company1
company2
company3

Each company will get an own dictionary
mainDictionary:
company1
--Info (Is dictionary as well)
company2
--Info (Is dictionary as well)
company3
--Info (Is dictionary as well)

So far so good. Now I want to add another dictionary to the company. For example gallery
mainDictionary:
company1
--Info (Is a dictionary as well)
--Gallery (Is a dictionary as well)
company2
--Info (Is a dictionary as well)
--Gallery (Is a dictionary as well)
company3
--Info (Is a dictionary as well)
--Gallery (Is a dictionary as well)

This part, is a pain. How do I add this dictionary? In my topic its about temp.

[mainDictionary setObject: temp forKey: @"company1"]
This will cause info to be lost.

At the moment I'm working around it by adding current info dictionary into another temp.
For example:

 NSMutableDictionary *tempOrg = [mainDictionary objectForKey: @"company1"];
 NSMutableDictionary *temp = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys: nil];
 while(...) {
  [temp setObject @"test" forKey:"variable"];
 }
 [tempOrg setObject: temp forKey: @"gallery"];
 [mainDictionary setObject: tempOrg forKey: @"company1"];

I was hoping for a nicer solution than this. Because I don't want to rebuild the whole dictionary, but just add this .. 'gallery' into the company1 without losing the info inside company1.

 

[JohnsonK]

NSDictionary might not be the best solution here. Why do you want to use them?

 

[DennisBlah]

NSDictionary might not be the best solution here. Why do you want to use them?

Because I'm storing this data in a plist, and it will contain arrays and other dictionaries. For settings, styling, buttons, user login hash and stuff.

 

[JohnsonK]

The problem is that you are going to have to nest NSDictionaries and it is going to be a big, big mess.

Why not core data? It would be much cleaner, simpler and faster

 

[DennisBlah]

core data ?
I'll have to look into that, I'm kinda new into this iOS coding.
Thanks for the advice!

I also been thinking of sqlite, but that's a lil pain in the ****

Still I think its also a shame that we can't directly connect to a mySQL server, and throw some queries over (without a php api between it)

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Just make some model classes or even C structs.