(Swift) Storing and Retrieving Array to Nsuserdefaults

how to save and read array of array in NSUserdefaults in swift?

The question reads "array of array" but I think most people probably come here just wanting to know how to save an array to UserDefaults. For those people I will add a few common examples.

String array

Save array

let array = ["horse", "cow", "camel", "sheep", "goat"]

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
defaults.set(array, forKey: "SavedStringArray")

Retrieve array

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
let myarray = defaults.stringArray(forKey: "SavedStringArray") ?? [String]()

Int array

Save array

let array = [15, 33, 36, 723, 77, 4]

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
defaults.set(array, forKey: "SavedIntArray")

Retrieve array

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
let array = defaults.array(forKey: "SavedIntArray")  as? [Int] ?? [Int]()

Bool array

Save array

let array = [true, true, false, true, false]

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
defaults.set(array, forKey: "SavedBoolArray")

Retrieve array

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
let array = defaults.array(forKey: "SavedBoolArray")  as? [Bool] ?? [Bool]()

Date array

Save array

let array = [Date(), Date(), Date(), Date()]

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
defaults.set(array, forKey: "SavedDateArray")

Retrieve array

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
let array = defaults.array(forKey: "SavedDateArray")  as? [Date] ?? [Date]()

Object array

Custom objects (and consequently arrays of objects) take a little more work to save to UserDefaults. See the following links for how to do it.

• Save custom objects into NSUserDefaults
• Docs for saving color to UserDefaults
• Attempt to set a non-property-list object as an NSUserDefaults

Notes

• The nil coalescing operator (??) allows you to return the saved array or an empty array without crashing. It means that if the object returns nil, then the value following the ?? operator will be used instead.
• As you can see, the basic setup was the same for Int, Bool, and Date. I also tested it with Double. As far as I know, anything that you can save in a property list will work like this.

(Swift) Storing and retrieving Array to NSUserDefaults

From your code I see you are storing some array

// Your code
NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().setObject(myArray, forKey: "\(identity.text!)listA")

and retrieving a string

//Your code
let tabledata = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().stringForKey("\(identity.text!)listA")

There is probably a type mismatch, You store one type and retrieve another type.

While retrieving either use arrayForKey() or objectForKey() see the code below.

let tabledata = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().arrayForKey("\(identity.text!)listA") 

or

let tabledata = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().objectForKey("\(identity.text!)listA")

If it is an array I would go with First one.

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…
        }

    }
}

Saving an array of NSURL to NSUserDefaults

when saving, save the absolute strings of the urls. when loading use NSURL(URLString:) to make the strings into urls again

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {
    var urlsArray : [NSURL]?

    func load () {
        var urls : [NSURL] = []

        let stringsArray = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().objectForKey("stringsArray") as [String]?

        if let array = stringsArray {
            for string in array {
                var url = NSURL(string: string)
                urls.append(url!) //no null check
            }
        }

        self.urlsArray = urls
    }

    func save () {
        var strings : [String] = []

        if let array = self.urlsArray {
            for url in array {
                var string = url.absoluteString
                strings.append(string!) ////no null check
            }
        }

        NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().setObject(strings, forKey: "stringsArray")
    }


}

saving can be reduced with KVC.

    func save () {
        var strings : [String] = []

        if let array = self.urlsArray as NSArray? {
            strings = array.valueForKeyPath("absoluteStrings")
        }

        NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().setObject(strings, forKey: "stringsArray")
    }

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