Serializing a plist

Question

I have tried the various techniques described to serialize a plist I need in order to save the favorites of the user.

Some people also say it is better to save that data into the "user defaults" file.

Which is the better technique and how are they serialized. I have this code

[plistArray writeToFile:filepath atomically: YES];

which adds the object to the array, but cant seem to save the plist edits.

Regards

Answer 1

If you want to save preferences of any kind, just store them in the user defaults dictionary. That's the only correct way – and additionally you make sure, that iTunes will back it up, if the user syncs its phone.

Answer 2

If you want to save preferences, then the appropriate method is to use the NSUserDefaults mechanism as it will save you a hell of a lot of time and hassle.

However, if you're using a PLIST as a means of persisting data that's stored in say, an NSDictionary, then I think it would be appropriate to use the writeToFile approach.