Correct way to save/serialize custom objects in iOS

Question

I have a custom object, a UIImageView subclass which has a few gestureRecognizer objects.

If I have a number of these objects stored in a

Answer 1

I would like to share my improvements to Kostas solution, if somebody needs them.

1. A class name can be used to generate text file name to store object.
2. It is a good solution to save objects of a view controller in viewWillDisappear method and restore them in viewDidLoad method.
3. File name should be generated in separate method to avoid duplicate code.
4. After restoring object, it should be checked to be not nil.

---

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
  [super viewDidLoad];

  // Restoring form object from the file
  NSString *formFilePath = [self formFilePath];
  RRCreateResumeForm *form = [NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithFile:formFilePath];
  if (form != nil) {
    self.formController.form = form;
  }
}


- (void)viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated
{
  [super viewWillDisappear:animated];

  // Saving the form object to the file
  NSString *formFilePath = [self formFilePath];
  [NSKeyedArchiver archiveRootObject:self.formController.form toFile:formFilePath];
}


// Returns a file path to the file with stored form data for form controller
- (NSString *)formFilePath
{
  NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
  NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
  NSString *formClassName = NSStringFromClass( [self.formController.form class] );
  NSString *formFileName = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@.txt", formClassName];
  NSString *formFilePath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:formFileName];

  return formFilePath;
}