How can I convert NSDictionary to NSData and vice versa?

Question

I am sending NSString and UIImage using bluetooth. I decided to store both in a NSDictionary and then convert the dictionary to NSData.

My question is how to convert NSDictionary to NSData and visa versa?

Answer 1

NSDictionary -> NSData:

NSData *myData = [NSKeyedArchiver archivedDataWithRootObject:myDictionary];

NSData -> NSDictionary:

NSDictionary *myDictionary = (NSDictionary*) [NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithData:myData];

Answer 2

NSDictionary -> NSData:

NSMutableData *data = [[NSMutableData alloc] init];
NSKeyedArchiver *archiver = [[NSKeyedArchiver alloc] initForWritingWithMutableData:data];
[archiver encodeObject:yourDictionary forKey:@"Some Key Value"];
[archiver finishEncoding];
[archiver release];

// Here, data holds the serialized version of your dictionary
// do what you need to do with it before you:
[data release];

NSData -> NSDictionary

NSData *data = [[NSMutableData alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:[self dataFilePath]];
NSKeyedUnarchiver *unarchiver = [[NSKeyedUnarchiver alloc] initForReadingWithData:data];
NSDictionary *myDictionary = [[unarchiver decodeObjectForKey:@"Some Key Value"] retain];
[unarchiver finishDecoding];
[unarchiver release];
[data release];

You can do that with any class that conforms to NSCoding.

source

Answer 3

Use NSJSONSerialization:

NSDictionary *dict;
NSData *dataFromDict = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:dict
                                                       options:NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted
                                                         error:&error];

NSDictionary *dictFromData = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:dataFromDict
                                                             options:NSJSONReadingAllowFragments
                                                               error:&error];

The latest returns id, so its a good idea to check the returned object type after you cast (here i casted to NSDictionary).

Answer 4

In Swift 2 you can do it in this way:

var dictionary: NSDictionary = ...

/* NSDictionary to NSData */
let data = NSKeyedArchiver.archivedDataWithRootObject(dictionary)

/* NSData to NSDictionary */
let unarchivedDictionary = NSKeyedUnarchiver.unarchiveObjectWithData(data!) as! NSDictionary

In Swift 3:

/* NSDictionary to NSData */
let data = NSKeyedArchiver.archivedData(withRootObject: dictionary)

/* NSData to NSDictionary */
let unarchivedDictionary = NSKeyedUnarchiver.unarchiveObject(with: data)

Answer 5

NSDictionary from NSData

http://www.cocoanetics.com/2009/09/nsdictionary-from-nsdata/

NSDictionary to NSData

You can use NSPropertyListSerialization class for that. Have a look at its method:

+ (NSData *)dataFromPropertyList:(id)plist format:(NSPropertyListFormat)format
                              errorDescription:(NSString **)errorString

Returns an NSData object containing a given property list in a specified format.

Answer 6

Please try this one

NSError *error;
NSDictionary *responseJson = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:webData
                                options:NSJSONReadingMutableContainers
                                error:&error];