[SOLVED] Code to convert NSDictionary to binary plist file?

[David Hoerl]

I never did get a pointers to code to convert a NSDictionary to a 
binary formatted plist, but did get pointers to look at 
NSPropertyListSerialization - something I had already (mis)read a few 
times.

The description for the dataFromPropertyList class method seems 
confusing if you don't understand that you can create a property list 
with no keys: that is, you can create one with a single compliant 
object, and the key becomes "root".

So, in the unlikely event that some else someday has the same mental 
block, here is actual tested code that takes a NSDictionary and 
creates a binary plist file:

    NSDictionary *dict;
    char *payload = "This is the payload";

    dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
        @"Hello world", @"greeting",
        [NSData dataWithBytes:payload length:strlen(payload)], @"payload",
        [NSNumber numberWithInt:10], @"result",
        nil ];

    // get a text representation, for comparison
    [dict writeToFile:@"/tmp/text.plist" atomically:NO];


    NSString *err = nil;
    NSData *plist;
    NSFileManager *manager;
    BOOL ret;

    manager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];

    plist = [NSPropertyListSerialization dataFromPropertyList:dict
            format:NSPropertyListBinaryFormat_v1_0
            errorDescription:&err];
    if(plist == nil) {
        NSLog(@"NSPropertyListSerialization error: %@", err);
        return -1;
    }
    ret = [manager createFileAtPath:@"/tmp/binary.plist" 
contents:plist attributes:nil];
    if(ret == NO) {
        NSLog(@"Create failed");
        return -1;
    }

Just to prove to myself that yes, you can create a property list with 
other objects like NSNumbers or raw NSData, I added these two tests:

    plist = [NSPropertyListSerialization 
dataFromPropertyList:[NSNumber numberWithInt:1]
            format:NSPropertyListBinaryFormat_v1_0
            errorDescription:&err];
    if(plist == nil) {
        NSLog(@"NSPropertyListSerialization error: %@", err);
        return -1;
    }
    ret = [manager createFileAtPath:@"/tmp/tst1.plist" contents:plist 
attributes:nil];
    if(ret == NO) {
        NSLog(@"Create failed");
        return -1;
    }

    plist = [NSPropertyListSerialization dataFromPropertyList:[NSData 
dataWithBytes:payload length:strlen(payload)]
            format:NSPropertyListBinaryFormat_v1_0
            errorDescription:&err];
    if(plist == nil) {
        NSLog(@"NSPropertyListSerialization error: %@", err);
        return -1;
    }
    ret = [manager createFileAtPath:@"/tmp/tst2.plist" contents:plist 
attributes:nil];
    if(ret == NO) {
        NSLog(@"Create failed");
        return -1;
    }
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