NSDictionary Object Disappearing - objective-c

Question

My app uses a plist to save data between sessions. I use the three below methods to save and read data from the plist file. However, I've been having an enormous problem.
When I save my data, all 12 key/value pairs are set up perfectly in the NSMutableDictionary (I've checked this in the debugger, all 12 pairs are definitely there). However, when I read the data, only 11 pairs show up. The missing 12th key/value pair is "Tab," an NSMutableArray. All other data types are either NSString or NSNumber.
Property declaration for Tab:
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSMutableArray *tab;
Code:
- (NSString *)dataFileName
{
NSError *err = nil;
NSURL *dir = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomain:NSAllDomainsMask appropriateForURL:nil create:YES error:&err];
NSString *path = [[dir path] stringByAppendingString:#"/employeeListData.plist"];
return path; //path has not been declared yet
}
- (void)saveDataToFile
{
NSMutableArray *a = [NSMutableArray array];
for (int c = 0; c < [self.employeeList count]; c++) {
NSMutableDictionary *dictionary = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
id r = [self.employeeList objectAtIndex:c];
[dictionary setObject:[r username] forKey:#"username"];
[dictionary setObject:[r passWord] forKey:#"passWord"];
[dictionary setObject:[r employeeName] forKey:#"employeeName"];
[dictionary setObject:[r grade] forKey:#"grade"];
[dictionary setObject:[r email] forKey:#"email"];
[dictionary setObject:[r phone] forKey:#"phone"];
[dictionary setObject:[r freePeriods] forKey:#"freePeriods"];
[dictionary setObject:[r committee] forKey:#"committee"];
[dictionary setValue:[NSNumber numberWithBool:[r hasKey]] forKey:#"hasKey"];
[dictionary setObject:[r hours] forKey:#"hours"];
[dictionary setObject:[NSArray arrayWithArray:[r tab]] forKey:#"tab"];
float num = [r tabTotal];
NSNumber *floatObject = [NSNumber numberWithFloat:num];
[dictionary setObject:floatObject forKey:#"tabTotal"];
[a addObject:dictionary];
}
[a writeToFile:[self dataFileName] atomically:YES];
}
- (void)readDataFromFile
{
[self createEmployeeList];
NSArray *tempArray = [NSArray arrayWithContentsOfFile:[self dataFileName]];
for (int d = 0; d < [tempArray count]; d++) {
Employee *person = [[Employee alloc] init];
NSDictionary *dict = [tempArray objectAtIndex:d];
[person setUsername:[dict objectForKey:#"username"]];
[person setPassWord:[dict objectForKey:#"passWord"]];
[person setEmployeeName:[dict objectForKey:#"employeeName"]];
[person setGrade:[dict objectForKey:#"grade"]];
[person setEmail:[dict objectForKey:#"email"]];
[person setPhone:[dict objectForKey:#"phone"]];
[person setFreePeriods:[dict objectForKey:#"freePeriods"]];
[person setCommittee:[dict objectForKey:#"committee"]];
[person setHasKey:[[dict valueForKey:#"hasKey"] boolValue]];
[person setHours:[dict objectForKey:#"hours"]];
[person setTab:[[dict objectForKey:#"tab"] mutableCopy]];
NSNumber *floatNumber = dict[#"tabTotal"];
float floatValue = floatNumber.floatValue;
[person setTabTotal:floatValue];
[self.employeeList addObject:person];
}
}

Answer 1

The problem was due to my array of custom objects. I added in the following code in my save method:
NSMutableArray *x = [NSMutableArray array];
for (int y = 0; y < [[r tab]count]; y++) {
NSMutableDictionary *items = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
id z = [[r tab] objectAtIndex:y];
[items setObject:[z itemName] forKey:#"tabName"];
[items setObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:[z price]] forKey:#"tabPrice"];
[x addObject:items];
}
[dictionary setObject:x forKey:#"tab"];
And the following code in my read method:
NSMutableArray *things = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
things = dict[#"tab"];
person.tab = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
for (int g = 0; g < things.count; g++) {
TabItem *item = [[TabItem alloc] init];
NSDictionary *ion = [things objectAtIndex:g];
[item setItemName:[ion objectForKey:#"tabName"]];
[item setPrice:[[ion objectForKey:#"tabPrice"] intValue]];
[person.tab addObject:item];
}
Since arrays of custom objects can't be stored in NSDictionaries, I used a smaller version of my larger save and read methods to accomplish the task. Full, updated code can be found below.
- (void)saveDataToFile
{
NSMutableArray *a = [NSMutableArray array];
for (int c = 0; c < [self.employeeList count]; c++) {
NSMutableDictionary *dictionary = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
id r = [self.employeeList objectAtIndex:c];
[dictionary setObject:[r username] forKey:#"username"];
[dictionary setObject:[r passWord] forKey:#"passWord"];
[dictionary setObject:[r employeeName] forKey:#"employeeName"];
[dictionary setObject:[r grade] forKey:#"grade"];
[dictionary setObject:[r email] forKey:#"email"];
[dictionary setObject:[r phone] forKey:#"phone"];
[dictionary setObject:[r freePeriods] forKey:#"freePeriods"];
[dictionary setObject:[r committee] forKey:#"committee"];
[dictionary setValue:[NSNumber numberWithBool:[r hasKey]] forKey:#"hasKey"];
[dictionary setObject:[r hours] forKey:#"hours"];
NSMutableArray *x = [NSMutableArray array];
for (int y = 0; y < [[r tab]count]; y++) {
NSMutableDictionary *items = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
id z = [[r tab] objectAtIndex:y];
[items setObject:[z itemName] forKey:#"tabName"];
[items setObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:[z price]] forKey:#"tabPrice"];
[x addObject:items];
}
[dictionary setObject:x forKey:#"tab"];
[dictionary setObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:[r tabTotal]] forKey:#"tabTotal"];
[a addObject:dictionary];
}
[a writeToFile:[self dataFileName] atomically:YES];
}
- (void)readDataFromFile
{
[self createEmployeeList];
NSArray *tempArray = [NSArray arrayWithContentsOfFile:[self dataFileName]];
for (int d = 0; d < [tempArray count]; d++) {
Employee *person = [[Employee alloc] init];
NSDictionary *dict = [tempArray objectAtIndex:d];
[person setUsername:[dict objectForKey:#"username"]];
[person setPassWord:[dict objectForKey:#"passWord"]];
[person setEmployeeName:[dict objectForKey:#"employeeName"]];
[person setGrade:[dict objectForKey:#"grade"]];
[person setEmail:[dict objectForKey:#"email"]];
[person setPhone:[dict objectForKey:#"phone"]];
[person setFreePeriods:[dict objectForKey:#"freePeriods"]];
[person setCommittee:[dict objectForKey:#"committee"]];
[person setHasKey:[[dict valueForKey:#"hasKey"] boolValue]];
[person setHours:[dict objectForKey:#"hours"]];
NSMutableArray *things = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
things = dict[#"tab"];
person.tab = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
for (int g = 0; g < things.count; g++) {
TabItem *item = [[TabItem alloc] init];
NSDictionary *ion = [things objectAtIndex:g];
[item setItemName:[ion objectForKey:#"tabName"]];
[item setPrice:[[ion objectForKey:#"tabPrice"] intValue]];
[person.tab addObject:item];
}
[person setTabTotal:[[dict objectForKey:#"tabTotal"] intValue]];
[self.employeeList addObject:person];
}
}