How does one read a data file in an iPhone project? For example, lets say I have a static file called "level.dat" that is structured as follows: obstacles: 10 time: 100 obstacle1: 10,20 ...
I would like to read the contents of the file into a NSString then do the parsing. How do I read the contents of a file into a string? Also, where in the project should the "level.dat" file reside? Should it be under "Resources" or just in the main directory?
Thanks in advance!
See this answer: How to fopen() on the iPhone? which shows how to get access to resources in your bundle. Once you have the path, just use [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile:encoding:error:].
NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource: @"level" ofType: @"dat"]
NSError *error = nil;
NSString *data = [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile: path
encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding
error: &error];
While this isn't what you asked for, consider turning your files into plists. You will have to reformat them into XML, but then you can load them straight into a NSDictionary with:
dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"levels" ofType:@"plist"]];
Have you considered putting the data in an SQLite database instead of a flat file? I find that the API is very easy to use on the iPhone.
It is how I do all of my data storage on the phone now.
If you need help parsing the data string, there's a helpful article on Cocoa For Scientist
