- Added ability to read from Plist and actual Plist itself

- Added ability to write to Plist or JSON file
- Fixed name of the NBA.

Author: designatednerd

MLBJsonParser/AppDelegate.m

@@ -19,20 +19,10 @@ - (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(
     //Create the window object to take up the entire bounds of the screen.
     self.window = [[UIWindow alloc] initWithFrame:[[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]];
 
-    //Bring in the JSON from the file.
-    NSString *filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"sports" ofType:@"json"];
-    NSData *jsonData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:filePath];
-    
-    //We can cast this to an array since we know for sure this is an array at the top level -
-    //NSJSONSerialization normally returns an id and you have to check whether it's an array
-    //or a dictionary.
-    NSError *error = nil;
-    NSArray *sportsDictionaryArray = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:jsonData options:kNilOptions error:&error];
+    NSArray *sportsDictionaryArray = [self arrayFromJSONFile];
 
-    if (error != nil) {
-        //something failed in reading the json, log the error so we can figure out what went wrong.
-        NSLog(@"JSON error: %@", error);
-    }
+    //Uncomment this and comment previous line out to see demonstration of loading same data from a plist.
+//    NSArray *sportsDictionaryArray = [self arrayFromPlistFile];
 
     //Create a mutable array to go through the list of dictionaries we're getting back
     NSMutableArray *sportsMutableArray = [NSMutableArray array];
@@ -81,4 +71,77 @@ - (void)applicationWillTerminate:(UIApplication *)application
     // Called when the application is about to terminate. Save data if appropriate. See also applicationDidEnterBackground:.
 }
 
+#pragma mark - Data loaders
+-(NSArray *)arrayFromPlistFile
+{
+    //Bring in the JSON from the file.
+    NSString *filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"sports" ofType:@"plist"];
+    
+    //Plists can be returned simply as an array with contents of file (note: if you know your
+    //lowest-level object is a dictionary, you should set this up to return an NSDictionary and
+    //use [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:filePath] instead.     
+    return [NSArray arrayWithContentsOfFile:filePath];
+}
+
+-(NSArray *)arrayFromJSONFile
+{
+    //Bring in the JSON from the file.
+    NSString *filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"sports" ofType:@"json"];
+    NSData *fileData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:filePath];
+    
+    //We can cast this to an array since we know for sure this is an array at the top level -
+    //NSJSONSerialization normally returns an id and you have to check whether it's an array
+    //or a dictionary.
+    NSError *error = nil;
+    NSArray *sportsDictionaryArray = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:fileData options:kNilOptions error:&error];
+    
+    if (error != nil) {
+        //something failed in reading the json, log the error so we can figure out what went wrong.
+        NSLog(@"JSON error: %@", error);
+    }
+    
+    return sportsDictionaryArray;
+}
+
+#pragma mark - Data converters
+-(NSString *)documentsDirectory
+{
+    NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
+    NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
+    return documentsDirectory;
+}
+
+-(void)writeObjectToPlistFile:(id)dictionaryOrArrayToWrite
+{
+    //Get the path to write the file to
+    NSString *plistPath = [[self documentsDirectory] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"fromDictionary.plist"];
+    
+    //Log to be able to find the simulator file.
+    NSLog(@"Plist path = %@", plistPath);
+
+    //Write directly to file.
+    [dictionaryOrArrayToWrite writeToFile:plistPath atomically: YES];
+}
+
+-(void)writeDictionaryToJSONFile:(id)dictionaryOrArrayToWrite
+{
+    NSError *error = nil;
+    
+    //Serialize the array or dictionary to a JSON object.
+    NSData *jsonData = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:dictionaryOrArrayToWrite options:NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted error:&error];
+    
+    if (!error) {
+        //Get the path to write the file to
+        NSString *jsonPath = [[self documentsDirectory] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"fromDictionary.json"];
+        
+        //Log to be able to find the simulator file
+        NSLog(@"JSON path = %@", jsonPath);
+        
+        //Write serialized data to file.
+        [jsonData writeToFile:jsonPath atomically:YES];
+    } else {
+        NSLog(@"Error serializing JSON: %@", error.localizedDescription);
+    }
+}
+
 @end

MLBJsonParser/sports.json

@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@
     },
     {
         "game": "Basketball",
-        "organization_name": "National Basketball League",
+        "organization_name": "National Basketball Association",
         "founded": "1946",
         "leagues": [
             {