How should I store Cocoa app data?

Question

I'm just getting started on making a board game using Cocoa/Objective-C. My plan is to first get it functional as a Mac OS X app, and then port it to iOS.

I saw something in the documentation for the Core Data API that made it sound like it was the recommended way to store data persistently, and made reference to the fact that iOS apps should be able to quit and be restored in exactly the same state. I got the initial impression that I should plan to use Core Data for any variable that has to do with the game's state to support this.

But as I'm learning more it seems like my initial impression isn't correct. Core Data seems more like something intended to provide similar features as embedded SQL, and is more complicated than is required just for storing the game state persistently on disk. Is there a simpler way to support fast app restoring in iOS apps, or is Core Data the way to go?

Answer 1

Core Data lets you store data as objects, so if your game state can be described with native data types, Core Data just might work for you. You'd essentially be manipulating object states.

If you're looking for something a little more lightweight, look into the NSUserDefaults API (which is the same thing that the Settings App on iOS uses).

Alternatively, you could come up with your own format and use that, serializing your own data to disk.

I'd start with NSUserDefaults.

Answer 2

Core Data is fantastic for storing lots of data of different types, including custom objects.

However, if you're talking about storing things like high scores for a game or other simple int , float , BOOL , NSString , NSArray data, then for iOS NSUserDefaults is a quick and easy way to go.