Question

I am trying to store values in settings bundle child pane.

I have the Root.plist and the child moteurs.plist

In the moteurs.plist, I have 14 motors and I’d like to store 2 values (calibration coefficients) for each motor.
Those values need to be alterable by the user.

In the Root.plist I have :

<dict>
<key>PreferenceSpecifiers</key>
<array>
    <dict>
        <key>Title</key>
        <string>Moteurs</string>
        <key>Type</key>
        <string>PSGroupSpecifier</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>Type</key>
        <string>PSChildPaneSpecifier</string>
        <key>Title</key>
        <string>Paramètres moteurs</string>
        <key>File</key>
        <string>moteurs</string>
        <key>Key</key>
        <string>moteurs</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>

In the moteurs.plist:

<dict>
<key>PreferenceSpecifiers</key>
<array>
    <dict>
        <key>Title</key>
        <string>L5K-070</string>
        <key>Type</key>
        <string>PSGroupSpecifier</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>AutocapitalizationType</key>
        <string>None</string>
        <key>AutocorrectionType</key>
        <string>No</string>
        <key>DefaultValue</key>
        <string>0,0</string>
        <key>IsSecure</key>
        <false/>
        <key>Key</key>
        <string>coeff1_preference</string>
        <key>KeyboardType</key>
        <string>Number Pad</string>
        <key>Title</key>
        <string>Coeff 1</string>
        <key>Type</key>
        <string>PSTextFieldSpecifier</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>AutocapitalizationType</key>
        <string>None</string>
        <key>AutocorrectionType</key>
        <string>No</string>
        <key>DefaultValue</key>
        <string>0,0</string>
        <key>IsSecure</key>
        <false/>
        <key>Key</key>
        <string>coeff2_preference</string>
        <key>KeyboardType</key>
        <string>Number Pad</string>
        <key>Title</key>
        <string>Coeff 2</string>
        <key>Type</key>
        <string>PSTextFieldSpecifier</string>
    </dict>

I faced a problem:
I am unable to initialize defaults values for the child ( or I don’t know how to read the values )

Root default values are initialized using this:

- (void)registerDefaultsFromSettingsBundle {
    [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] registerDefaults:[self defaultsFromPlistNamed:@"Root"]];
     [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] synchronize];
}

- (NSDictionary *)defaultsFromPlistNamed:(NSString *)plistName {
    NSLog(@"Traitement de %@:",plistName);

    NSString *settingsBundle = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"Settings" ofType:@"bundle"];
    NSAssert(settingsBundle, @"Could not find Settings.bundle while loading defaults.");

    NSString *plistFullName = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@.plist", plistName];

    NSDictionary *settings = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:[settingsBundle stringByAppendingPathComponent:plistFullName]];
    NSAssert1(settings, @"Could not load plist '%@' while loading defaults.", plistFullName);

    NSArray *preferences = [settings objectForKey:@"PreferenceSpecifiers"];
    NSAssert1(preferences, @"Could not find preferences entry in plist '%@' while loading defaults.", plistFullName);

    NSMutableDictionary *defaults = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
    for(NSDictionary *prefSpecification in preferences) {
        NSString *key = [prefSpecification objectForKey:@"Key"];
        id value = [prefSpecification objectForKey:@"DefaultValue"];
        if(key && value) {
            [defaults setObject:value forKey:key];
        }

        NSString *type = [prefSpecification objectForKey:@"Type"];
        if ([type isEqualToString:@"PSChildPaneSpecifier"]) {
            NSString *file = [prefSpecification objectForKey:@"File"];
            NSAssert1(file, @"Unable to get child plist name from plist '%@'", plistFullName);
            [defaults addEntriesFromDictionary:[self defaultsFromPlistNamed:file]];
        }
    }

    return defaults;
}

I can access root preferences values using

NSString *test = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] stringForKey:@"serveur_preference"];
    NSLog(@"serveur:%@",test);

So how can I read child pane preference values ?
And what’s best practice to store the 2 coefficients for each motor?

Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

The child pane settings should be accessible using their usual identifiers (as specified in the plist), like so

NSUserDefaults* settings = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
NSString* coeff1 = [settings stringForKey:@"coeff1_preference"];
NSString* coeff2 = [settings stringForKey:@"coeff2_preference"];

likewise, you can set the defaults using -NSUserDefaults registerDefaults: