Question

I have a problem when I add an arabic string to NSMutableArray or NSMutableDictionary.

Example:

NSMutableDictionary *data = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc]init];
[data setObject:@"فرسان" forKey:@"name"];

NSLog(@"%@",data);

Output:

2012-01-18 21:55:05.646 aa[367:207] {
    name = "\U0641\U0631\U0633\U0627\U0646";
}

my problem exactly i save this data to sqlite [data objectForKey:@”name”] its saved \U0641\U0631\U0633\U0627\U0646 and when fetch data to to put it in UILabel or anything like it the text be \U0641\U0631\U0633\U0627\U0646

Any Help? Thank you 🙂

- (void)SaveMessage {

NSMutableDictionary *TableProperties = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc]init];
[TableProperties setObject:@"INSERT" forKey:@"Operation"];
[TableProperties setObject:@"savedmessages" forKey:@"tableName"];
NSString *string = [[NSString alloc]initWithFormat:@" %@",MessageBox.text];
[TableProperties setValue:string forKey:@"message"];

NSString *msgResult;
NSArray *result = [[DatabaseFunctions database] DataBaseOperation:TableProperties];
if ([[result objectAtIndex:0] isEqualToString:@"Done"]) 
    msgResult = @"تم حفظ الرسالة بنجاح";
else
    msgResult = @"لم تت العملية بنجاح حاول لاحقا";

UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc]
                      initWithTitle:@"حفظ الرسالة" 
                      message:msgResult 
                      delegate:self 
                      cancelButtonTitle:@"موافق" 
                      otherButtonTitles:nil, nil ];
[alert show];

}

- (NSArray *)DataBaseOperation:(NSMutableDictionary *)TableProperties{

NSMutableArray *retval = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

NSString *Operation = [TableProperties objectForKey:@"Operation"];

if ([Operation isEqualToString:@"SELECT" ]) {

        NSString *tableColumns = [TableProperties objectForKey:@"tableColumns"];
        NSString *tableName    = [TableProperties objectForKey:@"tableName"];
        NSString *tableWhere   = [TableProperties objectForKey:@"tableWhere"];
        NSString *tableOrder   = [TableProperties objectForKey:@"tableOrder"];
        NSString *tableLimit   = [TableProperties objectForKey:@"tableLimit"];

        NSString *Query;
        if ([tableLimit isEqualToString:@"NO"]) {
            Query = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"SELECT %@ FROM %@ WHERE %@ ORDER BY %@",
                     tableColumns,tableName,tableWhere,tableOrder,tableLimit];
        }else{
            Query = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"SELECT %@ FROM %@ WHERE %@ ORDER BY %@ LIMIT %@",
                     tableColumns,tableName,tableWhere,tableOrder,tableLimit];
        }

        NSArray *FieldArray = [[TableProperties objectForKey:@"tableColumns"] componentsSeparatedByString:@","];

        sqlite3_stmt *statement;
        if (sqlite3_prepare_v2(_database, [Query UTF8String], -1, &statement, nil) == SQLITE_OK) {
            while (sqlite3_step(statement) == SQLITE_ROW) {

                NSMutableDictionary *Row = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc]init];
                NSString *uniqueId = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"%i",sqlite3_column_int(statement, 0)];
                [Row setObject:uniqueId forKey:@"uniqueId"];

                for (int i = 1; i<[FieldArray count]; i++) {

                    NSString *column = [[NSString alloc] initWithUTF8String:(char *) sqlite3_column_text(statement, i)];
                    [Row setObject:column forKey:[FieldArray objectAtIndex:i]];

                }
                Objects *rowOfTable = [[Objects alloc] initSelectDataFromTables:Row];                        
                Row = nil;

                [retval addObject:rowOfTable];
            }
            sqlite3_finalize(statement);
        }
}
else if([Operation isEqualToString:@"INSERT" ]) {

    NSString *tableName = [TableProperties objectForKey:@"tableName"];

    [TableProperties removeObjectForKey:@"Operation"];
    [TableProperties removeObjectForKey:@"tableName"];

    NSArray *Columns = [TableProperties allKeys];
    NSArray *Values = [TableProperties allValues];

    NSString *Query = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"INSERT INTO %@ %@ VALUES %@",tableName,Columns,Values];


    sqlite3_stmt *statement;
    if (sqlite3_prepare_v2(_database, [Query UTF8String], -1, &statement, nil) == SQLITE_OK) 
        if (SQLITE_DONE!=sqlite3_step(statement)){
            NSLog(@"Error when inserting  %s",sqlite3_errmsg(_database));
            [retval addObject:@"Error"];

        }else{
            NSLog(@"Data inserted Successfully");
            [retval addObject:@"Done"];
        }
    else{
        NSLog(@"Error when inserting  %s",sqlite3_errmsg(_database));
        [retval addObject:@"Error"];
    }
    sqlite3_finalize(statement); 
}
return retval;

}

Answer 1

When you log an object using %@, NSLog sends the description message to the object and prints the resulting string.

An NSDictionary responds to the description message by encoding its keys and values in a “safe” format, escaping non-ASCII characters using \U#### codes.

If you pass the Arabic string to NSLog directly, it will just print the string without the escape codes:

NSMutableDictionary *data = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc]init];
[data setObject:@"فرسان" forKey:@"name"];

NSLog(@"data = %@",data);
NSLog(@"string = %@", [data objectForKey:@"name"]);

Output:

2012-01-18 14:17:42.498 Animal[62723:f803] {
    name = "\U0641\U0631\U0633\U0627\U0646";
}
2012-01-18 14:17:42.500 Animal[62723:f803] فرسان

If you don’t like the way NSDictionary responds to description, you will have to write your own method to format a dictionary as a string and use it to log your dictionary.

Update

I have looked at the source code you posted that talks to sqlite. The problem is that you are turning the values array ([TableProperties allValues]) into a string using the %@ format specifier. This sends the description method to the NSArray, which returns a string. Just like NSDictionary, NSArray formats the description string in a “safe” format, escaping non-ASCII characters using \U#### codes.

You need to write your own method that takes an array and turns it into a string and does not escape special characters. (It needs to escape quotes though.)