Question

My application needs to store a list of airports. This list needs be setup manually i.e. its not coming from a web service.

I am thinking of creating a Core Data database and then inputting this list myself. This Core db will then ship with the App.

Would you recommend any other ways of doing this? Should I perhaps rather use an XML file or some other way of doing it?

Answer 1

You can use plist.
It is very easy to save list of string or other data without using core data.
See Property List Programming Guide

For example, this code will save an object (rootObj) which can be an array or a dictionary:

NSString *error;
NSString *rootPath = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *plistPath = [rootPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"yourFile.plist"];
NSData *plistData = [NSPropertyListSerialization dataFromPropertyList:rootObj
                                                               format:NSPropertyListXMLFormat_v1_0
                                                     errorDescription:&error];
if(plistData) {
  [plistData writeToFile:plistPath atomically:YES];
}
else {
  NSLog(@"Error : %@",error);
  [error release];
}

There is some limitation on supported class (see the guide)