Question

What would you consider the proper way of storing a simple username string in your app, so that it is there when you open the app again? I’ve been reading of a couple of ways to do so: core data, plist, nsuserdefaults.

What are some of the ways people are using to do this, and if possible pros and cons of the proposed way?

Answer 1

Core Data is serialized into SQLite, and makes more sense for when you’re dealing with many objects and dynamically creating/deleting them.

Plists fall somewhere between the complexity of Core Data and NSUserDefaults. They can handle data with some structure, and are saved as a file on the filesystem.

Since you’re just dealing with one piece of information, NSUserDefaults makes the most sense for you. All you have to do to save a string is:

NSUserDefaults *defaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
[defaults setObject:userNameString forKey:@"UserName"];
[defaults synchronize];

Then, to retrieve the string:

NSString *userName = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] stringForKey:@"UserName"];