NSArray from url encoding problem
So I have the following code:
NSURL *baseURL = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://www.baseurltoanxmlpage.com"];
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString: @"page.php" relativeToURL:baseURL];
NSArray *array = [NSArray arrayWithContentsOfURL:url];
If the XML page looks like this:
<array><dict><key>City</key><string>Montreal</string></dict></array>
The array returns a penalty. However, if the XML file looks like this:
<array><dict><key>City</key><string>Montréal</string></dict></array>
The array returns null. I'm guessing it has something to do with the special char "é". How will I deal with these characters? The XML page is generated using PHP. The utf8_encode () function returns an array, but then I don't know how to handle the encoded character "é".
Here's a working solution:
NSString *stringArray = [NSString stringWithContentsOfURL:url encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:nil];
NSArray *array = [stringArray propertyList];
NSLog(stringArray);
NSLog(@"%@", array);
NSLog([[[array objectAtIndex:0] valueForKey:@"City"] stringByReplacingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]);
The first magazine prints out "é" fine. In the second magazine, it is encoded and printed as "\ U00e9". In the third magazine, it is decoded and printed as "é" (which is what I was looking for).
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As you noted, you need to return a UTF8- or UTF16 encoded XML document. Then create the objects NSString
using the method stringByReplacingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:
using the appropriate encoding.
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NSString has a method to return data in encoding , data read from a URL:
+ (ID) stringWithContentsOfURL: encoding: error:
Look under String Encodings for possible encodings to find a suitable one.
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Looking at the documentation NSString
for :propertyList
, we see:
-
Parses the receiver as a text representation of a property list, returning an NSString, NSData, NSArray, or NSDictionary object, according to the topmost element.
A list of properties is a document specific to Apple, which stores a representation of NSString
, NSDictionary
, NSArray
and other basic types in XML format. These files .plist
are commonly used to store preferences or application settings.
This XML format property sheet document is by default encoded in UTF-8 . When you turn yours NSString
into a property list item, the character encoding "é"
replaces it with a Unicode UTF-8 character"\U00e9"
.
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