How do I get values from a tiered .plist?

Question

I've already looked at Parse Plist (NSString) into NSDictionary and deemed it to be not a duplicate, as that question and its answer do not address my concerns.

---

I have a .plist file in the file system structured like this:

The source code of this .plist file looks like this:

{
    "My App" = {
        "Side Panel" = {
            Items = {
                Price = "#123ABC";
            };
        };
    };
}

I know how to get an item in the Root like this:

[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"filename" ofType:@"plist"];
NSDictionary *dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:path];
NSString value = [dict objectForKey:@"key"]);

But what if the structure is like mine, with tiered dictionaries? How do I get the value of Price?

I would like to do this all in one method, ideally like this:

Calling

NSString *hexString = [self getColorForKey:@"My App.Side Panel.Items.Price"];

Definition

- (NSString *) getColorForKey: (NSString *)key
{
    NSArray *path = [key componentsSeparatedByString:@"."];
    NSDictionary *colors = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"Colors" ofType:@"plist"]];
    NSString *color = @"#FFFFFF"; // white is our backup

    // What do I put here to get the color?

    return color;
}

Answer 1

Here's the solution that worked for me:

+ (NSString*) getHexColorForKey:(NSString*)key
{
    NSArray *path = [key componentsSeparatedByString:@"."];
    NSDictionary *colors = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"Colors" ofType:@"plist"]];
    NSString *color = @"#FFFFFF";
    for (NSString *location in path) {
        NSObject *subdict = colors[location];
        if ([subdict isKindOfClass:[NSString class]])
        {
            color = (NSString*)subdict;
            break;
        }
        else if ([subdict isKindOfClass:[NSDictionary class]])
        {
            colors = (NSDictionary*)subdict; // if it's a dictinoary, our color may be inside it
        }
        else
        {
            [SilverLog level:SilverLogLevelError message:@"Unexpected type of dictinoary entry: %@", [subdict class]];
            return color;
        }
    }
    return color;
}

where key is an NSString that matches /^[^.]+(\.[^.]+)*$/, meaning it looks like my targeted @"My App.Side Panel.Items.Price".