reading from .plist always returns nil

Question

All of my attempts to read from a plist have resulted in a nil value returned, I've tried this in several ways on both Xcode 6 & Xcode beta 7. Also, there are quite a few similar questions on stack, I've tried many of them, but none of them resolve this issue.

I've added my words.plist by clicking on:

{my project} > targets > build phases > copy Bundle Resources

Then I tried several variations of the following code in my ViewController:

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
    let paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.DocumentDirectory, .UserDomainMask, true) as NSArray
    let documentsDirectory = paths[0] as! String
    let path = documentsDirectory.stringByAppendingPathComponent("words.plist")

    let fileManager = NSFileManager.defaultManager()

    //check if file exists
    if(!fileManager.fileExistsAtPath(path)) {
        // If it doesn't, copy it from the default file in the Bundle
        if let bundlePath = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("words", ofType: "plist") {

            let resultDictionary = NSMutableDictionary(contentsOfFile: bundlePath)
            println("Bundle words file is --> \(resultDictionary?.description)") // this is nil!!!

            fileManager.copyItemAtPath(bundlePath, toPath: path, error: nil)

        } else {
            println("words not found. Please, make sure it is part of the bundle.")
        }
    } else {
        println("words already exits at path.")
        // use this to delete file from documents directory
        //fileManager.removeItemAtPath(path, error: nil)

    }
    print("entering if-let")
    if let pfr = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("words", ofType: "plist") {
        print("\nin let\n")
        print(pfr)
        print("\nentering dict if-let\n")
        if let dict = NSDictionary(contentsOfFile: path) as? Dictionary<String, AnyObject> {
            // use swift dictionary as normal
            print("\nin let\n")
            print(dict)
        }   
    }
}

Question

Why am I getting a nil value and whats the proper way to add a plist file and read from it?

---

update:

inside my if statement the following is nil:

let resultDictionary = NSMutableDictionary(contentsOfFile: bundlePath)
println("Bundle words file is --> \(resultDictionary?.description)") // this is nil!!!

To me, this would indicate that either Xcode doesn't know about my words.plist file, or that I'm pointing my bundlePath to the wrong location.

Answer 1

the issue:

As @Steven Fisher stated, in the comments. My .plist file was an Array and not an NSDictionary. So I just had to switch two lines from my code:

let resultDictionary = NSMutableDictionary(contentsOfFile: bundlePath)

to

let resultDictionary = NSMutableArray(contentsOfFile: bundlePath)

and also

if let dict = NSDictionary(contentsOfFile: path) { //...

to

if let dict = NSArray(contentsOfFile: path) { //..

final working code:

override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
        let paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.DocumentDirectory, .UserDomainMask, true) as NSArray
        let documentsDirectory = paths[0] as! String
        let path = documentsDirectory.stringByAppendingPathComponent("words.plist")

        let fileManager = NSFileManager.defaultManager()

        //check if file exists
        if(!fileManager.fileExistsAtPath(path)) {
            // If it doesn't, copy it from the default file in the Bundle
            if let bundlePath = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("words", ofType: "plist") {

                let resultDictionary = NSMutableArray(contentsOfFile: bundlePath)
                println("Bundle words file is --> \(resultDictionary?.description)")

                fileManager.copyItemAtPath(bundlePath, toPath: path, error: nil)

            } else {
                println("words not found. Please, make sure it is part of the bundle.")
            }
        } else {
            println("words already exits at path.")
            // use this to delete file from documents directory
            //fileManager.removeItemAtPath(path, error: nil)

        }
        print("entering if-let")
        if let pfr = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("words", ofType: "plist") {
            print("\nin let\n")
            print(pfr)
            print("\nentering dict if-let\n")
            if let dict = NSArray(contentsOfFile: pfr) {
                // use swift dictionary as normal
                print("\nin let\n")
                print(dict)
            }

        }
    }