NSKeyedUnarchiver won't return data

Question

I am making an app that tracks a user's workouts. I have two custom classes, the first being ExerciseModel, which holds the data for each exercise performed during the workout, including the name, sets, reps, etc. Here is my data model:

import UIKit

class ExerciseModel: NSObject, NSCoding
{
// MARK: Properties
var name: String
var sets: Int
var reps: Int
var heartrate: Int?
var type: String?

//MARK: Archiving Paths
static let DocumentsDirectory = NSFileManager().URLsForDirectory(.DocumentDirectory, inDomains: .UserDomainMask).first!
static let ArchiveURL = DocumentsDirectory.URLByAppendingPathComponent("exercises")


// MARK: Initialization
init?(name: String, sets: Int, reps: Int, heartrate: Int?, type: String)
{

// MARK: Initlaize stored properties
self.name = name
self.sets = sets
self.reps = reps
self.heartrate = heartrate
self.type = type

super.init()


// Initialization should fail if there is no name or sets is negative
if name.isEmpty || sets < 0
    {
        return nil
    }

}

struct PropertyKey
{
    static let nameKey = "name"
    static let setKey = "sets"
    static let repKey = "reps"
    static let heartrateKey = "heartrate"
    static let typekey = "type"
}


// MARK: NSCoding
func encodeWithCoder(aCoder: NSCoder)
{
    aCoder.encodeObject(name, forKey: PropertyKey.nameKey)
    aCoder.encodeInteger(sets, forKey: PropertyKey.setKey)
    aCoder.encodeInteger(reps, forKey: PropertyKey.repKey)
    aCoder.encodeObject(type, forKey: PropertyKey.typekey)
}

required convenience init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder)
{
    let name = aDecoder.decodeObjectForKey(PropertyKey.nameKey) as! String
    let sets = aDecoder.decodeIntegerForKey(PropertyKey.setKey)
    let reps = aDecoder.decodeIntegerForKey(PropertyKey.repKey)
    let heartrate = aDecoder.decodeIntegerForKey(PropertyKey.heartrateKey)
    let type = aDecoder.decodeObjectForKey(PropertyKey.typekey) as? String

    // Must call designated initializer
    self.init(name: name, sets: sets, reps: reps, heartrate: heartrate, type: type!)
}

init?(name: String, sets: Int, reps: Int, heartrate: Int, type: String)
{
    // Initialize stored properties.
    self.name = name
    self.sets = sets
    self.reps = reps
    self.heartrate = heartrate
    self.type = type

}


}

My second custom class is called WorkoutStorage, and this is meant to allow the user to save entire workouts and retrieve them later. The exercise property is an array of ExerciseModel objects, described above. Here is my data model for WorkoutStorage:

//

import UIKit

@objc(WorkoutStorage)
class WorkoutStorage: NSObject, NSCoding
{
// MARK: Properties
var name: String
var date: NSDate
var exercises: [ExerciseModel]
var maxHR: Int
var avgHR: Int

// MARK: Archiving Paths
static let DocumentsDirectory = NSFileManager().URLsForDirectory(.DocumentDirectory, inDomains: .UserDomainMask).first!
static let ArchiveURL = DocumentsDirectory.URLByAppendingPathComponent("storedWorkouts")

// MARK: Initialization
init?(name: String, date: NSDate, exercises: [ExerciseModel], maxHR: Int, avgHR: Int)
{
    //MARK: Initialize Stored Properties
    self.name = name
    self.date = date
    self.exercises = exercises
    self.maxHR = maxHR
    self.avgHR = avgHR

    super.init()

}

struct PropertyKey
{
    static let nameKey = "name"
    static let dateKey = "date"
    static let exercisesKey = "exercises"
    static let maxHRKey = "maxHR"
    static let avgHRKey = "avgHR"
}

// MARK: NSCoding
func encodeWithCoder(aCoder: NSCoder)
{
    aCoder.encodeObject(name, forKey: PropertyKey.nameKey)
    aCoder.encodeObject(date, forKey: PropertyKey.dateKey)
    aCoder.encodeObject(exercises, forKey: PropertyKey.exercisesKey)
    aCoder.encodeInteger(maxHR, forKey: PropertyKey.maxHRKey)
    aCoder.encodeInteger(avgHR, forKey: PropertyKey.avgHRKey)
}

required convenience init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder)
{
    let name = aDecoder.decodeObjectForKey(PropertyKey.nameKey) as! String
    let date = aDecoder.decodeObjectForKey(PropertyKey.dateKey) as! NSDate
    let exercises = aDecoder.decodeObjectForKey(PropertyKey.exercisesKey) as! [ExerciseModel]
    let maxHR = aDecoder.decodeIntegerForKey(PropertyKey.maxHRKey)
    let avgHR = aDecoder.decodeIntegerForKey(PropertyKey.avgHRKey)

    // Must call designated initializer
    self.init(name: name, date: date, exercises: exercises, maxHR: maxHR, avgHR: avgHR)
}
}

I followed the Apple tutorial for Persist Data to set up NSKeyedArchiver and NSKeyedUnarchiver for this, but I am still having trouble retrieving my data. When I try to load the Workouts, I call the following function:

func loadStoredWorkouts() -> WorkoutStorage
{
    NSKeyedUnarchiver.setClass(WorkoutStorage.self, forClassName: "WorkoutStorage")
    NSKeyedArchiver.setClassName("WorkoutStorage", forClass: WorkoutStorage.self)

    print("\(WorkoutStorage.ArchiveURL.path!)")

    return NSKeyedUnarchiver.unarchiveObjectWithFile(WorkoutStorage.ArchiveURL.path!) as! WorkoutStorage
}

Currently I can only return a single WorkoutStorage object, but when I attempt to retrieve an array containing all the stored WorkoutStorage objects, I get an error saying: Could not cast value of type 'Workout_Tracker.WorkoutStorage' (0x1000fcc80) to 'NSArray' (0x19f6b2418). I have read a lot of documentation trying to figure out why this will only return a single object, as well as checked out questions with similar issues, but to no avail. I originally set up my app following the Apple Persist Data tutorial to store and load my ExerciseModel objects, and that seems to work flawlessly. I set up the WorkoutStorage class the same way, but there seems to be an issue here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

**Edit* Here is the code I use to archive the WorkoutStorage object:

func saveWorkoutStorageObject(currentWorkout: WorkoutStorage)
    {
        NSKeyedUnarchiver.setClass(WorkoutStorage.self, forClassName: "WorkoutStorage")
        NSKeyedArchiver.setClassName("WorkoutStorage", forClass: WorkoutStorage.self)

    let isSuccessfulSave = NSKeyedArchiver.archiveRootObject(currentWorkout, toFile: WorkoutStorage.ArchiveURL.path!)
    if !isSuccessfulSave
    {
        print("Failed to save exercises")
    }
    if isSuccessfulSave
    {
        print("Successful save of current workout: \(currentWorkout)")
    }
}

Workouts are only created one at a time by the user, so each time one is completed, I pass the object to the above function to archive it.

To unarchive all the objects, I was trying to do something along the lines of:

var workouts = [WorkoutStorage]()

override func viewDidLoad()
{
    super.viewDidLoad()

    workouts = loadStoredWorkouts()
}

where the loadStoredWorkouts() function would be:

 func loadStoredWorkouts() -> [WorkoutStorage]
    {
        NSKeyedUnarchiver.setClass(WorkoutStorage.self, forClassName: "WorkoutStorage")
        NSKeyedArchiver.setClassName("WorkoutStorage", forClass: WorkoutStorage.self)

    print("\(WorkoutStorage.ArchiveURL.path!)")

    return NSKeyedUnarchiver.unarchiveObjectWithFile(WorkoutStorage.ArchiveURL.path!) as! [WorkoutStorage]
}

Answer 1

Your saveWorkoutStorageObject only archives a single workout. It doesn't archive the array, so of course you can't unarchive an array.

You need to archive the workouts array if you want to be able to unarchive an array.

Each time you archive something to a file you replace the contents of the file. It doesn't append to the end.

Since NSKeyedArchiver.archiveRootObject automatically archives child objects, all you need to do is archive the array and your WorkoutStorage objects will be archived automagically

func saveWorkouts(workouts:[WorkoutStorage])
{
    let isSuccessfulSave = NSKeyedArchiver.archiveRootObject(workouts, toFile: WorkoutStorage.ArchiveURL.path!)
    if isSuccessfulSave
    {
        print("Successful save of workouts: \(workouts)")
    } else {
        print("Failed to save exercises")
    }
}