How to save an enum conforming to Codable protocol to UserDefaults?

Question

Follow up from my previously question:

I managed to make my enum to conform to Codable protocol, implemented init() and encode() and it seems to work.

enum UserState {
    case LoggedIn(LoggedInState)
    case LoggedOut(LoggedOutState)
}

enum LoggedInState: String {
    case playing
    case paused
    case stopped
}

enum LoggedOutState: String {
    case Unregistered
    case Registered
}

extension UserState: Codable {
    enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
        case loggedIn
        case loggedOut
    }

    enum CodingError: Error {
        case decoding(String)

    }

    init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
        let values = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
        if let loggedIn = try? values.decode(String.self, forKey: .loggedIn) {
            self = .LoggedIn(LoggedInState(rawValue: loggedIn)!)
        }
        else if let loggedOut = try? values.decode(String.self, forKey: .loggedOut) {
            self = .LoggedOut(LoggedOutState(rawValue: loggedOut)!)
        }
        else {
            throw CodingError.decoding("Decoding failed")
        }
    }

    func encode(to encoder: Encoder) throws {
        var container = encoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)

        switch self {
        case let .LoggedIn(value):
            try container.encode(value.rawValue, forKey: .loggedIn)
        case let .LoggedOut(value):
            try container.encode(value.rawValue, forKey: .loggedOut)
        }
    }
}



class ViewController: UIViewController {

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        let state = UserState.LoggedIn(.playing)
        UserDefaults.standard.set(state, forKey: "state")
    }
}

My problem is I don't know how to save it to UserDefaults. If I just save it like I do now I get the following error when running the app:

[User Defaults] Attempt to set a non-property-list object Codable.UserState.LoggedIn(Codable.LoggedInState.playing) as an NSUserDefaults/CFPreferences value for key state
2018-01-20 19:06:26.909349+0200 Codable[6291:789687]

Answer 1

From UserDefaults reference:

A default object must be a property list—that is, an instance of (or for collections, a combination of instances of) NSData, NSString, NSNumber, NSDate, NSArray, or NSDictionary. If you want to store any other type of object, you should typically archive it to create an instance of NSData.

So you should encode state manually and store it as data:

if let encoded = try? JSONEncoder().encode(state) {
    UserDefaults.standard.set(encoded, forKey: "state")
}

Then, to read it back:

guard let data = UserDefaults.standard.data(forKey: "state") else { fatalError() }
if let saved = try? JSONDecoder().decode(UserState.self, from: data) {
    ...
}