I want to store a voice in the User Defaults. Since we can't store directly a voice, what's the best way for storing it? Using the index in the array [NSSpeechSynthesizer availableVoices] can differ after installing a new voice. And what about converting to an NSData or storing using its identifier?
Yeah, an index is a really bad idea. I use [[NSSpeechSynthesizer attributesForVoice: voice] objectForKey: NSVoiceName].
Related
I a developing a macOS commandline application in Xcode, which uses User Defaults. I have the following code for my User Defaults
if let configDefaults = UserDefaults.init(suiteName: "com.tests.configuration") {
configDefaults.set("myStringValue", forKey: "stringKey")
configDefaults.synchronize()
print(configDefaults.dictionaryRepresentation())
}
This will create my own .plist file in the ~/Library/Preferences folder. If I look into the file, I can see only my single value which I added, which is perfectly fine. But when I call dictionaryRepresentation() on my UserDefaults object, the there are a lot of other attributes (I guess from the shared UserDefaults object), like
com.apple.trackpad.twoFingerFromRightEdgeSwipeGesture or AKLastEmailListRequestDateKey
Looking into the documentation of UserDefaults, it seems that this has to do with the search list of UserDefaults and that the standard object is in the search list:
func dictionaryRepresentation() -> [String : Any]
Returns a dictionary that contains a union of all key-value pairs in the domains in the search list.
There are also the methods addSuite and removeSuite for a UserDefaults object, so I am guessing I need to remove the .standard suite from my configDefaults object, but I don't know the name, which should be used for that in the method.
Is it possible to remove the .standard defaults from the dictionary representation? I basically just want all of my own data in a dictionary, nothing more.
The reason I am trying to get only my values from the UserDefaults, is that a have a number of object of a custom type Connection (which store the configuration to connect to a server), which are saved in the UserDefaults. On program start I want to be able to load all objects into my app. Therefore I thought I could use dictionaryRepresentation(), as it would return all elements in the UserDefaults. But then there should be only my Connection objects in the dictionary, so that I can cast it to [String: Connection].
Given your purpose (in your latest edit of your question), what you should do is store a collection of Connection objects under a single key. Then, look up that key to get the collection.
It's not clear if the collection should be an array of Connection objects or a dictionary mapping strings to Connections. That's a choice you can make.
But, in any case, you shouldn't rely on the defaults being empty of everything else.
In other words, you would do:
UserDefaults.standard.set(yourStringToConnectionDictionary, forKey:"yourSingleKey")
and later:
let connectionMap = UserDefaults.dictionary(forKey:"yourSingleKey")
then look up Connections in the connectionMap by their name/ID/whatever.
Though the other solution proposed by Ken Thomases may be better from a design standpoint, I've found a solution that does exactly what I initially wanted. Calling
UserDefaults.standard.persistentDomain(forName: "com.company.TestApp.configuration")
Returns a dictionary containing only the values I've added to the domain com.company.TestApp.configuration, using
let configs = UserDefaults.init(suiteName: "com.company.TestApp.configuration")!
configs.set(someData, forKey: someKey)
Strangely in the Apple documentation says this about persistentDomain(forName:):
Calling this method is equivalent to initializing a user defaults object with init(suiteName:) passing domainName and calling the dictionaryRepresentation() method on it.
But this is not the case (see my question). Clarification on that subject is more than welcome.
RocksDBStore<K,V> stores keys and values as byte[] on disk. It converts to/from K and V typed objects using Serdes provided while constructing the object of RocksDBStore<K,V>.
Given this, please help me understand the purpose of the following code in RocksDbKeyValueBytesStoreSupplier:
return new RocksDBStore<>(name,
Serdes.Bytes(),
Serdes.ByteArray());
Providing Serdes.Bytes() and Serdes.ByteArray() looks redundant.
RocksDbKeyValueBytesStoreSupplier is introduced in KAFKA-5650 (Kafka Streams 1.0.0) as part of KIP-182: Reduce Streams DSL overloads and allow easier use of custom storage engines.
In KIP-182, there is the following sentence :
The new Interface BytesStoreSupplier supersedes the existing StateStoreSupplier (which will remain untouched). This so we can provide a convenient way for users creating custom state stores to wrap them with caching/logging etc if they chose. In order to do this we need to force the inner most store, i.e, the custom store, to be a store of type <Bytes, byte[]>.
Please help me understand why we need to force custom stores to be of type <Bytes, byte[]>?
Another place (KAFKA-5749) where I found similar sentence:
In order to support bytes store we need to create a MeteredSessionStore and ChangeloggingSessionStore. We then need to refactor the current SessionStore implementations to use this. All inner stores should by of type < Bytes, byte[] >
Why?
Your observation is correct -- the PR implementing KIP-182 did miss to remove the Serdes from RocksDBStore that are not required anymore. This was fixed in 1.1 release already.
While my app is not a game, a coin-based game works as a good analogy.
In a game like this, the user has a certain number of coins that they can earn through gameplay or by purchasing an IAP. The main problem is securely storing how many coins the user has locally.
I know there are other questions like this, such as this. This answer basically says, there is no use in trying to save data securely; just deal with the fact that users can edit the data.
I would rather not just leave the data out in the open for users to change (if they can edit the data, why would they purchase an IAP?). I have looked into the Keychain, which has a public interface to view and edit the data, and NSUserDefaults, which saves to a Plist that can easily be changed.
Is there a better option for me, or should I just not even try (like the answer above suggests)?
Edit: The app is actually a developer tool that has a limited number of tokens. Because the users all have technical skills, the majority of them (I assume) have enough knowledge to find and change the Plist file or the Keychain data.
This solution worked for me very well. Try this: https://github.com/nielsmouthaan/SecureNSUserDefaults. It will store encrypted bool/string/float/integer in your UserDefaults file. Hopefully this is what you want. Make sure you download and add CocoaSecurity to your project. CocoaSecurity is a required element of SecureNSUSerDefaults, so you do not need to import it into any of your files. You must also download Base64, which is a required element of CocoaSecurity. You also need to add Base64 to your project, but do not need to import it into any of your files.
USAGE
Import the header file anywhere you want to use the encryption method.
#import <SecureNSUserDefaults/NSUserDefaults+SecureAdditions.h>
Then, set an encryption key, probably in your awakeFromNib method:
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setSecret:#"your_secret_goes_here"];
I recommend generating a random string of numbers and letters.
Then, you must store the information in your UserDefaults file.
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults]
setSecretObject:#"your_secret_object"
forKey:#"the_key_your_object_will be_stored_under"];
To retrieve the string, use this method:
NSString *retrievedData = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults]
secretStringForKey:#"the_key_your_object_will be_stored_under"];
I hope this helps!
I need to reference ABPerson records from within an application. I use the unique ID provided by
- (NSString *)uniqueId
and attach it to my in-app contact record.
Additionally, I save ABPerson's vCardRepresentation as a fallback. In case the app isn't any longer able to locate the ABRecord using the uniqueID, the app asks the user to recover the adressbook record using the saved vCardRepresentation. All works fine.
Unfortunately, a friend told me, that uniqueId isn't immutable: During a sync, uniqueId may suddenly change.
According to him, somewhere in iOS documentation, Apple explains that no way exists to immutable identify ABPersons using uniqueId. In OS X' Cocoa documentation, I failed to find such a hint.
On a given Mac, may the uniqueId change suddenly? If that's true, what's the correct way to identify ABPerson records from within an external application?
In case the uniqueID isn't immutable, I certainly may assign a custom property with a GUID. Unfortunately, custom fields do not sync.
Certainly, I'd prefer to use uniqueId.
For whats its worth, from Apple's techdoc:
kABUIDProperty
The unique ID for this record. It’s guaranteed never to change, no matter how much the record changes. If you need to store a reference to a record, use this value. Type: kABStringProperty.
Available in Mac OS X v10.2 and later.
Declared in ABGlobals.h.
It looks like the kABUIDProperty approach might not work anymore. I came across this blog entry with more discussion in the comments at: http://blog.clickablebliss.com/2011/11/07/addressbook-record-identifiers-on-mac-and-ios/.
A case in point: If a user decides to turn on iCloud sync, the unique ids in that user's address book will change. If the users turns off iCloud sync, they'll change again.
Addendum: it might be worthwhile looking at the StackOverflow entry here.
Apple's docs do say this (quoted from the link):
"The recommended way to keep a long-term reference to a particular record is to store the
first and last name, or a hash of the first and last name, in addition to the identifier.
When you look up a record by ID, compare the record’s name to your stored name. If they don’t match, use the stored name to find the record, and store the new ID for the record."
Simply: how do I get the user's account image?
I'm using Cocoa on Mac.
The Address Book method doesn't work if the user deletes the vcard.
I use the CBIdentity method that never breaks, as Dave says:
+ (NSImage *)userImage
{
CBIdentity *identity = [CBIdentity identityWithName:NSUserName() authority:[CBIdentityAuthority defaultIdentityAuthority]];
return [identity image];
}
In order to use CBIdentity you need to add the Collaboration Framework to your targets and use the following include directive
#import <Collaboration/Collaboration.h>
If you only want an image for the logged-in user, it's also possible to get it with a one-liner using AddressBook:
NSData *imgData = [[[ABAddressBook sharedAddressBook] me] imageData];
but I believe that this is not guaranteed to be the same as the log-in image.
If you can get a handle to a CSIdentityRef or a CBIdentity* that represents the user in question, then you can invoke the -[CBIdentity image] method to retrieve their account image.
Edit:
Here's a previous answer of mine that shows how to query for all standard user accounts on a system and convert them into CBIdentity objects: Get all Users on OS X
If you don't want to link against Collaboration.framework, then you can use something like CSIdentityImageGetData (or one of the similar variants) to get the image directly. I personally find working with a native Cocoa object to be nicer, but in this case it's not absolutely necessary.