Unicode Hex Character code in NSString not displaying - ios

Question

I have Unicode Hex Character Code &#x1f682 that I receive from a server request, and I want to convert it to the Steam Locomotive emoji in my UILabel. I have read many other posts on the issue, but none of the solutions seem to work.
I have read posts about decoding HTML entities or setting the NSString as a UFT8 string, but none of those work.
NSString *unicode = #"Train &#x1f682";
self.label.text = [unicode stringByDecodingHTMLEntities]; <---- Doesn't work
Tried this:
NSString *train = #"Train &#x1f682";
self.label.text = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:[train UTF8String]]; <---- Doesn't work
Any ideas on how to convert this so I can see the emoji in my UILabel?
Note: This is different from the other questions about unicode characters, as this format has not been addressed and a solution proposed.

Answer 1

I got it working using the following:
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
self.label.text = [self convertHexUnicodeString:#"This is a train &#x1f682 I like trains! &#x1f682"];
}
- (NSString *)convertHexUnicodeString:(NSString *)unicodeText {
NSScanner *myScanner;
NSString *text = nil;
myScanner = [NSScanner scannerWithString:unicodeText];
while ([myScanner isAtEnd] == NO) {
[myScanner scanUpToString:#"&#x" intoString:NULL] ;
[myScanner scanUpToString:#" " intoString:&text] ;
unicodeText = [unicodeText stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#", text] withString:[self replaceHexUnicode:text]];
}
unicodeText = [unicodeText stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet]];
return unicodeText;
}
- (NSString *)replaceHexUnicode:(NSString *)text {
text = [text substringFromIndex:3];
unsigned unicodeInt = 0;
[[NSScanner scannerWithString:text] scanHexInt:&unicodeInt];
char chars[4];
int len = 4;
chars[0] = (unicodeInt >> 24) & (1 << 24) - 1;
chars[1] = (unicodeInt >> 16) & (1 << 16) - 1;
chars[2] = (unicodeInt >> 8) & (1 << 8) - 1;
chars[3] = unicodeInt & (1 << 8) - 1;
return [[NSString alloc] initWithBytes:chars length:len encoding:NSUTF32StringEncoding];
}