Generate MD5 hash from Objective-C object [duplicate] - ios

Question

This question already has answers here:
MD5 algorithm in Objective-C
(5 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
I'd like to generate an MD5 hash for an NSObject:
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString * name;
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString * type;
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString * unit;
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSArray * fields;
What is the best way to do so? I've seen examples for hashing from a dictionary or an array, but not from an entire NSObject.

Answer 1

To generate a MD5 hash for an NSObject or a subclass of NSObject, you need to convert it into something that's easily hashable but still represents the state of the instance. A JSON string is one such option. The code looks like this:
Model.h
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#interface Model : NSObject
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString * name;
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString * type;
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSString * unit;
#property (nonatomic, retain) NSArray * fields;
- (NSString *)md5Hash;
#end
Model.m
#import <CommonCrypto/CommonDigest.h>
#import "Model.h"
#implementation Model
- (NSString *)md5Hash
{
// Serialize this Model instance as a JSON string
NSDictionary *map = #{ #"name": self.name, #"type": self.type,
#"unit": self.unit, #"fields": self.fields };
NSError *error = NULL;
NSData *jsonData = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:map
options:NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted
error:&error];
if (error != nil) {
NSLog(#"Serialization Error: %#", error);
return nil;
}
NSString *jsonString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:jsonData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
// Now create the MD5 hashs
const char *ptr = [jsonString UTF8String];
unsigned char md5Buffer[CC_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH];
CC_MD5(ptr, strlen(ptr), md5Buffer);
NSMutableString *output = [NSMutableString stringWithCapacity:CC_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH * 2];
for(int i = 0; i < CC_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH; i++)
[output appendFormat:#"%02x",md5Buffer[i]];
return output;
}
#end
Then you can easily retrieve the MD5 hash just by calling the md5Hash method
Model *obj = [Model new];
obj.name = #"...";
obj.type = #"...";
obj.unit = #"...";
obj.fields = #[ ... ];
NSString *hashValue = [obj md5Hash];

Answer 2

You can convert the object into a dictionary if you already have code for creating the hash:
NSDictionary *dict = [myObject dictionaryWithValuesForKeys:#[#"name", #"type", #"unit", #"fields"]];
Or you could implement <NSCoding> on your class, archive it and hash the resulting data.