Multiple annotations from plist - ios

Question

I'm looking to adapt the following tutorial to create annotations from a plist. I'm brand new to Objective C and Xcode, and tried many different tutorials but can't seem to get this together.
Annotation.h
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import <MapKit/MapKit.h>
#interface Annotation : NSObject <MKAnnotation>
#property (nonatomic, assign) CLLocationCoordinate2D coordinate;
#property (nonatomic, copy) NSString * title;
#property (nonatomic, copy) NSString * subtitle;
#property (nonatomic, copy) UIImageView * leftCalloutAccessoryView;
#end
Annotation.m
#import "Annotation.h"
#implementation Annotation
#synthesize coordinate, title, subtitle, leftCalloutAccessoryView;
#end
ViewController.h
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import <MapKit/MapKit.h>
#interface ViewController : UIViewController
#property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet MKMapView *myMapView;
#end
ViewController.m
#import "ViewController.h"
#import "Annotation.h"
#interface ViewController ()
#end
//Wimbledon Coordinates
#define WIMB_LATITUDE 51.434783;
#define WIMB_LONGITUDE -0.213428;
//Stadium Coordinates
#define ARSENAL_LATITUDE 51.556899;
#define ARSENAL_LONGITUDE -0.106403;
#define CHELSEA_LATITUDE 51.481314;
#define CHELSEA_LONGITUDE -0.190129;
//Span
#define THE_SPAN 0.10f;
#implementation ViewController
#synthesize myMapView;
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Create the region
MKCoordinateRegion myRegion;
//Center
CLLocationCoordinate2D center;
center.latitude = ARSENAL_LATITUDE;
center.longitude = ARSENAL_LONGITUDE;
//Span
MKCoordinateSpan span;
span.latitudeDelta = THE_SPAN;
span.longitudeDelta = THE_SPAN;
myRegion.center = center;
myRegion.span=span;
//Set our mapView
[myMapView setRegion:myRegion animated:YES];
//Annotation
NSMutableArray * locations = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
CLLocationCoordinate2D location;
Annotation * myAnn;
//Arsenal Annotation
myAnn = [[Annotation alloc] init];
location.latitude = ARSENAL_LATITUDE;
location.longitude = ARSENAL_LONGITUDE;
myAnn.coordinate = location;
myAnn.title = #"Arsenal FC";
myAnn.subtitle = #"The Gunners";
//myAnn.image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"location.png"];
[locations addObject:myAnn];
//Chelsea Annotation
myAnn = [[Annotation alloc] init];
location.latitude = CHELSEA_LATITUDE;
location.longitude = CHELSEA_LONGITUDE;
myAnn.coordinate = location;
myAnn.title = #"Chelsea FC";
myAnn.subtitle = #"The Blue Lions";
[locations addObject:myAnn];
[self.myMapView addAnnotations:locations];
}
//THIS CODE WORKS FOR CUSTOM ANNOTATIONS
- (MKAnnotationView *)mapView:(MKMapView *)map viewForAnnotation:(id <MKAnnotation>)annotation
{
MKPinAnnotationView *newAnnotation = [[MKPinAnnotationView alloc] initWithAnnotation:annotation reuseIdentifier:#"redpin"];
newAnnotation.pinColor = MKPinAnnotationColorRed;
UIImageView *IconView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"marker.png"]];
newAnnotation.leftCalloutAccessoryView = IconView;
newAnnotation.animatesDrop = YES;
newAnnotation.canShowCallout = YES;
return newAnnotation;
}
- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
#end

Answer 1

Got it to work thanks to a suggestion above. Also added in custom markers and a left icon to call out. I commented out the old coordinate code and the annotation red pins with left icon.
Hope this helps others who might've gone crazy searching for a solution as I have.
Stadiums.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Stadiums</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Title</key>
<string>Arsenal</string>
<key>Subtitle</key>
<string>The Gunners</string>
<key>Latitude</key>
<string>51.556899</string>
<key>Longitude</key>
<string>-0.106403</string>
</dict>
<dict>
<key>Title</key>
<string>Chelsea</string>
<key>Subtitle</key>
<string>The Blue Lions</string>
<key>Latitude</key>
<string>51.481314</string>
<key>Longitude</key>
<string>-0.190129</string>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>
ViewController.m
#import "ViewController.h"
#import "Annotation.h"
#interface ViewController ()
#end
//Wimbledon Coordinates
#define WIMB_LATITUDE 51.434783;
#define WIMB_LONGITUDE -0.213428;
//Stadium Coordinates
#define ARSENAL_LATITUDE 51.556899;
#define ARSENAL_LONGITUDE -0.106403;
#define CHELSEA_LATITUDE 51.481314;
#define CHELSEA_LONGITUDE -0.190129;
//Span
#define THE_SPAN 0.10f;
#implementation ViewController
#synthesize myMapView;
- (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Create the region
MKCoordinateRegion myRegion;
//Center
CLLocationCoordinate2D center;
center.latitude = ARSENAL_LATITUDE;
center.longitude = ARSENAL_LONGITUDE;
//Span
MKCoordinateSpan span;
span.latitudeDelta = THE_SPAN;
span.longitudeDelta = THE_SPAN;
myRegion.center = center;
myRegion.span=span;
//Set our mapView
[myMapView setRegion:myRegion animated:YES];
/*
//Annotation
NSMutableArray * locations = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
CLLocationCoordinate2D location;
Annotation * myAnn;
//Arsenal Annotation
myAnn = [[Annotation alloc] init];
location.latitude = ARSENAL_LATITUDE;
location.longitude = ARSENAL_LONGITUDE;
myAnn.coordinate = location;
myAnn.title = #"Arsenal FC";
myAnn.subtitle = #"The Gunners";
//myAnn.image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"location.png"];
[locations addObject:myAnn];
//Chelsea Annotation
myAnn = [[Annotation alloc] init];
location.latitude = CHELSEA_LATITUDE;
location.longitude = CHELSEA_LONGITUDE;
myAnn.coordinate = location;
myAnn.title = #"Chelsea FC";
myAnn.subtitle = #"The Blue Lions";
[locations addObject:myAnn];
[self.myMapView addAnnotations:locations];
*/
NSMutableArray *annotations = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:#"Stadiums" ofType:#"plist"];
NSDictionary *dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:path];
NSArray *anns = [dict objectForKey:#"Stadiums"];
NSLog(#"read1");
for(int i = 0; i < [anns count]; i++) {
NSLog(#"read2");
float realLatitude = [[[anns objectAtIndex:i] objectForKey:#"Latitude"] floatValue];
float realLongitude = [[[anns objectAtIndex:i] objectForKey:#"Longitude"] floatValue];
NSLog(#"read3");
Annotation *myAnnotation = [[Annotation alloc] init];
CLLocationCoordinate2D theCoordinate;
theCoordinate.latitude = realLatitude;
theCoordinate.longitude = realLongitude;
myAnnotation.coordinate = theCoordinate;
myAnnotation.title = [[anns objectAtIndex:i] objectForKey:#"Title"];
myAnnotation.subtitle = [[anns objectAtIndex:i] objectForKey:#"Subtitle"];
[myMapView addAnnotation:myAnnotation];
[annotations addObject:myAnnotation];
//[myAnnotation release];
}
}
//THIS CODE WORKS FOR CUSTOM ANNOTATIONS
- (MKAnnotationView *)mapView:(MKMapView *)map viewForAnnotation:(id <MKAnnotation>)annotation
{
static NSString *AnnotationViewID = #"annotationViewID";
MKAnnotationView *annotationView = (MKAnnotationView *)[myMapView dequeueReusableAnnotationViewWithIdentifier:AnnotationViewID];
if (annotationView == nil)
{
annotationView = [[MKAnnotationView alloc] initWithAnnotation:annotation reuseIdentifier:AnnotationViewID];
}
//Custom Pin
annotationView.image = [UIImage imageNamed:#"toilets.png"];
//Custom Thumbnail (left side)
UIImageView *IconView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"toilets.png"]];
annotationView.leftCalloutAccessoryView = IconView;
annotationView.canShowCallout = YES;
annotationView.annotation = annotation;
return annotationView;
/*
MKPinAnnotationView *newAnnotation = [[MKPinAnnotationView alloc] initWithAnnotation:annotation reuseIdentifier:#"redpin"];
newAnnotation.pinColor = MKPinAnnotationColorRed;
UIImageView *ThumbView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:[UIImage imageNamed:#"toilets.png"]];
newAnnotation.leftCalloutAccessoryView = ThumbView;
newAnnotation.animatesDrop = YES;
newAnnotation.canShowCallout = YES;
return newAnnotation;
*/
}
- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
#end

Answer 2

Personally, I would use CoreData to store the annotations. However, if you are stuck on writing things to disk, I would make your annotation object implement the NSCoding protocol and use NSKeyedArchiver to save and load your objects.
+ (NSObject *)readArchiveFile:(NSString *)inFileName
{
NSFileManager *fileMgr = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
NSString *documentsDirectoryPath = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES)[0];
NSString *filePath = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#/%#", documentsDirectoryPath, inFileName];
NSObject *returnObject = nil;
if( [fileMgr fileExistsAtPath:filePath] )
{
#try
{
returnObject = [NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithFile:filePath];
}
#catch (NSException *exception)
{
[FileUtils deleteFile:inFileName];
returnObject = nil;
}
}
return returnObject;
}
+ (void)archiveFile:(NSString *)inFileName inObject:(NSObject *)inObject
{
NSString *documentsDirectoryPath = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES)[0];
NSString *filePath = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#/%#", documentsDirectoryPath, inFileName];
#try
{
BOOL didSucceed = [NSKeyedArchiver archiveRootObject:inObject toFile:filePath];
if( !didSucceed )
{
NSLog(#"File %# write operation %#", inFileName, didSucceed ? #"success" : #"error" );
}
}
#catch (NSException *exception)
{
NSLog(#"File %# write operation threw an exception:%#", filePath, exception.reason);
}
}