objective c - Create csv file from array of data in iOS

Question

I want to write data from sql file to csv file. I have collected all data from sql file in an array and using for loop i am appending and writing data to .csv file. but it seems that it shows data in one line only it does not go to new line to create new row. I have used this for reference. This is my code :

-(NSString *)dataFilePath { 
    NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES); 
    NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0]; 
    return [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"myfile.csv"];
}

- (IBAction)saveAsFileAction:(id)sender {    
    if (![[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:[self dataFilePath]]) {
        [[NSFileManager defaultManager] createFileAtPath: [self dataFilePath] contents:nil attributes:nil];
        NSLog(@"Route creato");        
    }

    NSString *writeString;    
    for (int i=0; i<[dataArray count]; i++) {        
        writeString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@, %@, %@, %@, %0.2f,",[[dataArray objectAtIndex:i]dates],[[dataArray objectAtIndex:i] time],[[dataArray objectAtIndex:i] category],[[dataArray objectAtIndex:i]place],[[dataArray objectAtIndex:i] amount]];        
        NSLog(@"writeString :%@",writeString);        
        NSFileHandle *handle;
        handle = [NSFileHandle fileHandleForWritingAtPath: [self dataFilePath] ]; 
        //say to handle where's the file fo write
        [handle truncateFileAtOffset:[handle seekToEndOfFile]]; 
        //position handle cursor to the end of file
        [handle writeData:[writeString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];      
    }    
}

Answer 1

This only writes one line because you rewrite the file every time you go through your loop. It is best to not writeData on the file until the loop has completed. I would also use an NSMutableString like this:

- (IBAction)saveAsFileAction:(id)sender {

    if (![[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:[self dataFilePath]]) {
        [[NSFileManager defaultManager] createFileAtPath: [self dataFilePath] contents:nil attributes:nil];
        NSLog(@"Route creato");
    }

    NSMutableString *writeString = [NSMutableString stringWithCapacity:0]; //don't worry about the capacity, it will expand as necessary

    for (int i=0; i<[dataArray count]; i++) {
        writeString = [writeString appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@, %@, %@, %@, %0.2f, 
",[[dataArray objectAtIndex:i]dates],[[dataArray objectAtIndex:i] time],[[dataArray objectAtIndex:i] category],[[dataArray objectAtIndex:i]place],[[dataArray objectAtIndex:i] amount]]]; //the 
 will put a newline in
      }
    }

    //Moved this stuff out of the loop so that you write the complete string once and only once.
    NSLog(@"writeString :%@",writeString);

    NSFileHandle *handle;
    handle = [NSFileHandle fileHandleForWritingAtPath: [self dataFilePath] ]; 
    //say to handle where's the file fo write
    [handle truncateFileAtOffset:[handle seekToEndOfFile]]; 
    //position handle cursor to the end of file
    [handle writeData:[writeString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
}