SharedObject not saving data on Ipad

Question

I have been developing a productivity app that uses a SharedObject. It saves custom classes as basic objects and variables. It works perfectly on my computer on the emulator but once I test it on my ipad 1st gen, it doesn't work. The app will background appropriately but when i close the background process and re open the app, all the entries are gone. I haven't payed the developer fee as I'm not sure if I want to invest yet, so I'm using a fake certificate and jailbroken device. Will that stop save data? Again it works exactly as need on pc, but when i close the app process on my ipad, it doesn't save anything.

EDIT: I FIXED IT Ok, the problem was simply that the flushes weren't calling on the regular changes due to scripting error, and the one on close, doesn't work when the app is closed from backgrounding. Basically I set it to save on home button, and on power button aswell as fixed all the little saves aswell. Works perfectly now. Files were too sketch cause I'm storing an array of custom classes.

Answer 1

To avoid adding to the comment chain, I'll just write an answer.

As I said in my comment, most AIR devs avoid using SharedObjects for various reasons. They are limited to ~100kb, you have no control over them, and apparently are flushed on iOS.

With that said, most AIR devs prefer to use File and FileStream which give you direct control over the device's file system.

FileStream features a method called writeObject() which does exactly what you want. Say you have the following strongly typed objects you wish to save (note: only public properties are saved to disk):

var a:Class1 = new Class1();
var s:Class2 = new Class2();
var d:Class3 = new Class3();
var f:Class4 = new Class4();

You'll want to combine them into a single object, or save them individually. For this, I will combine them into a single object.

// you could also use an array, or any other object, to do this
var obj:Object = {objA:a, objS:s, objD:d, objF:f}; 

Then you want to use File, which is a reference to a file or directory in the file system, and FileStream, which is what communicates with the file system, to write the object.

var f:File = File.applicationStorageDirectory.resolvePath("prefs.conf");
var fs:FileStream = new FileStream();
fs.open(f, FileMode.WRITE);
fs.writeObject(obj);
fs.close() // NEVER forget to close()

And that's it.Your objects are now saved to disk. You can open them using File and FileStream again.

fs.open(f, FileMode.OPEN);
var obj2:Object = fs.readObject();
fs.close();

obj2 will have the same properties as obj and they will match the objects you originally saved. It is worth noting that these objects will not be of the same type as your custom objects. Unless they are primitives (Object, Array, String, Number, int, uint, maybe a few others), every object that is read from a Byte stream (whether it be ByteArray, FileStream, URLStream, etc) will be typed as a standard Object. You can get around this with registerClassAlias(), however.

• LiveDocs for File
• LiveDocs for FileStream

EDIT: As a quick note, on iOS, you should always set File.preventBackup to true if they are anything other than preferences. Apple will reject it otherwise. The good news is, though, that those settings should be backed up to iCloud and persist between installations.