Converting nsarray to nsdata to nsstring to use in label - nsstring

Question

Help from the more experienced Obj C coders will be greatly appreciated as I've been stuck on this for a few days, and I believe the code is 'close'.
I'm creating a list of names from the users contacts, then I pass this list back to a label. My problem (I think) is getting from the NSData format I'm using to archive the list with NSKeyedArchiver into an NSString. I've read everything I can find, but I suspect my being a NOOB is holding me back from deciphering some other example.
Here is the part of my *.m file where I create a list of persons into an array called "_objects", then I archive the "_objects" (NSKeyArchiver) making an NSData (data) which I then try to create a NSString (guestListString) from. It seems to all go well, except the "guestListString" has a bunch of extra gobblygook characters (yeah, a high tech term) included all around my list of person names. I've tried other formats, but they either return (null) or a bunch of foriegn looking characters. I suspect I've not learned some step I need to insert to get rid of these 'gobbly gook' characters around my list of comma separated names.
Here is the code:
// now grab the 'person' property from the Addressbook, pass it as a string back to 'tableview cell', inserting it at 'row 0' and update display
- (void)displayPerson:(ABRecordRef)person {
if (!_objects) {
_objects = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
}
NSString *selectedPerson = (__bridge NSString *)ABRecordCopyCompositeName(person);
//NSString *firstname =(__bridge_transfer NSString*)ABRecordCopyValue(person,kABPersonFirstNameProperty);
//NSString *lastname =(__bridge_transfer NSString*)ABRecordCopyValue(person,kABPersonLastNameProperty);
#ifdef DEBUG
NSLog(#"displayPerson insertRowsAtIndexPath selectedPerson = "#"%#",selectedPerson); // shows last added name
#endif
[_objects insertObject:selectedPerson atIndex:0];
//[_objects insertObject:firstname atIndex:0];
//[_objects insertObject:lastname atIndex:0];
#ifdef DEBUG
NSLog(#"displayPerson insertRowsAtIndexPath _objects = "#"%#",_objects); // shows 'list' of all names currently in list
//NSLog(#"displayPerson insertRowsAtIndexPath stringWithFormat _objects = "#"%#",[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#",_objects]);
#endif
NSIndexPath *indexPath = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0];
[self.tableView insertRowsAtIndexPaths:[NSArray arrayWithObject:indexPath] withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationAutomatic];
//
// (Code to Archive an array) Given that "_objects" contains an array of 'selectedPerson' objects
NSData *data = [NSKeyedArchiver archivedDataWithRootObject:_objects];
// Now save to NSUser defaults
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:data forKey:#"_objects"];
// Now let's see what is in 'data'
NSLog(#"archive of 'data' from key _objects = "#"%#",data); // shows long list of 8 bit numbers
//
// (Code to unarchive an array) Now to unarchive:
// I'm doing this code example here just so I understand unarchive procedure; not needed in actual app code
NSData *_objectsData = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] objectForKey:#"_objects"];
NSArray *backIntoArray = [NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithData:_objectsData];
//
// Now lets see what is in "backIntoArray"
NSLog(#"unarchive of _objectsData = "#"%#",_objectsData); // shows long list of 8 bit numbers
NSLog(#"unarchive of NSArray to backIntoArray = "#"%#",backIntoArray); // shows 'list' of all names currently in list
//
// Now convert NSData (data) to NSString so I can pass it to other elecments like 'labels'
//NSString *guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding]; // this is equivalent code to next two lines
NSString *guestListString;
guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding]; // returns extra characters around list of names instead of list of names ???
// other potential format options that could exist
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSNEXTSTEPStringEncoding]; // shows
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSJapaneseEUCStringEncoding]; // shows
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSNEXTSTEPStringEncoding]; // shows
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]; // returns (null) ???
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSISOLatin1StringEncoding]; // shows
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSSymbolStringEncoding]; // returns (null) ???
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSNonLossyASCIIStringEncoding]; // returns (null) ???
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSShiftJISStringEncoding]; // shows
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSISOLatin2StringEncoding]; // shows
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUnicodeStringEncoding]; // returns string of japanese looking characters???
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSWindowsCP1251StringEncoding]; // shows
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSWindowsCP1252StringEncoding]; // shows
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSWindowsCP1253StringEncoding]; // shows
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSWindowsCP1254StringEncoding]; // shows
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSWindowsCP1250StringEncoding]; // returns (null) ???
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSISO2022JPStringEncoding]; // shows
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSMacOSRomanStringEncoding]; // shows
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF16StringEncoding]; // returns string of japanese looking characters???
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF16BigEndianStringEncoding]; // shows
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF16LittleEndianStringEncoding]; // returns string of japanese looking characters???
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF32StringEncoding]; // returns (null) ???
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF32BigEndianStringEncoding]; // returns (null) ???
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF32LittleEndianStringEncoding]; // returns (null) ???
//guestListString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSProprietaryStringEncoding]; // shows
//
// show me what is stored in NSString 'guestListString'
NSLog(#"displayPerson NSString conversion of 'data' to 'guestListString' = "#"%#",guestListString); //
//
// Pass the required text back to 'guestsListLabel.text' on ViewController screen
//((InitialViewController *)self.presentingViewController).guestListLabel.text=selectedPerson; // This WORKS passing back the last selectedPerson 1 name
((InitialViewController *)self.presentingViewController).guestListLabel.text=guestListString; // Not working yet; trying to pass back full list of names
//
// add code here to handle saving of guestlist before leavig this 'insertRowsAtIndexPath' section
// Archiving is simple, using the following code:
NSUserDefaults *userDefaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
// This next line archives objects correctly so they can be reloaded later and be editable (mutable)
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:[NSKeyedArchiver archivedDataWithRootObject:_objects] forKey:#"guestListTable"];
// This next line writes the value loaded into 'guestListLabel.text' into variable 'kGuestListText' which is used in InitialViewController to display in all 3 field types
[userDefaults setValue:((InitialViewController *)self.presentingViewController).guestListLabel.text forKey:kGuestsListText];
// update with all userDefaults variables
[userDefaults synchronize];
//
}