Iterate through two layers of NSDictionary - ios

Question

I am trying to iterate through an NSDictionary from a serialized JSON file. The dictionary has two levels and I cannot seem to access the second layer properly.
I am wondering if there is a way to increment an objectForKey such as:
for (id key in [itemList allKeys]) {
[objectivesArray addObject:[[itemList objectForKey:#"Example0"] objectForKey:#"Objective"]];
}
My keys in the Dictionary (second level) are like, Example0, Example1, Example2.
UPDATE:
The desired output would be arrays for each of the values contained within the top level keys. The JSON basically looks like this:
Top Level
Example1
Key1: Value1
Key2: Value2
Example2
Key1: Value1
Key2: Value2
and so on. I have tried nesting For loops to get the Key and values:
for (id key in [itemList allKeys]) {
id value = [itemList objectForKey:key];
Value = [value objectForKey:#"Example1"];
firstLevelDictionary = [itemList objectForKey:key];
for (id key2 in firstLevelDictionary) {
NSLog(#"%#", [firstLevelDictionary objectForKey:#"Key1"]);
[keyArray addObject:[firstLevelDictionary objectForKey:#"Key1"]];
}
}
etc.
Now, I can access them when I manually write them all out:
[key1Array addObject:[[itemList objectForKey:#"Key1"] objectForKey:#"Value1"]];
[key2Array addObject:[[itemList objectForKey:#"Key2"] objectForKey:#"Value2"]];
But that is obviously not at all what I want. So I'm wondering if there's a way to do nested loops by incrementing an integer contained within the objectForKey key value.
UPDATE 2: this is the JSON format Im working with, I put baseball terms in place of data for now:
{
"Situ0":{
"Situation":"Tying Runner on 1st",
"Bases":[
1
],
"Outs":0,
"Score":[
1,
2
],
"Purpose":"Sac Bunt",
"Objective":"Bunt"
},
"Situ1":{
"Situation":"Tying Runner On 2nd",
"Bases":[
2
],
"Outs":1,
"Score":[
1,
2
],
"Purpose":"Score / Move Runner Over",
"Objective":"Hit Behind Runner / Hit"
}

Answer 1

This can help you to iterate the second layer of NSDictionary:
- (void)iterateSecondLayerOfDictionary:(NSDictionary *)dict {
for (id subDictKey in dict.allKeys) {
NSDictionary *subDict = [dict objectForKey:subDictKey];
for (id valueKey in subDict.allKeys) {
NSString *value = [subDict objectForKey:valueKey];
NSLog(#"%#", value);
}
}
}
To test, here is some example data:
NSDictionary *subDict = #{ #"key1": #"value1",
#"key2": #"value2",
#"key3": #"value3",
#"key4": #"value4"
};
NSDictionary *dict = #{ #"Example0": subDict,
#"Example1": subDict,
#"Example2": subDict
};
NSLog(#"%#", dict);
[self iterateSecondLayerOfDictionary:dict];
Output:
//This is your actual data
{
Example0 = {
key1 = value1;
key2 = value2;
key3 = value3;
key4 = value4;
};
Example1 = {
key1 = value1;
key2 = value2;
key3 = value3;
key4 = value4;
};
Example2 = {
key1 = value1;
key2 = value2;
key3 = value3;
key4 = value4;
};
}
//These are the values you are trying to access. Though the orders aren't guaranteed as they are NSDictionaries
value3
value2
value1
value4
value3
value4
value2
value1
value3
value2
value1
value4

Answer 2

I think this is what you need. But I highly recommend don't follow this method.
Tip: Instead of keeping subDict in another dictionary try to get it inside an Array (from api). Then you can easily get it by NSArray * key1Array = [array valueForKey:#"key1"];
NSDictionary *subDict = #{ #"key0": #"value0",
#"key1": #"value1",
#"key2": #"value2",
};
NSDictionary *dict = #{ #"Example0": subDict,
#"Example1": subDict,
#"Example2": subDict
};
NSMutableDictionary *keyValues = [NSMutableDictionary new];
for (int i =0; i < dict.count; i ++) {
NSString *key = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"Example%d",i];
NSDictionary *innerDic = [dict valueForKey:key];
NSMutableArray *array = [NSMutableArray new];
NSString *innerKey ;
for (int j = 0; j < innerDic.count; j ++) {
innerKey = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"key%d",i];
NSString *value = [innerDic valueForKey:innerKey];
[array addObject:value];
}
[keyValues setObject:array forKey:innerKey];
}
NSLog(#"KEY VALUES: %#", keyValues);
By this you can get key1Array by
key1Array = [keyValues valueForKey: #"key1"];