Sorting an array of dictionaries in Swift 2 - ios

Question

I've read many articles on SO and I'm still stumped! I have an array of dictionaries, see below:
var myArray = [[String:AnyObject]]()
myArray.append([
"caseNumber" : "12349",
"formType" : "Advanced",
"caseStatus" : "Approved",
"caseDetails" : "blah blah",
"caseLUD" : NSDate(),
"friendlyName" : "name1"
])
myArray.append([
"caseNumber" : "12345",
"formType" : "Standard",
"caseStatus" : "On-Hold",
"caseDetails" : "blah blah",
"caseLUD" : NSDate(),
"friendlyName" : "name2"
])
myArray.append([
"caseNumber" : "12342",
"formType" : "Normal",
"caseStatus" : "Rejected",
"caseDetails" : "blah blah",
"caseLUD" : NSDate(),
"friendlyName" : "name3"
])
This data will go into a tableView and I want the user to be able to decide the sort order, either by caseNumber or my caseLUD (date). But I can't figure out how to re-order the array by values. Any ideas, please? All help appreciated.

Answer 1

To sort by caseNumber:
myArray.sortInPlace { ($0["caseNumber"] as! String) < ($1["caseNumber"] as! String) }
Note, this uses caseNumber as a String which could lead to surprising results (for example "12345" < "2"). You might either want to store caseNumber as an Int, or convert it to an Int when sorting:
myArray.sortInPlace { Int($0["caseNumber"] as! String) < Int($1["caseNumber"] as! String) }
To sort by caseLUD:
myArray.sortInPlace { ($0["caseLUD"] as! NSDate).compare($1["caseLUD"] as! NSDate) == .OrderedAscending}
.OrderedAscending will give you earliest date first, and .OrderedDescending will give you latest date first.
If you stored your data in a Struct instead of a Dictionary, you could avoid the messy typecasting.
struct CaseRecord {
var caseNumber: Int
var formType: String
var caseStatus: String
var caseDetails: String
var caseLUD: NSDate
var friendlyName: String
}
var myArray = [CaseRecord]()
myArray.append(CaseRecord(
caseNumber : 12345,
formType : "Advanced",
caseStatus : "Approved",
caseDetails : "blah blah",
caseLUD : NSDate(),
friendlyName : "name1"
)
)
myArray.append(CaseRecord(
caseNumber : 124,
formType : "Standard",
caseStatus : "On-Hold",
caseDetails : "blah blah",
caseLUD : NSDate(),
friendlyName : "name2"
)
)
myArray.append(CaseRecord(
caseNumber : 13,
formType : "Normal",
caseStatus : "Rejected",
caseDetails : "blah blah",
caseLUD : NSDate(),
friendlyName : "name3"
)
)
myArray.sortInPlace { $0.caseNumber < $1.caseNumber }
myArray.sortInPlace { $0.caseLUD.compare($1.caseLUD) == .OrderedDescending }