Swift: Finding duplicate CNContact objects in an array - ios

Question

I am trying to get duplicate CNContacts inside an Array:
Code:
func fetchDuplicateContacts(){
self.didFinished_getDuplicateContacts = false;
self.arr_duplicateContacts.removeAllObjects()
NSLog("Start fetch duplicate", "")
self.duplicateContactsCount = 0;
for (var i: Int = 0; i < self.arr_allContacts.count; i++){
let contact1 = self.arr_allContacts[i]
var hasDuplicate: Bool = false
let arr_childs: NSMutableArray = NSMutableArray()
for (var j: Int = 0; j < self.arr_allContacts.count; j++){
let contact2 = self.arr_allContacts[j]
if(contact1 != contact2){
if CNContactFormatter.stringFromContact(contact1, style: .FullName) == CNContactFormatter.stringFromContact(contact2, style: .FullName){
if(self.checkIfContactsHaveSamePhones(contact1, contact2: contact2)){
print("Move on cuz duplicate: \(CNContactFormatter.stringFromContact(contact1, style: .FullName))")
duplicateContactsCount += 1;
arr_childs.addObject(NSDictionary(objects: [contact2, false], forKeys: ["object", "checked"]))
hasDuplicate = true
}
}
}
}
// This is for adding first contact to main array to be the first. It's important to be like this
if hasDuplicate == true{
arr_childs.insertObject(NSDictionary(objects: [contact1, false], forKeys: ["object", "checked"]), atIndex: 0)
var key: NSString? = CNContactFormatter.stringFromContact(contact1, style: .FullName)
if key == nil {
key = "no name \(i)"
}
arr_duplicateContacts.addObject([key! : arr_childs])
}
}
NSLog("End fetch duplicate w results \(self.duplicateContactsCount)", "")
self.didFinished_getDuplicateContacts = true;
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), { () -> Void in
self.mytable.reloadData()
})
}
I loop trough the array, check each 2 contacts if have same name and same numbers and if true, add them to an Array of NSDictionary (whose key is contact name, and object is an NSDictionary which contain CNContact and a bool "checked").. A little bit messy, I know.
*The problem: I will get duplicates inside main array *
Let's say that I have Contact1["bob", "07100"], Contact2["bob","07100"]. When "j" loop will check if Contact1 == Contact1 which is true and skips adding object to array and after that checks Contact1 == Contact2(false and then it sees that Contact2 is a duplicate and ads to main array). After i++ it does same thing with Contact2 and this is the problem (try figure out for 3 objects if is not clear).
Tried solving it by asuming that duplicate contacts are one after another and used that i = j but if Contact1 == Contact3, Contact2 will be skiped from verification
Any idea how to solve this problem?

Answer 1

I thought I would propose another way of achieving what you are trying to do leveraging some of Swift's built in functions. One thing to note about this solution is that it will not help you determine which is the duplicate and which is the contact the user wants to keep. This is actually an issue with your approach because what happens if both contacts have the same name but a different number? This is why in my solution I group the duplicates and you (or your user) can decide what to do.
Get an array of the all the full names:
let fullNames = self.arr_allContacts.map(CNContactFormatter.stringFromContact($0, style: .FullName))
Make that array unique
let uniqueArray = Array(Set(fullNames))
This is the step that I will be doing differently than what you are doing. I will build an array of arrays because I think it will get to where you want to go.
var contactGroupedByUnique = [Array]()
for (fullName in uniqueArray) {
var group = self.arr_allContacts.filter {
CNContactFormatter.stringFromContact($0, style: .FullName) == fullName
}
contactGroupedByUnique.append(group)
}
Now you can do the following:
contactGroupedByUnique.count = //number of unique contact
contactGroupedByUnique[index] = //number of duplicates of that contact
I don't have time to test the code but this should get you there.