Get NSString as NSArray from NSDictionary - ios

Question

I've the following data in NSDictionary for an object field_names that has below value.
{dBur0z9,nr8r0,R0ru,jrurw,qB5rz9ry},{gr2,Z5uzr,Rwxyr5z0Ar5},^~gr2~cry69v~br9rtyz~Z03r4rsru^~Z5uzr~Uvy3z~dB4srz^5B33,(),9ruI,evD3rsv3,,HLK,evDsBAA65,evDtyvt2s6E,5B33,5B33,5B33,5B33,{6ww},SRiTfUV,5B33,5B33,5B33,5B33
I'm trying to get it as NSArray. I tried
`NSArray *array = [dictionary objectForKey:#"field_name"];
But that returns an NSString not an NSArray. Then I tried to replace { } with [ ] and appended [ ] to make it json array,
NSString *s =[[dictionary objectForKey:#"field_names"] stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#"{" withString:#"["];
s = [s stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#"}" withString:#"]"];
s= [NSString stringWithFormat:#"[%#]",s];
NSDictionary *temp = #{#"array":s };
NSLog(#"%#", [temp objectForKey:#"array"]);
But still I'm getting it as NSString
[[dBur0z9,nr8r0,R0ru,jrurw,qB5rz9ry],[gr2,Z5uzr,Rwxyr5z0Ar5],^~gr2~cry69v~br9rtyz~Z03r4rsru^~Z5uzr~Uvy3z~dB4srz^5B33,(),9ruI,evD3rsv3,,HLK,evDsBAA65,evDtyvt2s6E,5B33,5B33,5B33,5B33,[6ww],SRiTfUV,5B33,5B33,5B33,5B33]
Please help me getting it NSArray!

Answer 1

You're getting it as a string because it is in fact string. I feel like you're trying to parse it as a JSON string??
If so, you first need to have that string in a valid JSON format. Here's an example JSON
{
   "AnArray": [
"string 1",
      "string 2",
      "string 3"
   ]
}
(without the line breaks of course I just added them for readability)
Once you have it as a valid JSON formatted string, you can do this
NSError *error;
NSDictionary* json = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData: [dictionary[#"field_names"] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding] options: NSJSONReadingMutableContainers error: &error];
NSArray* YourArray = json[#"AnArray"];

Answer 2

I didn't find any cocoa method for this task, so I replaced , with & that occurs within {} and then used [string componentsSeparatedByString:#","] method to get it as NSArray. Below is the code
-(NSString *)prepareFields:(NSString *)string {
NSString *remainingString =string;
NSString *newString = #"";
#try {
while ([remainingString rangeOfString:#"{"].location != NSNotFound ) {
NSUInteger from = [remainingString rangeOfString:#"{"].location ,
to =[remainingString rangeOfString:#"}"].location+1 ;
NSString *part = [[remainingString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(from,to)] stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#"," withString:#"&"];
remainingString = [remainingString substringFromIndex:to];
if([newString isEqualToString:#""])
newString = [part substringWithRange:NSMakeRange([part rangeOfString:#"{"].location,[part rangeOfString:#"}"].location+1)];
newString = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#,%#",newString,[part substringWithRange:NSMakeRange([part rangeOfString:#"{"].location,[part rangeOfString:#"}"].location+1)]];
}
}
#catch (NSException *exception) {
NSLog(#"break %#" ,[exception reason]);
}
if([newString isEqualToString:#""])
newString = remainingString;
else
newString = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#,%#",newString,remainingString];
return newString;
}
And then called it
NSLog([[dictionary objectForKey:#"form"] componentsSeparatedByString:#","]);
That gave following array
(
"{dBur0z9&nr8r0&R0ru&jrurw&qB5rz9ry}",
"{dBur0z9&nr8r0&R0ru&jrurw&qB5rz9ry}",
"{gr2&Z5uzr&Rwxyr5z0Ar5}",
"",
"^~gr2~cry69v~br9rtyz~Z03r4rsru^~Z5uzr~Uvy3z~dB4srz^5B33",
"()",
9ruI,
evD3rsv3,
"",
HLK,
evDsBAA65,
evDtyvt2s6E,
5B33,
5B33,
5B33,
5B33,
"{6ww}",
SRiTfUV,
5B33,
5B33,
5B33,
5B33 )