How to create a NSDictionnary from an array with custom cells - ios

Question

I have a UITableView with custom cellView populated with an array (cf. functs) without section. My goal is to create a search bar (which is ok) with a list index (which is the problem).
After reading a lot of documentations, I plan to use these three methods: "numberOfSectionsInTableView", "sectionIndexTitlesForTableView" and "sectionForSectionIndexTitle"
How to create the NSDictionnary of functs array with the following structure?
//in viewDidLoad
// Initialize the functs array
Funct *funct1 = [Funct new];
funct1.name = #"AAA";
funct1.detail = #"detail1...";
funct1.image = #"a.jpg";
Funct *funct2 = [Funct new];
funct2.name = #"BBB";
funct2.prepTime = #"detail2...";
funct2.image = #"b.jpg";
functs = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:funct, funct2, nil]; //etc.
//For Index list: one section per letter
NSString *letters = #"a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z";
self.indexTitlesArray = [letters componentsSeparatedByString:#" "];
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Here you have a good tutorial with example project. It´s what you are looking for.
It´s an example for TableView indexed, but it has a good example for sections and rows
There is in this example this method very useful for you
static NSString *letters = #"abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
// This method returns an array of dictionaries where each key is a letter
// and each value is a group of words corresponding to the letter.
+ (NSArray *) wordsFromLetters {
NSMutableArray *content = [NSMutableArray new];
for (int i = 0; i < [letters length]; i++ ) {
NSMutableDictionary *row = [[[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init] autorelease];
char currentWord[WORD_LENGTH + 1];
NSMutableArray *words = [[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] autorelease];
for (int j = 0; j < WORD_LENGTH; j++ ) {
if (j == 0) {
currentWord[j] = toupper([letters characterAtIndex:i]);
}
else {
currentWord[j] = [letters characterAtIndex:i];
}
currentWord[j+1] = '\0';
[words addObject:[NSString stringWithCString:currentWord encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding]];
}
char currentLetter[2] = { toupper([letters characterAtIndex:i]), '\0'};
[row setValue:[NSString stringWithCString:currentLetter encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding]
forKey:#"headerTitle"];
[row setValue:words forKey:#"rowValues"];
[content addObject:row];
}
return content;
}
You can take the main idea from this resource, but if you prefer, I adapted the code. I think works fine
NSMutableArray *funcsArray = [NSMutableArray array];//Here you add all your functs objects
[funcsArray addObjects: funct1, funct2...];
NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor;
sortDescriptor = [[[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:#"name"
ascending:YES selector:#selector(localizedCaseInsensitiveCompare:)] autorelease];
NSArray *sortDescriptors = [NSArray arrayWithObject:sortDescriptor];
NSArray *sortedArray;
sortedArray = [funcsArray sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:sortDescriptors];
NSMutableArray *funcsArrayOrdered = [NSMutableArray array];//Here you add all your functs objects
NSMutableArray *funcsIndexed = [NSMutableArray array];
NSMutableArray *letters = [NSMutableArray array];
NSString *currentLetter = nil;
int numItems = [funcsArrayOrdered count];
for (Funct *functObj in funcsArrayOrdered) {
NSLog(#"funct: %#", functObj.name);
numItems--;
NSString *string = userT.name;
if (string.length > 0) {
NSString *letter = [[string substringToIndex:1] uppercaseString];
if ([currentLetter length] == 0) {
currentLetter = letter;
}
if (![letter isEqualToString:currentLetter] || numItems == 0) {
if ([letter isEqualToString:currentLetter] && numItems == 0) {
[letters addObject:functObj];
NSMutableDictionary *dic = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
[dic setValue:currentLetter forKey:#"headerTitle"];
[dic setValue:letters forKey:#"rowValues"];
[funcsIndexed addObject:dic];
letters = [NSMutableArray array];
}else{
NSMutableDictionary *dic = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
[dic setValue:currentLetter forKey:#"headerTitle"];
[dic setValue:letters forKey:#"rowValues"];
[funcsIndexed addObject:dic];
letters = [NSMutableArray array];
[letters addObject:functObj];
currentLetter = letter;
if (numItems == 0 && [funcsArrayOrdered count] > 1) {
NSMutableDictionary *dic = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
[dic setValue:currentLetter forKey:#"headerTitle"];
[dic setValue:letters forKey:#"rowValues"];
[funcsIndexed addObject:dic];
}
}
}else {
[letters addObject:functObj];
}
}
}
Now you will have your array of Dictionaries ordered in funcsIndexed