NSDictionary Searching Issue - ios

Question

I have a plist (an array of dictionary's) that I am reading into an NSArray which I am using to populate a table. It's a list of people and their work location, phone number, etc. I added a UISearchBar and implemented the textDidChange method as well.
When I search by the person's last name I do see the filtered list in the table, however I don't think that I am storing the filtered results properly. I am using an NSMutable Array but I am losing the key:value pairing.
Can someone please point me in the right direction? I ultimately would like to click on a filtered name and push to a detailed view controller. I believe my issue is that I am trying to capture the filtered results in an NSMutableArray but I am not certain.
I've done a lot of Googling but can't seem to put this together in my head. Any help is appreciated.
Kind Regards,
Darin
Here is the array that I am using to load the plist.
-(NSArray *)content
{
if (!content){ {
content = [[NSArray alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:#"ophonebook" ofType:#"plist"]];
NSSortDescriptor* nameSortDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:#"Last" ascending:YES];
content= [content sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:[NSArray arrayWithObject:nameSortDescriptor]];
}
return content;
}
Here is the UISearchBar Method
- (void)searchBar:(UISearchBar *)searchBar textDidChange:(NSString *)searchText {
if (searchText.length == 0)
{
isFiltered= NO;
} else {
isFiltered= YES;
filteredPeople = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
for (NSDictionary *dict in content)
{
NSString *last = [dict objectForKey:#"Last"];
NSRange lastRange = [last rangeOfString:searchText options:NSCaseInsensitiveSearch];
if (lastRange.location != NSNotFound)
{
[filteredPeople addObject: [dict objectForKey:#"Last"]];
}
}
}
[myTableView reloadData];
}

Answer 1

Keep things simple, get rid of the flags and the different arrays in your table delegate methods. Instead, have 1 array for your source data (content) and another array for your source data that is actually for display (call it displayContent).
Now, when you start up, set displayContent = content.
Then, when you want to filter, set displayContent = [content filteredArrayUsingPredicate:...]; (you can convert your current loop into a simple predicate).
Finally, when you're done searching, set displayContent = content.
No flags. No ifs in the table delegate methods. Simple, readable code.
p.s. your problem is:
[filteredPeople addObject: [dict objectForKey:#"Last"]];
which you should be setting to:
[filteredPeople addObject:dict];
so you have all the data instead of just the names. Though technically you could still make it work by searching for the last name in your content.