How to get rid of multiple sets of parentheses in an array - ios

Question

I'm using RESTKit to do some object mapping for a JSON and I'm mapping an array. The JSON that I'm mapping looks like this: "parameters":[{"parameter_value":["Smith"]}, {"parameter_value":[66211]}]
The array that I'm getting looks like this:
Parameter Value: (
(
Smith
),
(
66211
)
)
When I try to convert the array to a string via this code: NSString *nameidvalue = [[parameterValueArray valueForKey:#"description"] componentsJoinedByString:#""]; The string nameidvalue turns into this:
(
Smith
)(
66211
)
How exactly do I get rid of the parentheses so what I'm left with is Smith, 66211

Answer 1

You asked about eliminating "sets of parentheses", but given that the underlying structure is a series of nested collections (dictionaries and arrays), you can achieve the desired effect by effectively collapsing a level or two from that structure. You can do this with the KVC collection operator, #unionOfArrays, used in conjunction with valueForKeyPath. If you really want to do a string manipulation, we can do that, but it seems more logical to write code that renders a simple array, and then you can use componentsJoinedByString if you really want a simple string at the end.
What makes this answer a little complicated is that the reported JSON doesn't match the NSLog of the resulting NSDictionary, so I'm unclear as to precisely what the input was. So I'm going to show two permutations of this KVC collection operator, one that matches the provided sample JSON, and another that matches the JSON that I inferred from the NSDictionary structure you reported.
If the JSON is:
{"parameters":[{"parameter_value":["Smith"]}, {"parameter_value":[66211]}]}
You could then parse that as follows (I'm using the NSJSONReadingMutableContainers so that I can change the results; if you're not trying to change the array, but rather just extract the appropriate results, then you don't need to make it mutable; it's up to you):
NSMutableDictionary *dictionary = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data
options:NSJSONReadingMutableContainers
error:&error];
That would yield a NSMutableDictionary structure would be:
{
parameters = (
{
"parameter_value" = (
Smith
);
},
{
"parameter_value" = (
66211
);
}
);
}
But you could replace parameters with:
dictionary[#"parameters"] = [dictionary[#"parameters"] valueForKeyPath:#"#unionOfArrays.parameter_value"];
Yielding:
{
parameters = (
Smith,
66211
);
}
But, if you had JSON like:
{"parameters":[["Smith"],[66211]]}
And if you parsed that with the same NSJSONSerialization as above, that would yield a dictionary like:
{
parameters = (
(
Smith
),
(
66211
)
);
}
And you could replace the parameters value using the KVC collection operator #unionOfArrays again, this time using self:
dictionary[#"parameters"] = [dictionary[#"parameters"] valueForKeyPath:#"#unionOfArrays.self"];
That would yield:
{
parameters = (
Smith,
66211
);
}
You asked:
How exactly do I get rid of the parentheses so what I'm left with is Smith, 66211
If you, literally, just want #"Smith, 66211", you could then just take this simplified array and now use componentsJoinedByString:
NSString *string = [dictionary[#"parameters"] componentsJoinedByString:#", "];

Answer 2

Try
NSString *nameidvalue = [[parameterValueArray valueForKey:#"parameters"] componentsJoinedByString:#""];

Answer 3

Replace with,
NSString *nameidvalue = [[parameterValueArray valueForKey:#"description"] componentsJoinedByString:#","];

Answer 4

Try like.. Access the Objectforkey of Parameter Value and store into a dicitonary and then access the objectforkey of Smith and store the value into a string.
NSError *e = nil;
NSMutableArray *JSON = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData: data options: NSJSONReadingMutableContainers error: &e];
NSDictionary *value = [JSON objectforkey:#"parameter_value"];
You will get the expected values.