Check if an array of NSDictionary contains a NSDictionary - ios

Question

In my app I've to check if in an array of NSDictionary there are another NSDictionary. In other words, I made a JSON file and I store it in Documents.
Now I'm parsing this JSON to insert a new entry, before I insert this entry in my JSON I need to check if the entry it's already stored in my file. I parsed JSON so:
// First I read the JSON file from the folder Documents
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *filePath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"data.json"];
NSString *content = [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile:filePath encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:NULL];
NSData *data = [content dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSDictionary *dictContent = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:kNilOptions error:nil];
// Json parsing
NSMutableArray *array = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
NSMutableArray *arrayOfDictData = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
if (dictContent) {
NSDictionary *sites = [dictContent objectForKey:#"sites"];
NSArray *site = [sites objectForKey:#"site"];
array = [site mutableCopy];
}
Then I've another NSDictionary (dictForJson) in which I inserted the data parsed from the HTML site, so now I need to check if the data in the dictionary dictForJson are still in the JSON file.
How I can check that?
The dictForJson has this structure:
dictForJson = #{#"name": htmlTitle,
#"src": path,
#"expiryDate": expireDate};
the NSArray site has this structure:
site: (
{
expiryDate = "29 Ago 2013";
name = Sito4;
src = "/Users/redoddity/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/6.1/Applications/2D9EBE71-4365-448D-8AD2-A08749B8DBC1/Documents/Sito4.html";
}
)
Have you any idea?
I tried with [array containsObject:dictForJson], but the NSDictionary isn't ordered so when I use this method sometimes returns 0 and other times returns 1
Maybe it's useful I build my JSON with the following code:
- (void)JsonCreateOrEdit {
NSDictionary *dictSites = [[NSDictionary alloc]init];
NSDictionary *dictSite = [[NSDictionary alloc]init];
NSMutableArray *site = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
NSDictionary *dictForJson = [[NSDictionary alloc]init];
dictForJson = #{#"name": htmlTitle,
#"src": path,
#"expiryDate": expireDate};
NSString* documentsPath = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *filePath = [documentsPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"data.json"];
BOOL fileExist = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:filePath];
if (!fileExist) {
[site addObject:dictForJson];
dictSite = #{#"site": site};
dictSites = #{#"sites": dictSite};
// Creo il file Json
NSLog(#"Il file non esiste");
SBJsonWriter *writer = [[SBJsonWriter alloc]init];
NSString *jsonCommand = [writer stringWithObject:dictSites];
[CreateFile createFileIn:documentsPath with:#"data.json" andData:jsonCommand]; // This is a class method I made to create the file
else {
// Here there are the instructions to update the file data.json
NSLog(#"Il file esiste");
// Leggo il file json
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *filePath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"data.json"];
NSString *content = [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile:filePath encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:NULL];
NSData *data = [content dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSDictionary *dictContent = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:kNilOptions error:nil];
// Faccio il parsing del json
NSMutableArray *array = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
NSMutableArray *arrayOfDictData = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
if (dictContent) {
NSDictionary *sites = [dictContent objectForKey:#"sites"];
NSArray *site = [sites objectForKey:#"site"];
array = [site mutableCopy];
// Here I must check if in the array site there are the same information I'm trying to insert
}
}

Answer 1

NSPredicate *aPredicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:#"%K LIKE[c] %#", #"name", #"htmlTitle"];
NSArray *theFilteredArray = [mainArrayOfDictionry filteredArrayUsingPredicate:aPredicate];
if ([theFilteredArray count]){
NSLog(#"Dictionay Exists");
}else{
NSLog(#"Dictionay does not Exists");
}
In the first statement the first parameter is the "Key" and the second parameter is the actual value of the dictionay.
I am Assuming following :
NSDictionary *dictForJson = #{#"name": htmlTitle,
#"src": path,
#"expiryDate": expireDate};
NSArray *mainArrayOfDictionry = (
"dictForJson" : #{#"name": htmlTitle,
#"src": path,
#"expiryDate": expireDate};
),
(),
(),
(),
.
.
.
)
*Hope this will help you.*Array

Answer 2

I did it! :)
I made so:
{
// Aggiorno il file
NSLog(#"Il file esiste");
// Leggo il file json
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *filePath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"data.json"];
NSString *content = [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile:filePath encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:NULL];
NSData *data = [content dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSDictionary *dictContent = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:kNilOptions error:nil];
// Faccio il parsing del json
NSMutableArray *array = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
NSMutableArray *arrayOfDictData = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
if (dictContent) {
NSDictionary *sites = [dictContent objectForKey:#"sites"];
NSArray *site = [sites objectForKey:#"site"];
NSDictionary *dict = [site objectAtIndex:0];
NSLog(#"dictForJson = %#\ndict = %#", dictForJson, dict);
NSString *name = [dict objectForKey:#"name"];
NSLog(#"name: %#", name);
array = [site mutableCopy];
}
And it works! Thank you for the time!