Question

I am trying to create a table with dynamic data and I’m kind of stuck. Here is how my data is structured :

NSMutableArray *bigArray;

bigArray has many NSDictionary items.

each items has only one entry.

sectionName is the key, NSMutableArray is the value.

There are many objects in the value NSMutableArray.

I tried to explain this as simple as I could, here is the part where I’m stuck.

//easy
- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView
{
    return [bigArray count];
}

//medium
    - (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{    
    // Return the number of rows in the section.
    return [[[[bigArray objectAtIndex:section] allValues] objectAtIndex:0] count];
}

I can’t figure out this part how to implement this method based on my current data structure :

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
   UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView 
                             dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"MyCell"];

    MyObject *obj = //Need this part


    cell.textLabel.text = obj.name;   

    return cell;

}

Simply put, I’m trying to insert dynamic sections with dynamic data. I’m looking for advice from more experienced developers, how would you tackle this?

Answer 1

Assuming I understood well how your data is structured, here’s how I would do it:

(UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"MyCell"];
    if (!cell) {
        cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault reuseIdentifier:@"MyCell"];
    }

    //this will get you the dictionary for the section being filled
    NSDictionary *item = [bigArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.section];
    // then the array of object for the section
    NSMutableArray *mutableArray = [item objectForKey:@"sectionName"];
    //you then take the object for the row
    MyObject *obj = [mutableArray objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];

    cell.textLabel.text = obj.name;   

    return cell;
}

Don’t forget to set the reuse identifier for the cell prototype in the attributes inspector