Question

I need to sort rows by due dates from XML:

<plist version="1.0">
<array>
<array>
    <string>23 Jan 2012</string>
    <string>Chinese New Year</string>
    <string>Closed</string>
</array>
<array>
    <string>24 Jan 2012</string>
    <string>Chinese New Year</string>
    <string>Closed</string>
</array>
</array>

I have studied the answer given in : Objects Sorting With date ,Time Problem in Array(Iphone Development) which i found very useful but i’m in doubt:

1. I don’t understand where do i get the @”entity” and @”date” . Is it a variable or id and where do i obtain it?

   if (date)
   {
   [dict setObject:entry forKey:@”entity”];
   [dict setObject:date forKey:@”date”];
   [tempArray addObject:dict];
   }

2. The month given is in a MMM format (JAN,FEB,MAR), which is fixed as one of my project scope and i clueless about how am I able to sort by the abbreviation as compared to the normal numbered ones.

Would deeply appreciate some help here as I’m so stuck with this for a few days!! Thanks!

Answer 1

make a class(YourClass) with objects (yourDateString, yourEvent, yourStatus)

YourClass
--yourDateString
--yourEvent
--yourStatus

parse your xml save details in object of this class (YourClass) and store the objects in this array(arrayWithYourContents) using

    NSDateFormatter* dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [dateFormatter setTimeStyle:NSDateFormatterFullStyle];
    [dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"dd mmm yyyy"];

    arrayWithYourContents sortUsingComparator: ^(id dateObj1, id dateObj2) 
     {
         NSDate *date1 = [dateFormatter dateFromString:[(YourClass *) dateObj1 yourDateString]];


         NSDate *date2 = [dateFormatter dateFromString:[(YourClass *) dateObj2 yourDateString]];

         return [date2 compare: date1];
     }
     ];  

I am not sure about the date format (@”dd mmm yyyy”).. please check if this works or change it to which matches to yours.

arrayWithYourContents shall now contain your sorted date components.