Question

I was looking at the TableSearch example code from Apple. It looks like that they have a NSArray for all the content, and a NSMutableArray for filtered content. And then if the filter is on, then they would show the NSMutableArray. If it is off, they would show the NSArray that has all the data.

1) I was wondering if this is a common implementation for filters since I haven’t done much filtering before.

2) To add to that question, if I had a filter of four different categories, would I still use one NSMutableArray that shows the filtered content when the filter is on? Or do I create four different NSMutableArrays for each different type of filter, and then show that list depending on which filter is on.

Assuming that the common implementation is to have an NSArray for the list, I’m getting confused if creating the arrays of filtered list up front is expensive if I were to do four different NSMutableArrays, or if depending on the click from the user of what filter option they select, should I create the NSMutableArray on the fly, and then reload the [tableView reloadData];

Thanks.

Answer 1

I don’t have that sample app in front of me, but you typically would filter using a predicate, so it would be helpful for you to review the docs on NSPredicate.

So when you want to change the filter, you do so by changing the predicate. You don’t have to create all filtered results. You only create the one you need at any given moment.

With arrays, you can filter using code like that shown in this example. The key lines are

NSPredicate *predicate;
predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"length == 9"];
NSArray *myArray2 = [myArray filteredArrayUsingPredicate:predicate];

Filtering is not always done with arrays. It can be done with NSFetchedResultsControllers if using Core Data. Predicates are used there also, in very much the same way. Predicates can be used for other things, too, including regular expression filtering. It’s worth looking at, if you aren’t familiar with it.