Question

I would like to have a UITextField or UITextView in where as I do some input, alternatives will appear something similar to when you type an address in Mail Application, alternatives appear down and is possible tap them so get a better input user interface.(since there is no need to type the complete word or address or phone number)

I do know how to fetch data from Address Book framework, also how to input text in UITextField/UITextView and its delegates but I don’t know what kind of structure to use for fetching and showing data as the user do his/her input.

I know basic CoreData if this matters,

I hope I can get some help.

UPDATE (2010/3/10):
I don’t have problem make a native-like GUI but I am asking about the algorithm, does any body knows what kind algorithm is best for this thing? maybe some binary tree?
Or should I just fetch data from coredata everytime?

Thanks

Ignacio

UPDATE (2010/03/28):
I’ve been very busy these days, so I have not tried UISearchResults but it seems fine to me. BUT I wonder was there a necessity of deletion of the wining answer? I don’t think is fair my reputation went down and couldn’t see the winning answer. ;(

Answer 1

You don’t need some advanced algorithm to do this kind of thing… if you want to search the address book, then you can do so each time the user types in a character (or however frequent you need to seach). To do this, just take a look at the UISearchDisplayController class. I learned how to do almost the exact thing by looking at Apple’s TableSearch sample app.

That app searches a list of objects using different fields (All, Device, Desktop, Portable)… so you could adapt it to Address Book fields (First Name, Last Name, Address…). The only thing you need to change is the search within the Address Book. I don’t know exactly what your requirements ask for but this should be what you need to get it done. If you have any trouble with the code let me know… but this example really helped me, so hopefully it works for you.