Question

Okay I am trying to create an indexPath value from a NSArray of NSDictionary values so that when I go through to my tableview I can place an accessory tick on the side.

I have an NSArray of NSDictionaries that look like this

{
        HAS = 1;
        ISL = 1;
        ISV = 0;
        MAN = BANKING;
        MON = 324;
}

So the array would about 80 of these entries each with different values..

To create the IndexPath I would need to count the number of unique first letters of MAN until MAN == selected String This would give me the Section number.

Then I would need to count how many entries are in the selected section type for rows.

I have had some help already from here but I failed to identify a flaw in my logic.. for the row I was counting all of the entires instead of from the start of the selected section which ment my row count was totally stuffed. Below is a example of what I am trying to achieve.

a, aa, b, c, d, dd, ddd, dddd, e, f, g, gg

the user selects ddd so the indexpath would be

section

a, b, c, (d), e, f, g = 3

row

d, dd, (ddd), dddd = 2

I can get the section fine like so

NSArray *MANArray = [sortedArray valueForKey:@"MAN"];

NSMutableArray *letters = [NSMutableArray array];
NSString *currentLetter = nil;
for (NSString *string in MANArray) {
    if (string.length > 0) {
        NSString *letter = [string substringToIndex:1];
        if (![letter isEqualToString:currentLetter]) {
            [letters addObject:letter];
            currentLetter = letter;
        }
    }
}
NSArray *firstLetterArray = [NSArray arrayWithArray:letters];
int sectionCount = 0;
for(int i=0; i<[firstLetterArray count]; i++){
    if( [[firstLetterArray objectAtIndex:i] isEqualToString:completedStringLetter]){
        sectionCount = i;
        NSLog(@"%d", sectionCount);
    }
}

But I am just stuck when trying to get the row count from the selected section.

any help would be HUGELY appreciated.

UPDATE:

This is what I have done to count until the selected value but like I said its incorrect as it needs to start from the section depending on the first letter.

NSNumber * myNumber = [NSNumber numberWithInteger:[modIdString integerValue]];

//                
NSArray *subarray = [sortedArray valueForKey:@"MOD"];
for(int i=0; i<[subarray count]; i++){
   if( [[subarray objectAtIndex:i] isEqualToNumber:myNumber]){
      //you have found it, do whatever you need, and break from the loop
      modelResultIndexPath = nil;
      modelResultIndexPath = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:sectionCount inSection:i];
   }
}

Answer 1

How about converting the array with values "a, aa, b, c, d, dd, ddd, dddd, e, f, g, gg" to an NSDictionary of arrays as,

dict = {
        a = [a, aa];
        b = [b];
        c = [c];
        d = [d, dd, ddd, dddd];
        e = [e];
        f = [f];
        g = [g, gg];
}

and then [[dict allKeys] count] should give you the section count and [[dict valueForKey:@"d"] count] should give the corresponding row count.

In order to convert the array to array of dictionaries, Use this code,

NSArray *sortedArray = [arrayData sortedArrayUsingSelector:@selector(localizedCaseInsensitiveCompare:)];
NSMutableDictionary *arraysByLetterDict = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];

for (NSString *value in sortedArray) {
    NSString *firstLetter = [value substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(0, 1)];
    NSMutableArray *arrayForLetter = [arraysByLetterDict objectForKey:firstLetter];
    if (!arrayForLetter) {
        arrayForLetter = [NSMutableArray array];
        [arraysByLetterDict setObject:arrayForLetter forKey:firstLetter];
    }
    [arrayForLetter addObject:value];
}
NSLog(@"Dictionary: %@", arraysByLetterDict);

Indexpath can be calculated as,

NSArray *allKeys = [[dict allKeys] sortedArrayUsingSelector:@selector(localizedCaseInsensitiveCompare:)];
int totalSectionCount = [allKeys count];
int totalRowCount = [[dict valueForKey:@"d"] count];

int sectionCount = [allKeys indexOfObject:@"d"];
int rowCount = [[dict valueForKey:@"d"] indexOfObject:@"ddd"];

modelResultIndexPath = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:rowCount inSection:sectionCount];