Question

When I add values in NSMutableDictionary it automatically set Key wise. How can i disable it and arrange as per first set first and second set second.

NSMutableDictionary* filteredDictionary = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];

[filteredDictionary setObject:@"abc" forKey:@"1"];
[filteredDictionary setObject:@"abc" forKey:@"3"];
[filteredDictionary setObject:@"abc" forKey:@"2"];
[filteredDictionary setObject:@"abc" forKey:@"5"];
[filteredDictionary setObject:@"abc" forKey:@"4"];

NSLog(@"%@",filteredDictionary);

current output:
{
1 = abc;
2 = abc;
3 = abc;
4 = abc;
5 = abc;    
}

but i want 
{
1 = abc;
3 = abc;
2 = abc;
5 = abc;    
4 = abc;
}

Is there any way to disable sorting as per key?

Answer 1

Here’s a way of doing it:

NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor = [NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:@"key" ascending:YES comparator:^(id obj1, id obj2) {

    if (obj1 > obj2) {
        return (NSComparisonResult)NSOrderedDescending;
    }
    if (obj1 < obj2) {
        return (NSComparisonResult)NSOrderedAscending;
    }
    return (NSComparisonResult)NSOrderedSame;
}];

NSArray *sortedKeys = [[filteredDictionary allKeys] sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:[NSArray arrayWithObject:sortDescriptor]];

NSMutableDictionary *orderedDictionary = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];

for (NSString *index in sortedKeys) {
    [orderedDictionary setObject:[filteredDictionary objectForKey:index] forKey:index];
}

filteredDictionary = orderedDictionary;