Search for strings using custom uisearchbar

Question

I am working on an iOS project where I am using a custom search bar. I am stuck at a point where I want to be able to search for a text like 093-003 even if I type in 093003 or 093 003 in the search bar.

This is where I am comparing the strings.

 NSArray *tempAccountArray = _searchBarText.length > 0 ? 
[[WBCBusinessLogic sharedInstance].internalAccountsArray 
filteredArrayUsingPredicate:[NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"displayName CONTAINS[cd] %@ || displayNumber LIKE %@", _searchBarText, _searchBarText]]:
[WBCBusinessLogic sharedInstance].internalAccountsArray;

the code is all scattered. Even if i post, it wouldn't make sense cuz it is distributed between different classes. Could you please share the logic, if you know how to do it? — Somya, Aug 28 '15 at 00:39
@Somya Do not post code in the comments. Update your question with relevant details. — rmaddy, Aug 28 '15 at 03:28

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:52

0

What you are asking for is quite straightforward to do. You need a string compare function that ignores spaces and hyphens. So we do the following :

First strip both strings of spaces and hyphens

Compare if they are equal and return the result.

-(BOOL)doStringsMatch:(NSString*)first second:(NSString*)second
{
     NSCharacterSet *skip = [NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString:@"- "];

  return ([[first stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:skip] isEqual:[second stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:skip]]);

}

EDIT: This only trims the characters from the beginning or end of the string. For a much cleaner solution using regexes: https://stackoverflow.com/a/13177885/1616513

edited May 23 '17 at 11:52

Community

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answered Aug 28 '15 at 07:38

Samhan Salahuddin

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stringByTrimmingCharacterInSet will only trim the characters from the beginning or end of the string. It is better to use stringByReplacingOccurencesOfString. Thanks for the help :) – Somya Aug 31 '15 at 10:46
You're right. I missed out in the hurry :D. But I'd suggest you use a regex instead. It's much cleaner.http://stackoverflow.com/a/13177885/1616513 – Samhan Salahuddin Sep 01 '15 at 06:38

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 31 '15 at 10:52

This is the method I used to compare the strings-

-(BOOL)doStringsMatch:(NSString*)first second:(NSString*)second
{
    first = [first stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"-" withString:@""];
    first = [first stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@" " withString:@""];
    NSLog(@"First String: %@", first);

    second = [second stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"-" withString:@""];
    second = [second stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@" " withString:@""];
    NSLog(@"Second String: %@", second);

    return ([first isEqual:second]);
}

Search for strings using custom uisearchbar

2 Answers2