Sorting Array of Objects alphabetically based on a string attribute

Question

I have a UITableView which is populated with an array of objects of type 'Product' which each have a 'name' attribute of type string. When a cell is clicked, a modal view is shown with more information on that product.

What I would like to do is split the products up into sections depending on the first letter of their name attribute. (Like iPhone contacts).

I have been struggling with this for a while now, and I can't seem to find anything online that solves my particular problem..

Could someone point me in the right direction?

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

5

There are several good examples here on SO. Here is a good example:

How to sort an NSMutableArray with custom objects in it?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

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answered Jan 12 '12 at 03:57

dtuckernet

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Thanks, that has shown me how to order the array alphabetically, but I'm still struggling to display the now organised array in a UITableView with alphabetical sections? – Jack Nutkins Jan 12 '12 at 05:22
If you implement the UITableViewDataSource protocol, you can define the number of rows / sections and what cell shows up at each point. You would use this sorted array to know what to present. You can see the protocol here: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/uikit/reference/UITableViewDataSource_Protocol/Reference/Reference.html – dtuckernet Jan 12 '12 at 19:25
In addition, if you want the alphabetical index - see the answer here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1655119/iphone-uitableview-how-do-turn-on-the-single-letter-alphabetical-list-like-the – dtuckernet Jan 12 '12 at 19:26

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 05 '16 at 11:32

Use NSSortDescriptor like this..

NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor =
    [NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:@"name"
                                  ascending:YES
                                   selector:@selector(caseInsensitiveCompare:)];
NSArray *sortedArray = [nameOfArray sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:@[sortDescriptor]];

Hope, this is what you're looking for. Any concern get back to me. :)

Sorting Array of Objects alphabetically based on a string attribute

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