Sort NSArray with custom objects

Question

In my Xcode project I have the following classes:

Address

@interface LDAddress : NSObject{
    NSString *street;
    NSString *zip;
    NSString *city;
    float latitude;
    float longitude;
}

@property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *street;
@property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *zip;
@property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *city;
@property (readwrite, assign, nonatomic) float latitude;
@property (readwrite, assign, nonatomic) float longitude;

@end

Location

@interface LDLocation : NSObject{
    int locationId;
    NSString *name;
    LDAddress *address;
}
@property (readwrite, assign, nonatomic) int locationId;
@property (nonatomic, retain) LDAddress *address;
@property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *name;

@end

In an subclass of UITableViewController, there is a NSArray containing a lot of unsorted objects of LDLocations. Now, I want to sort the NSArray's objects ascending based on the property city of a LDAddress.

How can I sort the array using NSSortDescriptor? I tried the following, but the app dumps when sorting the array.

NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"Address.city" ascending:YES];
[_locations sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:@[sortDescriptor]];

Hensel

have you tried just @"city" as the key? – Overarch

Answer 1

Try making the first key lowercase.

NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"address.city" ascending:YES];

Fatalism

Answer 2

You can also sort an array with blocks:

    NSArray *sortedLocations = [_locations sortedArrayUsingComparator: ^(LDAddress *a1, LDAddress *a2) {
        return [a1.city compare:a2.city];
    }];

Yabber

I tried your coding and it worked, but I like sorting an array with NSSortDescriptor more. – Hensel

Answer 3

This will allow to sort with multiple types. Like we need to sort the Movie based on time and if the time is equal then need to sort by name.

NSArray *sortedArray = [childrenArray sortedArrayUsingComparator:^NSComparisonResult(id a, id b) {
        NSNumber *first = [NSNumber numberWithLong:[(Movie*)a timeInMillis]];
        NSNumber *second = [NSNumber numberWithLong:[(Movie*)b timeInMillis]];
        NSComparisonResult result =  [first compare:second];
        if(result == NSOrderedSame){
            result = [((NSString*)[(Movie*)a name] ) compare:((NSString*)[(Movie*)b name])];
        }
        return  result;
    }];

Cuirbouilli

Answer 4

-(NSArray*)sortedWidgetList:(NSArray*)widgetList
{
    NSSortDescriptor *firstDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"itemNum" ascending:YES];

    NSArray *sortDescriptors = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:firstDescriptor, nil];

    NSArray *sortedArray = [widgetList sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:sortDescriptors];

    return sortedArray;
}

Wolcott