How do I sort an NSMutableArray with custom objects in it?

Question

What I want to do seems pretty simple, but I can\'t find any answers on the web. I have an NSMutableArray of objects, and let\'s say they are \'Person\' objects

Answer 1

NSMutableArray *stockHoldingCompanies = [NSMutableArray arrayWithObjects:fortune1stock,fortune2stock,fortune3stock,fortune4stock,fortune5stock,fortune6stock , nil];

NSSortDescriptor *sortOrder = [NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:@"companyName" ascending:NO];

[stockHoldingCompanies sortUsingDescriptors:[NSArray arrayWithObject:sortOrder]];

NSEnumerator *enumerator = [stockHoldingCompanies objectEnumerator];

ForeignStockHolding *stockHoldingCompany;

NSLog(@"Fortune 6 companies sorted by Company Name");

    while (stockHoldingCompany = [enumerator nextObject]) {
        NSLog(@"===============================");
        NSLog(@"CompanyName:%@",stockHoldingCompany.companyName);
        NSLog(@"Purchase Share Price:%.2f",stockHoldingCompany.purchaseSharePrice);
        NSLog(@"Current Share Price: %.2f",stockHoldingCompany.currentSharePrice);
        NSLog(@"Number of Shares: %i",stockHoldingCompany.numberOfShares);
        NSLog(@"Cost in Dollars: %.2f",[stockHoldingCompany costInDollars]);
        NSLog(@"Value in Dollars : %.2f",[stockHoldingCompany valueInDollars]);
    }
    NSLog(@"===============================");

Answer 2

See the NSMutableArray method sortUsingFunction:context:

You will need to set up a compare function which takes two objects (of type Person, since you are comparing two Person objects) and a context parameter.

The two objects are just instances of Person. The third object is a string, e.g. @"birthDate".

This function returns an NSComparisonResult: It returns NSOrderedAscending if PersonA.birthDate < PersonB.birthDate. It will return NSOrderedDescending if PersonA.birthDate > PersonB.birthDate. Finally, it will return NSOrderedSame if PersonA.birthDate == PersonB.birthDate.

This is rough pseudocode; you will need to flesh out what it means for one date to be "less", "more" or "equal" to another date (such as comparing seconds-since-epoch etc.):

NSComparisonResult compare(Person *firstPerson, Person *secondPerson, void *context) {
  if ([firstPerson birthDate] < [secondPerson birthDate])
    return NSOrderedAscending;
  else if ([firstPerson birthDate] > [secondPerson birthDate])
    return NSOrderedDescending;
  else 
    return NSOrderedSame;
}

If you want something more compact, you can use ternary operators:

NSComparisonResult compare(Person *firstPerson, Person *secondPerson, void *context) {
  return ([firstPerson birthDate] < [secondPerson birthDate]) ? NSOrderedAscending : ([firstPerson birthDate] > [secondPerson birthDate]) ? NSOrderedDescending : NSOrderedSame;
}

Inlining could perhaps speed this up a little, if you do this a lot.

Answer 3

Your Person objects need to implement a method, say compare: which takes another Person object, and return NSComparisonResult according to the relationship between the 2 objects.

Then you would call sortedArrayUsingSelector: with @selector(compare:) and it should be done.

There are other ways, but as far as I know there is no Cocoa-equiv of the Comparable interface. Using sortedArrayUsingSelector: is probably the most painless way to do it.

Answer 4

I just done multi level sorting based on custom requirement.

//sort the values

    [arrItem sortUsingComparator:^NSComparisonResult (id a, id b){

    ItemDetail * itemA = (ItemDetail*)a;
    ItemDetail* itemB =(ItemDetail*)b;

    //item price are same
    if (itemA.m_price.m_selling== itemB.m_price.m_selling) {

        NSComparisonResult result=  [itemA.m_itemName compare:itemB.m_itemName];

        //if item names are same, then monogramminginfo has to come before the non monograme item
        if (result==NSOrderedSame) {

            if (itemA.m_monogrammingInfo) {
                return NSOrderedAscending;
            }else{
                return NSOrderedDescending;
            }
        }
        return result;
    }

    //asscending order
    return itemA.m_price.m_selling > itemB.m_price.m_selling;
}];

https://sites.google.com/site/greateindiaclub/mobil-apps/ios/multilevelsortinginiosobjectivec

Answer 5

NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor;
sortDescriptor = [[[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"birthDate" ascending:YES] autorelease];
NSArray *sortDescriptors = [NSArray arrayWithObject:sortDescriptor];
NSArray *sortedArray;
sortedArray = [drinkDetails sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:sortDescriptors];

Thanks, it's working fine...

Answer 6

I've used sortUsingFunction:: in some of my projects:

int SortPlays(id a, id b, void* context)
{
    Play* p1 = a;
    Play* p2 = b;
    if (p1.score<p2.score) 
        return NSOrderedDescending;
    else if (p1.score>p2.score) 
        return NSOrderedAscending;
    return NSOrderedSame;
}

...
[validPlays sortUsingFunction:SortPlays context:nil];