Sorting an array of dictionaries in Swift 2

Question

I\'ve read many articles on SO and I\'m still stumped! I have an array of dictionaries, see below:

var myArray = [[String:AnyObject]]()

myArray.append([
            


        

Answer 1

To sort by caseNumber:

myArray.sortInPlace { ($0["caseNumber"] as! String) < ($1["caseNumber"] as! String) }

Note, this uses caseNumber as a String which could lead to surprising results (for example "12345" < "2"). You might either want to store caseNumber as an Int, or convert it to an Int when sorting:

myArray.sortInPlace { Int($0["caseNumber"] as! String) < Int($1["caseNumber"] as! String) }

To sort by caseLUD:

myArray.sortInPlace { ($0["caseLUD"] as! NSDate).compare($1["caseLUD"] as! NSDate) == .OrderedAscending}

.OrderedAscending will give you earliest date first, and .OrderedDescending will give you latest date first.

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If you stored your data in a Struct instead of a Dictionary, you could avoid the messy typecasting.

struct CaseRecord {
    var caseNumber: Int
    var formType: String
    var caseStatus: String
    var caseDetails: String
    var caseLUD: NSDate
    var friendlyName: String
}

var myArray = [CaseRecord]()

myArray.append(CaseRecord(
    caseNumber : 12345,
    formType : "Advanced",
    caseStatus : "Approved",
    caseDetails : "blah blah",
    caseLUD : NSDate(),
    friendlyName : "name1"
    )
)

myArray.append(CaseRecord(
    caseNumber : 124,
    formType : "Standard",
    caseStatus : "On-Hold",
    caseDetails : "blah blah",
    caseLUD : NSDate(),
    friendlyName : "name2"
    )
)

myArray.append(CaseRecord(
    caseNumber : 13,
    formType : "Normal",
    caseStatus : "Rejected",
    caseDetails : "blah blah",
    caseLUD : NSDate(),
    friendlyName : "name3"
    )
)

myArray.sortInPlace { $0.caseNumber < $1.caseNumber }

myArray.sortInPlace { $0.caseLUD.compare($1.caseLUD) == .OrderedDescending }