NSDictionary: Comparing NSDictionaries - objective-c

Question

There are two of files. Lets call them fileOne and fileTwo
Each has several NSMutableDictionary properties with identical names. To list a few:
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableDictionary * lunchStartTimeObject;
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableDictionary * lunchLocationNameObject;
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableDictionary * lunchLocationAddressObject;
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableDictionary * activity1NameObject;
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableDictionary * activity1StartTimeObject;
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableDictionary * activity1LocationNameObject;
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableDictionary * activity1CommentsFieldObject;
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableDictionary * activity1LocationAddressObject;
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableDictionary * activity2NameObject;
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableDictionary * activity2StartTimeObject;
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableDictionary * activity2LocationNameObject;
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableDictionary * activity2CommentsFieldObject;
#property (retain, nonatomic) NSMutableDictionary * activity2LocationAddressObject;
I would like to compare the dictionaries with the same name in the two files by calling the method below (or something similar):
-(NSMutableDictionary *)cellColorForChanges:(NSMutableDictionary *)newdictionary :(NSMutableDictionary *)oldDictionary;
{
if(![newdictionary isEqualToDictionary:oldDictionary])
{
[newdictionary setValue:#"UIColor yellowColor" forKey:#"cellColor"];
}
return newdictionary;
}
I'm trying avoid writing code for each NSMutableDictionary manually. Is there a way to avoid the following:
if(![fileOne.lunchStartTimeObject isEqualToDictionary:fileTwo.lunchStartTimeObject])
{
fileOne.lunchStartTimeObject setValue:#"UIColor yellowColor" forKey:#"cellColor"];
}
I'm having trouble figuring out the most efficient way to accomplish the above. Is it somehow possible to send each dictionary to a method and get back the dictionary (updated with another key, if it's not equal)? Or what I'm trying to avoid is unavoidable?

Answer 1

You are running into this problem because you are not abstracting your objects sufficiently. It seems to me that your property list above is ridiculously redundant. Even the simple code code you provided is hardly readable.
Try to think of your problem in a more conceptional way. Try to think of objects that could encapsulate the functionality you are looking for.
Looking at your properties you probably want a class like this
#interface Activity : NSObject
#property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *name;
#property (nonatomic, strong) NSDate *startTime;
#property (nonatomic, strong) Location *location;
-(BOOL)isEqualToActivity:(Activity*)activity;
#end
Maybe you need a location class that stores more information about a location; perhaps you could use even more fields like firstName, lastName; maybe you need a type (enum or string) property that tells what kind of activity it is, etc. -- you get the idea.
As indicated, you could write your own comparison method where you could tweak for allowing more or less strict capital or small letters, number formats etc.