I have an array of UILocalNotifications. In each notification there is a userInfo property which is a NSDictionary. In the userInfo I set a key #"ID" and the value is a unique ID.
So what I want to do is check if the array of notifications if any userInfo property has a value #"test" for key #"ID" then return YES otherwise NO. I know how to achieve this with a for loop but I'm wondering if there might be a more elegant way to do it.
You can use -[NSArray indexesOfObjectsPassingTest:] which takes a block that return YES for matching objects, NO otherwise:
NSArray *array = ...;
NSIndexSet *matchingIndexes = [array indexesOfObjectsPassingTest:^BOOL(UILocalNotification *notification, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) {
return [notification.userInfo[#"ID"] isEqualToString:#"test"];
}];
return [matchingIndexes count] != 0;
I'd guess that you're unlikely to do much better performance-wise than basic fast enumeration -- maybe using one of the "enumerate with options" methods, allowing concurrency -- but there are certainly more elegant ways to write what you're trying to do:
[[array valueForKeyPath:#"userInfo.ID"] containsObject:#"test"];
Related
I have an NSArray containing objects with a size property.
How can I check if the NSArray has two objects with the same value for size?
Can I do something like:
int i = 0;
for (id item1 in myArray) {
NSDecimalNumber *size1 = [item1 size];
for (id item2 in myArray) {
NSDecimalNumber *size2 = [item2 size];
if ([size1 isEqual:size2]) {
i ++;
}
}
}
if (i > [myArray count]) {
NSLog(#"Duplicate Sizes Exist");
}
Or is there an easier way?
Try this code:
NSSet *myset = [NSSet setWithArray:[myarray valueForKey:#"size"]];
int duplicatesCount = [myarray count] - [myset count];
size here is the object property.
Use NSCountedSet. then add all your objects to the counted set, and use the countForObject: method to find out how often each object appears in your array.
You can check this link also how-to-find-duplicate-values-in-arrays
Hope it helps you
Probably simplest is to sort the array based on the size field and then step through the sorted list looking for adjacent dupes.
You could also "wrap" each object in one that exports the size as its key and use a set. But that's a lot of extra allocations.
But if you only want to know if dupes exist, and not which ones they are, create an NSNumber for each object's size and insert the NSNumbers in a set. The final size will tell you how many dupes.
NSArray *cleanedArray = [[NSSet setWithArray:yourArraywithDuplicatesObjects ] allObjects];
Use Sets this will remove all duplicates objects.Will return NSArrayNSCountedSet and use countForObject: method to find out how often each object appears how many times.
I intend to make a program that does the following:
Create an NSArray populated with numbers from 1 to 100,000.
Loop over some code that deletes certain elements of the NSArray when certain conditions are met.
Store the resultant NSArray.
However the above steps will also be looped over many times and so I need a fast way of making this NSArray that has 100,000 number elements.
So what is the fastest way of doing it?
Is there an alternative to iteratively populating an Array using a for loop? Such as an NSArray method that could do this quickly for me?
Or perhaps I could make the NSArray with the 100,000 numbers by any means the first time. And then create every new NSArray (for step 1) by using method arraywithArray? (is it quicker way of doing it?)
Or perhaps you have something completely different in mind that will achieve what I want.
edit: replace NSArray with NSMutableArray in above post
It is difficult to tell in advance which method will be the fastest. I like the block based functions, e.g.
NSMutableArray *array = ...; // your mutable array
NSIndexSet *toBeRemoved = [array indexesOfObjectsPassingTest:^BOOL(NSNumber *num, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) {
// Block is called for each number "num" in the array.
// return YES if the element should be removed and NO otherwise;
}];
[array removeObjectsAtIndexes:toBeRemoved];
You should probably start with a correctly working algorithm and then use Instruments for profiling.
You may want to look at NSMutableIndexSet. It is designed to efficiently store ranges of numbers.
You can initialize it like this:
NSMutableIndexSet *set = [[NSMutableIndexSet alloc]
initWithIndexesInRange:NSMakeRange(1, 100000)];
Then you can remove, for example, 123 from it like this:
[set removeIndex:123];
Or you can remove 400 through 409 like this:
[set removeIndexesInRange:NSMakeRange(400, 10)];
You can iterate through all of the remaining indexes in the set like this:
[set enumerateIndexesUsingBlock:^(NSUInteger i, BOOL *stop) {
NSLog(#"set still includes %lu", (unsigned long)i);
}];
or, more efficiently, like this:
[set enumerateRangesUsingBlock:^(NSRange range, BOOL *stop) {
NSLog(#"set still includes %lu indexes starting at %lu",
(unsigned long)range.length, (unsigned long)range.location);
}];
I'm quite certain it will be fastest to create the array using a c array, then creating an NSArray from that (benchmark coming soon). Depending on how you want to delete the numbers, it may be fastest to do that in the initial loop:
const int max_num = 100000;
...
id *nums = malloc(max_num * sizeof(*nums));
int c = 0;
for(int i = 1; i <= max_num; i++) {
if(!should_skip(i)) nums[c++] = #(i);
}
NSArray *nsa = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:nums count:c];
First benchmark was somewhat surprising. For 100M objects:
NSArray alloc init: 8.6s
NSArray alloc initWithCapacity: 8.6s
id *nums: 6.4s
So an array is faster, but not by as much as I expected.
You can use fast enumeration to search through the array.
for(NSNumber item in myArrayOfNumbers)
{
If(some condition)
{
NSLog(#"Found an Item: %#",item);
}
}
You might want to reconsider what you are doing here. Ask yourself why you want such an array. If your goal is to manipulate an arbitrarily large collection of integers, you'll likely prefer to use NSIndexSet (and its mutable counterpart).
If you really want to manipulate a NSArray in the most efficient way, you will want to implement a dedicated subclass that is especially optimized for this kind of job.
If I have a large NSDirectory typically from a parsed JSON-object I can access this object with code like so:
[[[[[obj objectForKey:#"root"] objectForKey:#"key1"] objectAtIndex:idx] objectForKey:#"key2"] objectAtIndex:idz];
The line might be a lot longer than this.
Can I optimize this code in any way? At least make it easier to read?
This line will also generate a runtime-error if the object does not correspond, what is the most efficient way to avoid that?
If you were using -objectForKey: for everything you could use -valueForKeyPath:, as in
[obj valueForKeyPath:#"key1.key2.key3.key4"]
However, this doesn't work when you need to use -objectAtIndex:. I don't think there's any good solution for you. -valueForKeyPath: also wouldn't solve the problem of the runtime errors.
If you truly want a simple way to do this you could write your own version of -valueForKeyPath: (call it something else) that provides a syntax for specifying an -objectAtIndex: instead of a key, and that does the appropriate dynamic checks to ensure the object actually responds to the method in question.
If you want easier to read code you can split the line into several lines like this
MyClass *rootObject = [obj objectForKey:#"root"];
MyClass *key1Object = [rootObject objectForKey:#"key1"];
MyClass *myObject = [key1Object objectAtIndex:idx];
...
and so forth.
I think, you can create some array, that will contain full "path" to your object. The only thing, you need to store your indexes somehow, maybe in NSNumber, in this case you cannot use NSNumber objects as keys in your dictionaries. Then create a method, that will return needed object for this given "path". smth like
NSMutableArray* basePath = [NSMutableArray arrayWithObjects: #"first", [NSNumber numberWithInt:index], nil];
id object = [self objectForPath:basePath inContainer:container];
- (id) objectForPath:(NSMutableArray*)basePath inContainer:(id)container
{
id result = nil;
id pathComponent = [basePath objectAtIndex: 0];
[basePath removeObjectAtIndex: 0];
// check if it is a number with int index
if( [pathComponent isKindOfClass:[NSNumber class]] )
{
result = [container objectAtIndex: [pathComponent intValue]];
}
else
{
result = [container objectForKey: pathComponent];
}
assert( result != nil );
// check if it is need to continue searching object
if( [basePath count] > 0 )
{
return [self objectForPath:basePath inContainer: result];
}
else
{
return result;
}
}
this is just an idea, but I hope you understand what I mean. And as Kevin mentioned above, if you don't have indexes, you can use key-value coding.
Don't know if it can suit you, but you could also give a try to blocks, I always find them very convenient. At least they made code much more readable.
NSArray *filter = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:#"pathToFind", #"pathToFind2",nil];
NSPredicate *filterBlock = [NSPredicate predicateWithBlock: ^BOOL(id obj, NSDictionary *bind){
NSArray *root = (NSArray*)obj;
// cycle the array and found what you need.
// eventually implementing some sort of exit strategy
}];
[rootObject filteredArrayUsingPredicate:filterBlock];
I can grab a random value from an array-like structure by retrieving a random index.
How can I grab a random value from an NSSet object that stores NSNumber objects? I couldn't find an instance method of NSSet that retrieves a random value.
In short, you can't directly retrieve a random object from an NSSet.
You either need to turn the set into an array -- into something that has an index that can be randomized -- by re-architecting your code to use an array or you could implement this using this bit of pseudo-code:
randomIndex = ...random-generator....(0 .. [set count]);
__block currentIndex = 0;
__block selectedObj = nil;
[set enumerateObjectsWithOptions:^(id obj, BOOL *stop) {
if (randomIndex == currentIndex) { selectedObj = obj; *stop = YES }
else currentIndex++;
}];
return selectedObj;
Yes -- it iterates the set, potentially the whole set, when grabbing the object. However, that iteration is pretty much what'll happen in the conversion to an NSArray anyway. As long as the set isn't that big and you aren't calling it that often, no big deal.
Whilst I like that #bbum answer will terminate early on some occasions due to the use of stop in the enumeration block.
For readability and ease of remembering what is going on when you revisit this code in the future I would go with his first suggestion of turn the set into an array
NSInteger randomIndex = ..random-generator....(0 .. [set count])
id obj = [set count] > 0 ? [[set allObjects] objectAtIndex:randomIndex] : nil;
I am using block based enumeration similar to the following code:
[[[rows objectForKey:self.company.coaTypeCode] objectForKey:statementType]
enumerateObjectsWithOptions:NSEnumerationConcurrent
usingBlock:^(id coaItem, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) {
// block code here
}]
I would like to remove some of the objects during the enumeration process depending on the their object values.
How could I do this? I know that manipulating an mutable array or dictionary (NSMutableArray or NSMutableDictionary) during enumeration is usually not possible.
What would be the best way to implement this?
Thank you!
Since you can't remove objects from an array or dictionary during enumeration, you'll have to accumulate the items you want to delete, and then delete them all after the enumeration.
If you're dealing with an array, you can just accumulate the indices.:
NSMutableIndexSet *indexesToDelete = [NSMutableIndexSet indexSet];
NSUInteger currentIndex = 0;
for (id obj in yourArray) {
//do stuff with obj
if (shouldBeDeleted(obj)) {
[indexesToDelete addIndex:currentIndex];
}
currentIndex++;
}
[yourArray removeObjectsAtIndexes:indexesToDelete];
Since the order of the keys in an NSDictionary is undefined, for an NSMutableDictionary you'll have to accumulate keys instead:
NSMutableArray *keysToDelete = [NSMutableArray array];
for (id obj in [yourDictionary keyEnumerator]) {
//do stuff with obj
if (shouldBeDeleted(obj)) {
[keysToDelete addObject:obj];
}
}
[yourDictionary removeObjectsForKeys:keysToDelete];
It's the same thing if you're enumerating with a block. Declare the enumerator in the same scope where you declare the block and it will be retained and just work.
Also worth looking at this question from 3 years ago: Best way to remove from NSMutableArray while iterating?.
Whether you build up an index set during enumeration, or modify the array itself during enumeration, you will have to give up NSEnumerationConcurrent, because most Cocoa objects cannot safely be modified simultaneously from multiple threads.
Anyway, the simplest (but maybe not most efficient) approach is to just enumerate a copy of the container.
For an array, you can enumerate a copy in reverse. I assume that as each item is being enumerated, you may decide to remove that item, but not other items previously enumerated or yet to be enumerated.
NSMutableArray *array = [[rows objectForKey:self.company.coaTypeCode] objectForKey:statementType];
[[array copy] enumerateObjectsWithOptions: NSEnumerationReverse
usingBlock:^(id coaItem, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) {
if ([self objectIsTooUglyToExist:coaItem])
[array removeObjectAtIndex:idx];
}]
You have to enumerate the array in reverse to avoid changing the not-yet-enumerated part of the array.
For a dictionary, you can just enumerate a copy with no special options:
NSMutableDictionary *dictionary = someDictionary;
[[dictionary copy] enumerateKeysAndObjectsUsingBlock:^(id key, id obj, BOOL *stop) {
if ([self object:obj isTooUglyToExistAtKey:key])
[dictionary removeObjectForKey:key];
}];
Another option, with an array, is to use a conventional for loop, with the array's count as the limit. Then one needs to be cognizant of whether an element is removed from a location <= the index (in which case the index should be decremented) or > than the index (in which case the index is left unmodified other than the for statement's increment).
For a dictionary you can first create an array with allKeys, and then iterate through the array. In this case no fiddling with index values is required.