Search through NSArray of objects with different locale

Question

I have an array of phone number objects, the phone number model is as follows:

@property NSString *hotlineName;
@property NSString *hotlineNameAr;
@property NSString *hotlineNumber;
@property NSString *hotlineImage;
@property NSInteger hotlineID;
@property RLMArray<Tags> *hotlineTags;

when I perform a search, I filter the array if either hotlineName, hotlineNameAr, hotlineNumber and in property hotlineTags: tagName and tagNameAr contain the search text.

I used NSPredicate to filter the array as such:

 -(void) searchForText: (NSString *) searchText{

  NSString *predicateFormat = @"SELF.%K contains[cd] %@";
  NSString *tagFormat = @"ANY SELF.hotlineTags.%K contains[cd] %@";

  NSString *searchNameAttribute = @"hotlineName" ;
  NSString *searchTagAttribute = @"tagName";
  NSString *searchNameAttribute_ar = @"hotlineNameAr" ;
  NSString *searchTagAttribute_ar = @"tagNameAr";
  NSString *numberAttribute = @"hotlineNumber";

  NSPredicate *namePredicate = [NSPredicate  predicateWithFormat:predicateFormat, searchNameAttribute, searchText];

  NSPredicate *tagPredicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:tagFormat, searchTagAttribute, searchText];

  NSPredicate *namePredicate_ar = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:predicateFormat, searchNameAttribute_ar, searchText];

  NSPredicate *tagPredicate_ar = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:tagFormat, searchTagAttribute_ar, searchText];

  NSPredicate *numberPredicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:predicateFormat, numberAttribute, searchText];

  NSPredicate *predicate = [NSCompoundPredicate orPredicateWithSubpredicates:@[namePredicate, numberPredicate, tagPredicate, namePredicate_ar, tagPredicate_ar]];

  filteredResults = [hotlines_arr filteredArrayUsingPredicate:predicate]; 
}

and so far it works well, the problem arose when I search with numbers in a different locale, in this instance in Arabic, so used I NSNumberFormatter as such:

// Convert string From Arabic/Persian numbers to English numbers
+(NSString *) convertToEnglishNumber:(NSString *) string {

    // NSNumericSearch
    NSNumberFormatter *formatter = [[NSNumberFormatter alloc] init];
    formatter.numberStyle = NSNumberFormatterDecimalStyle;
    NSLocale *locale = [NSLocale localeWithLocaleIdentifier:@"EN"];
    [formatter setLocale:locale];
    NSNumber *number = [formatter numberFromString:string];

    return [number stringValue];

}

but the problem with NSNumberFormatter is that any leading zero's are ignored in the conversion, so I need an alternative to format the NSString based on locale or search array while taking in consideration locale, the same option in spotlight search. I also tried formatting as such but it was in vain.

NSString *str = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"%@" locale:locale, searchText];

NSString *localizedString =[NSString localizedStringWithFormat:@"%@", searchText];

In `NSNumberFormatter` you should be able to set how many leading zero you need. — Larme, Mar 31 '16 at 13:16
But I have no idea how many leading zero's will I have. It's a contains search... — Olla Ashour, Mar 31 '16 at 17:22
Well, the number leading zero isn't the difference between the [[string length ]` and `[[number stringValue] length]`? — Larme, Mar 31 '16 at 17:38

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 31 '16 at 12:59

As I couldn't think of any other option and this was a last resort, I ended up replacing the string but I'm very unhappy with answer:

+ (NSString *) replaceStrings: (NSString *) textToEdit{
    NSLocale *locale = [NSLocale localeWithLocaleIdentifier:@"ar"];
    for (NSInteger i= 0; i < 10; i++) {
        NSString *stringVal = [@(i) stringValue];
        NSString *localeString = [@(i) descriptionWithLocale:locale];
        textToEdit = [textToEdit stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:localeString withString:stringVal];
    }
    return textToEdit;
}

Search through NSArray of objects with different locale

1 Answers1