How to sort an Array with conditions in Swift 3

Question

I'm having an Array of CNContact. I need them to be sorted by name to have tableView sections sorted by name.

var sortedContactsDictionary: [String: [CNContact]] = [:]
var alphabeticSortedContacts: [CNContact] = []

func setAlphabeticOrderOfContacts(_ contact: CNContact) {
    var name = ""
    if contact.familyName != "" {
        name = contact.familyName.lowercaseFirst
    } else {
        name = contact.givenName.lowercaseFirst
    }

    let currentLetter = name.characters.first

    if self.lastProcessedLetter == nil || self.lastProcessedLetter == currentLetter {
        self.alphabeticSortedContacts.append(contact)
    } else {
        self.alphabeticSortedContacts.removeAll()
        self.alphabeticSortedContacts.append(contact)
    }

    self.lastProcessedLetter = currentLetter

    if let letter = currentLetter {
        self.sortedContactsDictionary["\(letter)"] = self.alphabeticSortedContacts
    }
}

But my problem is, that some of the familyName values contain special character like ( as the first character.

Since the [CNContact] is already sorted, the special character names are sorted where I don't need them and if I do something like this:

let specialCharactersRemoved = name.replacingOccurrences(of: "(", with: "")
let currentLetter = specialCharactersRemoved.characters.first

My sections aren't in order anymore. I have the "second letter" of the name (after () for example as first letter of the sections instead of the desired A and if I sort the dictionary again, I have multiple times a section with (f.e.) the key S.

What am I missing or what would be a better approach to sort the [CNContact] into [String: [CNContact]]? Help is very appreciated.

For example one of my contacts works at Andorfine Records and in one of my old phones his family name was (Andorfine Records) (and still is now). I know, that that is not common. But I want to avoid those issues form the very beginning. — David Seek, Apr 27 '17 at 14:42
You shouldn't deal with it. It is the user responsibility to proper use the contacts app. — Leo Dabus, Apr 27 '17 at 14:44
What if the user adds that character in purpose to make it list ahead of the rest? — Leo Dabus, Apr 27 '17 at 14:45
Apple's contacts works the same. (Andorfine Records) is sorted into the A of the contact list. — David Seek, Apr 27 '17 at 14:48
Take a look at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34851296/how-to-sort-contacts-using-contacts-with-swift — Mike Taverne, Apr 27 '17 at 15:54

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 28 '17 at 16:09

I have re-coded my function and now I append on existing keys and create a new Array on missing keys.

func setAlphabeticOrderOfContacts(_ contact: CNContact) {
    if let letter = self.getCurrentLetter(contact) {
        let keyExists = self.sortedContactsDictionary["\(letter)"] != nil

        if keyExists {
            var arrayOfContacts = self.sortedContactsDictionary["\(letter)"]
            arrayOfContacts?.append(contact)
            self.sortedContactsDictionary["\(letter)"] = arrayOfContacts
        } else {
            var arrayOfContacts = [CNContact]()
            arrayOfContacts.append(contact)
            self.sortedContactsDictionary["\(letter)"] = arrayOfContacts
        }
    }
}

func getCurrentLetter(_ contact: CNContact) -> Character? {
    var name = String()
    if contact.familyName != "" {
        name = contact.familyName
    } else {
        name = contact.givenName
    }

    let specialCharactersRemoved = name.replacingOccurrences(of: "(", with: "").lowercaseFirst
    let currentLetter = specialCharactersRemoved.characters.first
    guard let letter = currentLetter else { return nil }
    return letter
}

How to sort an Array with conditions in Swift 3

1 Answers1