Rebuild an NSArray by grouping objects that have matching id numbers?

Question

I have an NSArray and each object in the array has a groupId and a name. Each object is unique but there are many with the same groupId. Is there a way i can tear the arra

Answer 1

NSArray *array = @[@{@"groupId" : @"1", @"name" : @"matt"},
                   @{@"groupId" : @"2", @"name" : @"john"},
                   @{@"groupId" : @"3", @"name" : @"steve"},
                   @{@"groupId" : @"4", @"name" : @"alice"},
                   @{@"groupId" : @"1", @"name" : @"bill"},
                   @{@"groupId" : @"2", @"name" : @"bob"},
                   @{@"groupId" : @"3", @"name" : @"jack"},
                   @{@"groupId" : @"4", @"name" : @"dan"},
                   @{@"groupId" : @"1", @"name" : @"kevin"},
                   @{@"groupId" : @"2", @"name" : @"mike"},
                   @{@"groupId" : @"3", @"name" : @"daniel"},
                   ];

NSMutableArray *resultArray = [NSMutableArray new];
NSArray *groups = [array valueForKeyPath:@"@distinctUnionOfObjects.groupId"];
for (NSString *groupId in groups)
{
    NSMutableDictionary *entry = [NSMutableDictionary new];
    [entry setObject:groupId forKey:@"groupId"];

    NSArray *groupNames = [array filteredArrayUsingPredicate:[NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"groupId = %@", groupId]];
    for (int i = 0; i < groupNames.count; i++)
    {
        NSString *name = [[groupNames objectAtIndex:i] objectForKey:@"name"];
        [entry setObject:name forKey:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"name%d", i + 1]];
    }
    [resultArray addObject:entry];
}

NSLog(@"%@", resultArray);

Output:

    (
        {
        groupId = 3;
        name1 = steve;
        name2 = jack;
        name3 = daniel;
    },
        {
        groupId = 4;
        name1 = alice;
        name2 = dan;
    },
        {
        groupId = 1;
        name1 = matt;
        name2 = bill;
        name3 = kevin;
    },
        {
        groupId = 2;
        name1 = john;
        name2 = bob;
        name3 = mike;
    }
 )