Autogroup UITableView alphabetically

Question

Is there a way to auto group/auto-section my UITableView alphabetically? I have a huge array which is being displayed nicely, but it would be even better if I h

Answer 1

i did the following:

AutoSectionTableViewDataSource.h

@protocol AutoSectionTableViewDataSource
- (NSString*)tableView:(UITableView*)tableView sectionNameAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath*)indexPath;
@end
@interface AutoSectionTableViewDataSource : NSObject 
- (id)initWithDataSource:(NSObject*)dataSource;
@end

AutoSectionTableViewDataSource.m

@interface AutoSectionTableViewDataSource ()
@property(weak) NSObject *dataSource;
@end
@implementation AutoSectionTableViewDataSource

- (id)initWithDataSource:(NSObject*)dataSource
{
    self = [super init];
    self.dataSource = dataSource;
    return self;
}

- (BOOL)respondsToSelector:(SEL)selector
{
    if ([super respondsToSelector:selector]) return YES;
    if (self.dataSource && [self.dataSource respondsToSelector:selector]) return YES;
    return NO;
}

- (void)forwardInvocation:(NSInvocation*)invocation
{
    if (self.dataSource && [self.dataSource respondsToSelector:invocation.selector]) {
        [invocation invokeWithTarget:self.dataSource];
    } else {
        [self doesNotRecognizeSelector:invocation.selector];
    }
}

- (NSMethodSignature *)methodSignatureForSelector:(SEL)selector
{
    if (self.dataSource) return [self.dataSource methodSignatureForSelector:selector];
    return nil;
}

- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView
{
    NSInteger rows = [self.dataSource tableView:tableView numberOfRowsInSection:0];
    NSMutableSet *set = [[NSMutableSet alloc] init];
    for (NSInteger row=0; row %@", section, sectionName);
                return sectionName;
            }
        }
    }
    return nil;
}

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    NSInteger rows = [self.dataSource tableView:tableView numberOfRowsInSection:0];
    NSMutableDictionary *tmp = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
    NSInteger count = 0;
    for (NSInteger row=0; row

and then in your code:

- (NSString*)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView sectionNameAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    return @"this would be your section name for indexPath.row"
}

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
    return total_number_of_rows;
}

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    return cell_for_indexPath.row;
}

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    // instead of self.tableView.dataSource = self; use:
    self.autoSectionDataSource = [[AutoSectionTableViewDataSource alloc] initWithDataSource:self];
    self.tableView.dataSource = self.autoSectionDataSource;
}