Find NSDictionary in NSArray with Certain Value

Current project got lots of data in NSArrays and NSDictionaries. Nothing against them, extremely useful data structures. Just got to finetune my hammer a bit (since hammer is what I got and thus everything looks like a nail).

So how do you find a certain NSDictionary from NSArray containing a requested key? Two easy ways here:

How to Sort NSDictionary

Let's get this straight: you cannot sort NSDictionary.

Dictionary is a collection of keys and their objects without an order, therefore you cannot change that non-existing order. You can sort only array data types, since they are basically ordered lists.

There are still good news. You can get all keys from any dictionary as an array and sort them. Usually this is enough.

What is Inside UIImagePickerControllerMediaMetadata

Been debugging UIImagePickerController too many times, so it's time for some tips. The most easy way to see what's in there somewhere. Also including a sample output.

How to Check if iOS Supports Class, Method or Keyword

iOS is getting fragmented. More devices to support with major iPhone hardware differences (0-2 cameras, no telephony - 3G - CDMA), screen resolutions (original, double, iPad) and especially more older operating system versions out in the wild.

To reach as many users as possible you have to check whether something exists before you try to use it. Customizing code based on iOS version number is possible, but there are other ways to do it.

How to Use Struct in NSDictionary

Thought I wanted to use a NSDictionary for some reason, but after all the trouble didn't. However it was quite a challenge to make it work, so I'll post here a code sample. Maybe it will be useful at some other time:

struct myStruct {
NSUInteger value;
NSString *s;
} myItem[2] = {
{ 1, @"test"},
{ 2, @"test2"}
};
NSDictionary *myDict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
[NSValue valueWithPointer:&myItem[0]], @"myKey1",
[NSValue valueWithPointer:&myItem[1]], @"myKey2",
nil];