Autocomplete textfield using tableview and array filter in swift

Question

So, I have a tableview , a textfield, and an array which contains some data. What i want to achieve is that whenever I start typing in the textfield, a filter() method should fire on my array containing the data and the tablview should return data matching to the characters I typed in the textfield.

For eg, if i type W it should give me result as "Walmart","Wally,"Wily" and so on. IF i type in "Sac" it should give "sacramento","satisfied" and so on. In short, an auto-complete textfield without using any external libraries at all.

I know this is simple , i have tried doing it but i am getting zero data.Also, i am new to swift. Please Help anybody :-)

Answer 1

Look at this link

for my case, Here is a solution with UISearchbar.I am getting an array of dictionary & perform the search

//MARK:- search items & reload table
func filter(array : [[String : [MyModel]]], byString filterString : String) {
    let searchByNamesArray = array.filter { $0.values.contains { $0.contains { $0.nameString.lowercased().contains(filterString.lowercased())} } }
    //Assign searched array into arrayOfMerchants
    self.arrayOfItems = searchByNamesArray
    //Reload table with new Data
    self.merchantTableView.reloadData()
}

For Search bar code

   func searchBarSearchButtonClicked(_ searchBar: UISearchBar) {
        searchBar.resignFirstResponder()
        if !((searchBar.text?.isEmpty)!){
            filter(array: self.arrayOfItems, byString: searchBar.text!)
        }
    }

    func searchBar(_ searchBar: UISearchBar, textDidChange searchText: String) {

        if (searchBar.text?.isEmpty)!  //in case there is no text in Searchbar, reload all record
        {
            self.arrayOfItems = self.arrayOfRecordsHolding  //array of original record holder
            self.merchantTableView.reloadData()
        }
        else
        {
            self.arrayOfItems = self.arrayOfRecordsHolding
            filter(array: self.arrayOfMerchants, byString: searchBar.text!)
        }
    }

    func searchBarCancelButtonClicked(_ searchBar: UISearchBar) {
        //reload all data when cancel button pressed on searchbar
        self.arrayOfItems = self.arrayOfRecordsHolding
        searchBar.text = ""
        self.merchantTableView.reloadData()
        searchBar.resignFirstResponder()
    }

Answer 2

LOl I am a noob and yet im answering my own question. Here arrStoreNameFilteredData and arrStoreName are both arrays containing data of same object type. However, arrStoreNameFilteredData will contain the data that will be filtered out whenever the user will start typing a character in the textfield.

         if textField.text?.isEmpty == true && string.isEmpty == true
        {
            textField.text = ""
            arrStoreNameFilteredData = arrStoreName
            tblData.reloadData()
        }
        else
        {
            tblData.isHidden = false

            let substring = (textField.text! as NSString).replacingCharacters(in: range, with: string)
            print("Substring : \(substring)")

            arrStoreNameFilteredData = arrStoreName.filter({ (store: Stores) -> Bool in
                return ((store.storeName?.lowercased())?.contains(substring.lowercased()))!
            })
            tblData.reloadData()

        }

the filter predicate doesn't work quite as good when you use it with "$0"..instead use an alias variable. Here, store is aa variable of object type Stores, which will then filter out the data as i type in each character.

((store.storeName?.lowercased())?.contains(substring.lowercased()))!

The above line is what made it work for me :-D. Thanks to all the people who replied to my post tho, without them i wouldn't have been able to post my own answer :-D.