How do I access fields in a NSArray created with a NSMutableSet?

Question

I have a class, called Schedule, with 4 properties in it:

@interface Schedule : NSObject  {
}

@property (strong, nonatomic) NSDate *apptStartTime;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSDate *apptEndTime;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *clientKey;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *scheduleName;

-(BOOL) occursOnDate: (NSDate *) dateOfAppointment;
@end

I have another class where I have previously created two "Schedule" objects (for testing) with data and put both in a NSMutableSet. This is the code for that:

    //  schedule1
Schedule *schedule1 = [[Schedule alloc]init];
schedule1.apptStartTime = scheduleStartDate;  //  today's date
schedule1.apptEndTime = [scheduleStartDate dateByAddingTimeInterval:60*60];  //  add 1 hour
schedule1.clientKey = @"GeoffMarsh3911";
schedule1.scheduleName = @"schedule1";

//  schedule2
Schedule *schedule2 = [[Schedule alloc]init];  //  two days after schedule1
schedule2.apptStartTime = [scheduleStartDate dateByAddingTimeInterval:timeInterval*2];  //  add two days to first appointment
schedule2.apptEndTime = [schedule2.apptStartTime dateByAddingTimeInterval:60*60];  //  add 1 hour tpo start of appointment
schedule2.clientKey = @"KellieJellyBelly3878";
schedule2.scheduleName = @"schedule2";

//  create NSMutableSet for schedule objects
NSMutableSet *setOfSchedules = [NSMutableSet setWithCapacity:5];
[setOfSchedules addObject:schedule1];
[setOfSchedules addObject:schedule2];

Now, I have another class where I try to take the schedules that are in the NSMutableSet and put them in a NSArray so I can work with them, like this:

    NSArray *scheduleList = [setOfSchedules allObjects]; 

The problem is I don't seem to be able to get to the fields within the scheduleList, like apptStartTime, so I can work with it (compare against another date, etc).

Is there a better way of doing this, rather than putting the NSMutableSet in a NSArray? And how do I access the individual fields in the NSArray?

Answer 1

You need to get the object from the NSArray like this:

Schedule *schedule = [scheduleList objectAtIndex:0];

And then access the properties of the schedule object as usual.

myTime = schedule.apptStartTime;

Although it doesn't make much sense having your objects both in the NSMutableSet and the NSArray. Maybe you could get rid of one of them?

Answer 2

Something like this could work:

for (Schedule *schedule in setOfSchedules) {
    NSDate *startTime = schedule.apptStartTime;
    // rest of your stuff
}

Or use the array and change the for loop to use scheduleList.

Schedule *schedule = scheduleList[someIndex];
NSDate *startTime = schedule.apptStartTime;