Sort by Double Value and not String Value - xcode

Question

I'm currently pulling info from an sql DB where the 'cachedDist' column is set as a double. However when I pull it into my app and create my array I turn it into an String and the sort will obviously be off, 18.15 will come before 2.15. How do I fix that in my code so it will sort distance as a Double and not a String?
In Bar object.
NSString *cachedDist
#property(nonatomic,copy) NSString *cachedDist;
#synthesize cachedDist;
My while loop in the View Controller.
while (sqlite3_step(sqlStatement)==SQLITE_ROW) {
Bar * bar = [[Bar alloc] init];
bar.barName = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char *) sqlite3_column_text(sqlStatement,1)];
bar.barAddress = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char *) sqlite3_column_text(sqlStatement,2)];
bar.barCity = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char *) sqlite3_column_text(sqlStatement, 3)];
bar.barState = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char *) sqlite3_column_text(sqlStatement, 4)];
bar.barZip = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char *) sqlite3_column_text(sqlStatement, 5)];
bar.barLat = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char *) sqlite3_column_text(sqlStatement, 8)];
bar.barLong = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char *) sqlite3_column_text(sqlStatement, 9)];
if (currentLoc == nil) {
NSLog(#"current location is nil %#", currentLoc);
}else{
CLLocation *barLocation = [[CLLocation alloc] initWithLatitude:[bar.barLat doubleValue] longitude:[bar.barLong doubleValue]];
bar.cachedDist = [NSNumber numberWithDouble:[currentLoc distanceFromLocation: barLocation]/1000];
[thebars addObject:bar];
}
My sorting
NSSortDescriptor *descriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:#"cachedDist" ascending:YES];
sortedArray = [thebars sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:[NSArray arrayWithObject:descriptor]];
return sortedArray;

Answer 1

NSString has a method doubleValue to make this quite simple:
double cachedDistance = [cachedDistanceString doubleValue];
which you can use in a custom comparator for your sorting, or else make the property an NSNumber or double to make sorting that much easier. (I'm not sure how you are sorting...)
edit:
I re-evaluated your code, and now it looks like we are going from a double to a string to a double... we can cut out the middle-man, so to speak.
In your #prototype section, change the #property:
// #property(nonatomic,copy) NSString *cachedDist; // old way
#property(nonatomic) double cachedDist;
then assign it like this:
bar.cachedDistance = [currentLoc distanceFromLocation: barLocation]/1000;
and remove the lines which create a string from the distance (which is actually just a double).
Alternatively, if you want to be more object oriented, you can (should?) use NSNumber objects:
#property(nonatomic,copy) NSNumber *cachedDist;
...
bar.cachedDistance = [NSNumber numberWithDouble:[currentLoc distanceFromLocation: barLocation]/1000];