I need help parsing some JSON data - json

Question

I am fairly new to parsing json data and I am attempting to parse some json data from an rss feed generator and I am running into a problem where I can successfully print the data I am getting but I can't save the data to an object.
I have looked through tutorials that used decodables/codables mostly but I was able to use the urlSession and jsonSerialization objects for what I needed just fine.
class JSONSongs {
// initialize song array...
var songArray: [Song] = []
func getSongs() {
let jsonSongUrl = "https://rss.itunes.apple.com/api/v1/us/apple-music/top-songs/all/50/explicit.json"
let songUrl = URL(string: jsonSongUrl) // convert string to usable url
// start url session task with apple music api url...
// we get some data(hopefully), a response code and an error(hoepfully not)
let songTask = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: songUrl!) { (data, response, error) in
// checking for an error
if error != nil {
print(Error.self)
print(error?.localizedDescription)
return
} else {
// lets store our data in a variable
if let content = data {
do {
// taking the json data and converting it so we can make objects
let json = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: content, options: JSONSerialization.ReadingOptions.mutableContainers)
//print(json) // making sure data is present
// checking to see if our json data is there
guard let jsonOne = json as? [String: Any] else {
print("invalid operation!")
return
}
// accessing top root of the json file
if let feed = jsonOne["feed"] as? [String: Any] {
//print("it worked") // testing
// accessing the results array where the albums are stored
// there are arrays in the nested json data so we need the double brackets to access them
if let result = feed["results"] as? [[String: Any]]{
for item in result {
// attempting to store data in Song object, this is where problems appear
if let songName = (item["name"] as AnyObject? as? String),
let artistName = (item["artistName"] as AnyObject? as? String),
let coverArt = (item["artworkUrl100"] as AnyObject? as? String),
let artistPage = (item["artistUrl"] as AnyObject? as? String) {
self.songArray.append(Song(songName: songName, artistName: artistName, coverArt: coverArt, artistPage: artistPage))
// printing the data to the console works here but I can't save the data to an object
}
}
}
}
} catch {
print(error.localizedDescription)
print(Error.self)
return
}
}
}
}
songTask.resume()
}
}
All I get is either nil when I try and print a string value or 0 when I try and count the number of objects that are present in the songArray array

Answer 1

Basically your code is correct and should work, however this is a version using Decodable.
The songs property will contain the song data
struct Root : Decodable {
let feed : Feed
}
struct Feed : Decodable {
let results : [Song]
}
struct Song : Decodable {
let name, artistName : String
let artworkUrl100, artistUrl : URL
}
class JSONSongs {
var songs = [Song]()
func getSongs() {
let jsonSongUrl = "https://rss.itunes.apple.com/api/v1/us/apple-music/top-songs/all/50/explicit.json"
let songUrl = URL(string: jsonSongUrl) // convert string to usable url
// start url session task with apple music api url...
// we get some data(hopefully), a response code and an error(hoepfully not)
let songTask = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: songUrl!) { [weak self] data, _, error in
// checking for an error
if let error = error { print(error); return }
do {
// taking the json data and converting it so we can make objects
let result = try JSONDecoder().decode(Root.self, from: data!)
self?.songs = result.feed.results
print(self?.songs)
} catch {
print(error)
}
}
songTask.resume()
}
}