After receiving a JSON payload from a web request, I need to parse out the data into variables in an NSObject subclass.
My variables are declared in the object:
var name:String?
var email:String?
var aboutMe:String?
Then I start parsing through all the possible data the JSON may return:
if let name = json["Name"] as? String
{
self.name = name
}
if let email = json["Email"] as? String
{
self.email = email
}
if let aboutMe = json["AboutMe"] as? String
{
self.aboutMe = aboutMe
}
This is becoming rather long as we have a lot of data.
I was wanting to shorted it by using a Dictionary containing the JSON key and the variable like this:
let varMap:[String:Any?] = [
"Name": self.name,
"Email": self.email,
"AboutMe": self.aboutMe
]
Then iterating over them like this:
for (key, var variable) in varMap
{
if let string = json[key]
{
variable = string
}
}
The problem here is that the Dictionary copies the value from the variable and not a pointer to it, so setting it to a new value has no effect on the variables of the overall object.
Is there a way to achieve what I am trying? If not, what other pattern would be a better way to do this instead of having tons of if statements?
For JSON parsing, you can simply use Codable types.
Let's assume your JSON looks like,
{
"name": "Alex",
"email": "alex#gmail.com",
"about_Me": "My name is Alex"
}
Models:
class Root: Decodable {
let name: String?
let email: String?
let aboutMe: String?
enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case name, email
case aboutMe = "about_Me"
}
}
Parse the JSON data like so,
do {
let response = try JSONDecoder().decode(Root.self, from: data)
print(response) //use response here...
} catch {
print(error)
}
You can use updateValue function for that, it finds the property and changes it.
if let oldValue = varMap.updateValue(self.name, forKey: "Name") {
print("The old value of \(oldValue) was replaced with a new one.")
}
So you for iteration is;
for (key, var variable) in varMap
{
varMap.updateValue(string, forKey: key )
//if let string = json[key]
//{
// variable = string
//}
}
After you update the dictionary you can call that part;
if let name = json["Name"] as? String
{
self.name = name
}
if let email = json["Email"] as? String
{
self.email = email
}
if let aboutMe = json["AboutMe"] as? String
{
self.aboutMe = aboutMe
}
I believe that part in a function, if its not, you can refactor it.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/dictionary/3127179-updatevalue
I'm trying to access the first result from this query:
https://www.instagram.com/web/search/topsearch/?query=_myUsername
I'm able to get a JSON object like so:
var request = URLRequest(url: URL(string: api)!)
request.httpMethod = "GET"
let task = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: request) { data, response, error in
guard let data = data, error == nil else { // check for fundamental networking error
print("error=\(error ?? "" as! Error)")
return
}
do {
let jsonResponse = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data, options: []) as? [String: Any]
completionHandler(jsonResponse,nil)
} catch let parsingError {
print("Error", parsingError)
}
if let httpStatus = response as? HTTPURLResponse, httpStatus.statusCode != 200 { // check for http errors
print("statusCode should be 200, but is \(httpStatus.statusCode)")
print("response = \(String(describing: response))")
}
}
task.resume()
The result is a JSON object that omits the first user in "users". For example, if I parse the JSON object to get the username of the first user in the result like this...
if let users = jsonResponse!["users"] as? [Any] {
if let first = users.first as? [String: Any] {
if let user = first["user"] as? [String: Any] {
self.igUser = user["username"] as! String
... It returns the username of the 'position = 1' user, while I actually want the 'position = 0' user. Am I parsing this wrong?
As you can see there is a key position you should assume that the list isn't sorted. You have to find the nth element of the list.
The minimal Codable implementation would be:
struct TopSearchAPIResponse: Codable {
let users: [User]
//let places, hashtags: [Type] // As these two are empty arrays you don't know
// their type in advance. So you can omit them
// for now. When you know their type you can
// use them by providing actual type.
let hasMore: Bool
let rankToken: String
let clearClientCache: Bool
let status: String
struct User: Codable {
let position: Int
let user: UserInfo
struct UserInfo: Codable {
let pk: String
let username: String
let fullName: String
let isPrivate: Bool
let profilePicURL: URL
let profilePicID: String?
let isVerified: Bool
let hasAnonymousProfilePicture: Bool
let followerCount: Int
let reelAutoArchive: ReelAutoArchive
let byline: String
let mutualFollowersCount: Int
let unseenCount: Int
private enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
/* This enum is necessary as we want profile_pic_url & profile_pic_id
to be decoded as profilePicURL & profilePicID respectively (instead of
profilePicUrl & profilePicId) so that we follow Swift conventions */
case pk
case username
case fullName
case isPrivate
case profilePicURL = "profilePicUrl"
case profilePicID = "profilePicId"
case isVerified
case hasAnonymousProfilePicture
case followerCount
case reelAutoArchive
case byline
case mutualFollowersCount
case unseenCount
}
enum ReelAutoArchive: String, Codable {
case off
case on
case unset
}
}
}
}
You will use it as:
do {
let jsonDecoder = JSONDecoder()
jsonDecoder.keyDecodingStrategy = .convertFromSnakeCase
let response = try jsonDecoder.decode(TopSearchAPIResponse.self, from: data)
if let firstUser = response.users.first(where: { $0.position == 0 }) {
print(firstUser.user.username) // prints "myusernameisverygay"
}
} catch {
print(error)
}
Note: Some modifications had been made after the answer was accepted.
I am using Xcode 9.2 and Swift 4. How can I check if the returned json data is null?
Now it gives me error Type 'Any' has no subscript members at line if json[0]["data"]
var json: NSMutableArray = []
var newsArray: NSMutableArray = []
let url = URLFactory()
var data = try! NSData(contentsOf: url.getURL()) as Data
do {
json = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data, options: []) as! NSMutableArray
if json[0]["data"] {
// data is not null
}
} catch let error as NSError {
// handle error
}
My JSON returns something like this:
{
"data":
[
{
"news_id":123,
"title":"title",
"news_date":"2017-02-08 21:46:06",
"news_url":"url",
"short_description":"description",
"category_id":4,
"category_name":"Health",
"latlng":
[
{
"lat":"43.003429",
"lng":"-78.696335"
}
]
}
{ ....
}
If you're using Swift 4, I might suggest JSONDecoder:
First, define the types to hold the parsed data:
struct ResponseObject: Codable {
let data: [NewsItem]
}
struct NewsItem: Codable {
let newsId: Int
let title: String
let newsDate: Date
let newsURL: URL
let shortDescription: String
let categoryID: Int
let categoryName: String
let coordinates: [Coordinate]
// because your json keys don't follow normal Swift naming convention, use CodingKeys to map these property names to JSON keys
enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case newsId = "news_id"
case title
case newsDate = "news_date"
case newsURL = "news_url"
case shortDescription = "short_description"
case categoryID = "category_id"
case categoryName = "category_name"
case coordinates = "latlng"
}
}
struct Coordinate: Codable {
let lat: String
let lng: String
}
And then you can parse it:
let formatter = DateFormatter()
formatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
formatter.timeZone = TimeZone(secondsFromGMT: 0)
formatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"
let decoder = JSONDecoder()
decoder.dateDecodingStrategy = .formatted(formatter)
do {
let responseObject = try decoder.decode(ResponseObject.self, from: data)
print(responseObject.data)
} catch {
print(error)
}
Clearly, if your JSON is different, you might need to change your objects accordingly (e.g. it struck me odd that latlng was an array of coordinates). Also, you can define custom init(from:) methods if you want to convert some of these strings into numbers, but I'd rather fix the JSON, instead (why are latlng returning string values rather than numeric values).
For more information, see Encoding and Decoding Custom Types.
As an aside, I'd advise against this pattern (note, this is your network request logic, but excised of NSData):
let data = try! Data(contentsOf: url.getURL())
That will retrieve the data synchronously, which can be problematic because
the app will be frozen while the data is being retrieved resulting in a poor UX;
you risk having your app killed by the watchdog process which looks for frozen apps; and
you don't have robust error handling and this will crash if the network request fails.
I'd suggest using URLSession:
let task = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url.getURL()) { data, _, error in
guard let data = data, error == nil else {
print(error ?? "Unknown error")
return
}
// now parse `data` like shown above
// if you then need to update UI or model objects, dispatch that back
// to the main queue:
DispatchQueue.main.async {
// use `responseObject.data` to update model objects and/or UI here
}
}
task.resume()
I am using NSJSONSerialization in Swift 1.2 to parse some json that is returned from an API response.
var err: NSError?
let opts = NSJSONReadingOptions.AllowFragments
let json: AnyObject? = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(jsonData!, options: opts, error: &err)
The parsed json is provided as AnyObject?. I would like to use this optional to initialize a class object which can be used as the model data in an application.
class Alerts {
let type: String
let date: String
let description: String
let expires: String
let message: String
init(json: AnyObject) {
if let
jsonDict = json as? [String: AnyObject],
alertsArray = jsonDict["alerts"] as? [AnyObject],
alertsDict = alertsArray[0] as? [String: AnyObject],
type = alertsDict["type"] as? String,
date = alertsDict["date"] as? String,
description = alertsDict["description"] as? String,
expires = alertsDict["expires"] as? String,
message = alertsDict["message"] as? String
{
self.type = type
self.date = date
self.description = description
self.expires = expires
self.message = message
}
else
{
self.type = "err"
self.date = "err"
self.description = "err"
self.expires = "err"
self.message = "err"
}
}
}
// example of creating a data model from the json
let alerts = Alerts(json: json!)
alerts.type
alerts.date
alerts.description
alerts.expires
alerts.message
Since NSJSONSerialization returns an optional, I have to check for the existence of each value type as I extract the json data. As you can see in the above code, I used the improved optional bindings from Swift 1.2 to clean up the init method. Without using third-party libraries, is there anything else I can do to the class model (enums, structs, type aliases) to make it more readable? Should I use a struct for the model data instead of a class? Would it be possible to create a custom type using an enum or struct to represent a json object?
So without using third party libraries, the if let trees are usually the best practice, which you have shown. To help you later down the road, maybe recreate your object hierarchy in JSON as a Struct model in Swift. Something like:
var json = JSON(JSONData.sharedjson.jsonRaw!)
var mongoIdTest = json["resultset"]["account"]["mongoId"].string
struct Root {
var timestamp: Int?
var resultset = ResultSet()
init() {
self.timestamp = json["timestamp"].int
println(json)
}
}
struct ResultSet {
var alert: String?
var account = Account()
var customer = Customer()
init() {
}
}
struct Account {
var mongoId: String?
init() {
mongoId = json["resultset"]["account"]["mongoId"].string
}
}
struct Locations {
}
struct Customer {
var account: String?
var address: String?
var id: String?
var loginId: String?
var mongoId: String?
var name: String?
var opco = Opco()
init() {
account = json["resultset"]["customer"]["account"].string
address = json["resultset"]["customer"]["address"].string
id = json["resultset"]["customer"]["id"].string
loginId = json["resultset"]["customer"]["loginId"].string
mongoId = json["resultset"]["customer"]["mongoId"].string
name = json["resultset"]["customer"]["name"].string
}
}
struct Opco {
var id: String?
var phone: String?
var cutOffTime: String?
var name: String?
var payerId: String?
init() {
id = json["resultset"]["customer"]["opco"]["id"].string
phone = json["resultset"]["customer"]["opco"]["phone"].string
cutOffTime = json["resultset"]["customer"]["opco"]["cutOffTime"].string
name = json["resultset"]["customer"]["opco"]["name"].string
payerId = json["resultset"]["customer"]["opco"]["payerId"].string
}
}
This way you can still use autocomplete and dot notation to navigate through your hierarchy.
Edit: I have a data structure from an actual project I've worked on added to the answer, hopefully this gives a better idea. Keep in mind that I'm using SwiftyJSON for the JSON() call.
Edit 2:
This is a method I found for getting JSON info into a Swift dictionary without the use of some other library. I'm not sure there is another way to do it that's easier without the use of third party libraries.
var urlToRequest = "https://EXAMPLE.com/api/account.login?username=MY_USERNAME&password=Hunter2"
if let json = NSData(contentsOfURL: NSURL(string: urlToRequest)!) {
// Parse JSON to Dictionary
var error: NSError?
let boardsDictionary = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(json, options: NSJSONReadingOptions.MutableContainers, error: &error) as? Dictionary<String, AnyObject>
fulljson = boardsDictionary
// Display all keys and values
println("Keys in User Data:")
for (key, value) in boardsDictionary! {
println("\(key)-------\(value)")
}
println(fulljson?["resultset"])
}
else {
println("Test JSON nil: No Connection?")
}
That dictionary will be the input for your Structs.
Is there a way to properly deserialize a JSON response to Swift objects resp. using DTOs as containers for fixed JSON APIs?
Something similar to http://james.newtonking.com/json or something like this example from Java
User user = jsonResponse.readEntity(User.class);
whereby jsonResponse.toString() is something like
{
"name": "myUser",
"email": "user#example.com",
"password": "passwordHash"
}
SWIFT 4 Update
Since you give a very simple JSON object the code prepared for to handle that model. If you need more complicated JSON models you need to improve this sample.
Your Custom Object
class Person : NSObject {
var name : String = ""
var email : String = ""
var password : String = ""
init(JSONString: String) {
super.init()
var error : NSError?
let JSONData = JSONString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding, allowLossyConversion: false)
let JSONDictionary: Dictionary = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(JSONData, options: nil, error: &error) as NSDictionary
// Loop
for (key, value) in JSONDictionary {
let keyName = key as String
let keyValue: String = value as String
// If property exists
if (self.respondsToSelector(NSSelectorFromString(keyName))) {
self.setValue(keyValue, forKey: keyName)
}
}
// Or you can do it with using
// self.setValuesForKeysWithDictionary(JSONDictionary)
// instead of loop method above
}
}
And this is how you invoke your custom class with JSON string.
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
let jsonString = "{ \"name\":\"myUser\", \"email\":\"user#example.com\", \"password\":\"passwordHash\" }"
var aPerson : Person = Person(JSONString: jsonString)
println(aPerson.name) // Output is "myUser"
}
I recommend that you use code generation (http://www.json4swift.com) to create native models out of the json response, this will save your time of parsing by hand and reduce the risk of errors due to mistaken keys, all elements will be accessible by model properties, this will be purely native and the models will make more sense rather checking the keys.
Your conversion will be as simple as:
let userObject = UserClass(userDictionary)
print(userObject!.name)
Swift 2: I really like the previous post of Mohacs! To make it more object oriented, i wrote a matching Extension:
extension NSObject{
convenience init(jsonStr:String) {
self.init()
if let jsonData = jsonStr.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding, allowLossyConversion: false)
{
do {
let json = try NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(jsonData, options: []) as! [String: AnyObject]
// Loop
for (key, value) in json {
let keyName = key as String
let keyValue: String = value as! String
// If property exists
if (self.respondsToSelector(NSSelectorFromString(keyName))) {
self.setValue(keyValue, forKey: keyName)
}
}
} catch let error as NSError {
print("Failed to load: \(error.localizedDescription)")
}
}
else
{
print("json is of wrong format!")
}
}
}
custom classes:
class Person : NSObject {
var name : String?
var email : String?
var password : String?
}
class Address : NSObject {
var city : String?
var zip : String?
}
invoking custom classes with JSON string:
var jsonString = "{ \"name\":\"myUser\", \"email\":\"user#example.com\", \"password\":\"passwordHash\" }"
let aPerson = Person(jsonStr: jsonString)
print(aPerson.name!) // Output is "myUser"
jsonString = "{ \"city\":\"Berlin\", \"zip\":\"12345\" }"
let aAddress = Address(jsonStr: jsonString)
print(aAddress.city!) // Output is "Berlin"
Yet another JSON handler I wrote:
https://github.com/dankogai/swift-json
With it you can go like this:
let obj:[String:AnyObject] = [
"array": [JSON.null, false, 0, "", [], [:]],
"object":[
"null": JSON.null,
"bool": true,
"int": 42,
"double": 3.141592653589793,
"string": "a α\t弾\n𪚲",
"array": [],
"object": [:]
],
"url":"http://blog.livedoor.com/dankogai/"
]
let json = JSON(obj)
json.toString()
json["object"]["null"].asNull // NSNull()
json["object"]["bool"].asBool // true
json["object"]["int"].asInt // 42
json["object"]["double"].asDouble // 3.141592653589793
json["object"]["string"].asString // "a α\t弾\n𪚲"
json["array"][0].asNull // NSNull()
json["array"][1].asBool // false
json["array"][2].asInt // 0
json["array"][3].asString // ""
As you see no !? needed between subscripts.
In addition to that you can apply your own schema like this:
//// schema by subclassing
class MyJSON : JSON {
override init(_ obj:AnyObject){ super.init(obj) }
override init(_ json:JSON) { super.init(json) }
var null :NSNull? { return self["null"].asNull }
var bool :Bool? { return self["bool"].asBool }
var int :Int? { return self["int"].asInt }
var double:Double? { return self["double"].asDouble }
var string:String? { return self["string"].asString }
var url: String? { return self["url"].asString }
var array :MyJSON { return MyJSON(self["array"]) }
var object:MyJSON { return MyJSON(self["object"]) }
}
let myjson = MyJSON(obj)
myjson.object.null // NSNull?
myjson.object.bool // Bool?
myjson.object.int // Int?
myjson.object.double // Double?
myjson.object.string // String?
myjson.url // String?
There's a great example by Apple for deserializing JSON with Swift 2.0
The trick is to use the guard keyword and chain the assignments like so:
init?(attributes: [String : AnyObject]) {
guard let name = attributes["name"] as? String,
let coordinates = attributes["coordinates"] as? [String: Double],
let latitude = coordinates["lat"],
let longitude = coordinates["lng"],
else {
return nil
}
self.name = name
self.coordinates = CLLocationCoordinate2D(latitude: latitude, longitude: longitude)
}
I personally prefer native parsing vs any 3rd party, as it is transparent and magic-less. (and bug less?)
Using quicktype, I generated your model and serialization helpers from your sample:
import Foundation
struct User: Codable {
let name: String
let email: String
let password: String
}
extension User {
static func from(json: String, using encoding: String.Encoding = .utf8) -> OtherUser? {
guard let data = json.data(using: encoding) else { return nil }
return OtherUser.from(data: data)
}
static func from(data: Data) -> OtherUser? {
let decoder = JSONDecoder()
return try? decoder.decode(OtherUser.self, from: data)
}
var jsonData: Data? {
let encoder = JSONEncoder()
return try? encoder.encode(self)
}
var jsonString: String? {
guard let data = self.jsonData else { return nil }
return String(data: data, encoding: .utf8)
}
}
Then parse User values like this:
let user = User.from(json: """{
"name": "myUser",
"email": "user#example.com",
"password": "passwordHash"
}""")!
I wrote this small open-source library recently that lets you quickly and easily deserialize dictionaries into Swift objects: https://github.com/isair/JSONHelper
Using it, deserializing data becomes as easy as this:
var myInstance = MyClass(data: jsonDictionary)
or
myInstance <-- jsonDictionary
And models need to look only like this:
struct SomeObjectType: Deserializable {
var someProperty: Int?
var someOtherProperty: AnotherObjectType?
var yetAnotherProperty: [YetAnotherObjectType]?
init(data: [String: AnyObject]) {
someProperty <-- data["some_key"]
someOtherProperty <-- data["some_other_key"]
yetAnotherProperty <-- data["yet_another_key"]
}
}
Which, in your case, would be:
struct Person: Deserializable {
var name: String?
var email: String?
var password: String?
init(data: [String: AnyObject]) {
name <-- data["name"]
email <-- data["email"]
password <-- data["password"]
}
}
If you would like parse from and to json without the need to manually map keys and fields, then you could also use EVReflection. You can then use code like:
var user:User = User(json:jsonString)
or
var jsonString:String = user.toJsonString()
The only thing you need to do is to use EVObject as your data objects base class.
See the GitHub page for more detailed sample code
I am expanding upon Mohacs and Peter Kreinz's excellent answers just a bit to cover the array of like objects case where each object contains a mixture of valid JSON data types. If the JSON data one is parsing is an array of like objects containing a mixture of JSON data types, the do loop for parsing the JSON data becomes this.
// Array of parsed objects
var parsedObjects = [ParsedObject]()
do {
let json = try NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(jsonData, options: []) as [Dictionary<String, AnyObject>]
// Loop through objects
for dict in json {
// ParsedObject is a single instance of an object inside the JSON data
// Its properties are a mixture of String, Int, Double and Bool
let parsedObject = ParsedObject()
// Loop through key/values in object parsed from JSON
for (key, value) in json {
// If property exists, set the value
if (parsedObject.respondsToSelector(NSSelectorFromString(keyName))) {
// setValue can handle AnyObject when assigning property value
parsedObject.setValue(keyValue, forKey: keyName)
}
}
parsedObjects.append(parsedObject)
}
} catch let error as NSError {
print("Failed to load: \(error.localizedDescription)")
}
This way lets you get the user from a URL. It's parse the NSData to a NSDictionary and then to your NSObject.
let urlS = "http://api.localhost:3000/"
func getUser(username: Strung) -> User {
var user = User()
let url = NSURL(string: "\(urlS)\(username)")
if let data = NSData(contentsOfURL: url!) {
setKeysAndValues(user, dictionary: parseData(data))
}
return user
}
func setKeysAndValues (object : AnyObject, dictionary : NSDictionary) -> AnyObject {
for (key, value) in dictionary {
if let key = key as? String, let value = value as? String {
if (object.respondsToSelector(NSSelectorFromString(key))) {
object.setValue(value, forKey: key)
}
}
}
return object
}
func parseData (data : NSData) -> NSDictionary {
var error: NSError?
return NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(data, options: NSJSONReadingOptions.MutableContainers, error: &error) as! NSDictionary
}
In Swift 4, You can use the Decoding, CodingKey protocols to deserialize the JSON response:
Create the class which confirm the decodable protocol
class UserInfo: Decodable
Create members of the class
var name: String
var email: String
var password: String
Create JSON key enum which inherits from CodingKey
enum UserInfoCodingKey: String, CodingKey {
case name
case password
case emailId
}
Implement init
required init(from decoder: Decoder) throws
The whole class look like :
Call Decoder
// jsonData is JSON response and we get the userInfo object
let userInfo = try JsonDecoder().decode(UserInfo.self, from: jsonData)
You do this by using NSJSONSerialization. Where data is your JSON.
First wrap it in an if statement to provide some error handling capablity
if let data = data,
json = try NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(data, options: []) as? [String: AnyObject] {
// Do stuff
} else {
// Do stuff
print("No Data :/")
}
then assign them:
let email = json["email"] as? String
let name = json["name"] as? String
let password = json["password"] as? String
Now, This will show you the result:
print("Found User iname: \(name) with email: \(email) and pass \(password)")
Taken from this Swift Parse JSON tutorial. You should check out the tutorial as it goes a lot more in depth and covers better error handling.