how to Converting JSON into Codable in swift 4.2? - json

Question

I am using Xcode 10.1 and Swift 4.2. When i try to convert JSON response into Codable class it gives an error that Expected to decode Array<Any> but found a string/data instead.
My Actual JSON response is Like this from API .
{
"d": "[{\"Data\":{\"mcustomer\":[{\"slno\":1000000040.0,\"fstname\":null}]},\"Status\":true}]"
}
My Model is Like this
class MainData: Codable{
var d: [SubData]
}
class SubData : Codable {
var Data : Customer
var Status : Bool?
}
class Customer : Codable {
var mcustomer : [Detail]
}
class Detail : Codable {
var slno : Double?
var fstname : String?
}
And I am Decode this Model using JSONDecoder()
let decoder = JSONDecoder()
let deco = try decoder.decode(MainData.self, from: data)
but, I am unable to Decode this Json into My Model.

Answer 1

Your API is wrong. You array in json shouldn't have quotation marks around it. Otherwise you're declaring that value for key "d" is string
"[...]"
[...]
Suggestions:
Variables and constants should start with small capital letter. Otherwise for example your Data property would cause confusion with Data type. For renaming it while decoding you can use CodingKeys
If you don't need to encode your model, you can just implement Decodable protocol
You can use struct instead of class for your model

Answer 2

The top-level JSON object is a dictionary with the key "d" and a string value, representing another JSON object (sometimes called "nested JSON"). If the server API cannot be changed then the decoding must be done in two steps:
Decode the top-level dictionary.
Decode the JSON object from the string obtained in step one.
Together with Robert's advice about naming, CodingKeys and using structs it would look like this:
struct MainData: Codable {
let d: String
}
struct SubData : Codable {
let data : Customer
let status : Bool
enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case data = "Data"
case status = "Status"
}
}
struct Customer : Codable {
let mcustomer : [Detail]
}
struct Detail : Codable {
let slno : Double
let fstname : String?
}
do {
let mainData = try JSONDecoder().decode(MainData.self, from: data)
let subData = try JSONDecoder().decode([SubData].self, from: Data(mainData.d.utf8))
print(subData)
} catch {
print(error)
}

Answer 3

For your solution to work, the JSON reponse has to be following format
let json = """
{
"d": [
{
"Data": {
"mcustomer": [
{
"slno": 1000000040,
"fstname": null
}
]
},
"Status": true
}
]
}
"""
But, as you can see, the JSON response you are getting is quite different than you are expecting. Either you need to ask to change the response or you need to change your model.