How can I populate part of a JSON object without repetitive code? - json

Question

I am making use of the Microsoft Graph API, specifically the FindMeetingTimes API. Which can be seen here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/user-findmeetingtimes?view=graph-rest-1.0
I am using Swift to develop this. My JSON object works and the post is successful, but I am just wondering what would be the best / most efficient way to alter this code so that it cuts out the repetitive code - specifically the adding of locations in the JSON. The locations list could be very large, so I would like to iterate through an locations array and add these to the JSON object..
My method looks like this:
static func setupJsonObjectForFindMeetingTimeAllRooms(nameOfRoom: String, roomEmailAddress: String, dateStartString: String, dateEndString: String, durationOfMeeting: String) -> [String: Any] {
let jsonObj : [String: Any] =
[
"attendees": [
[
"type": "required",
"emailAddress": [
"name": nameOfRoom,
"address": roomEmailAddress
]
]
],
"locationConstraint": [
"isRequired": "true",
"suggestLocation": "false",
"locations": [
[
"displayName": "First Floor Test Meeting Room 1",
"locationEmailAddress": "FirstFloorTestMeetingRoom1#microsoft.com"
],
[
"displayName": "Ground Floor Test Meeting Room 1",
"locationEmailAddress": "GroundFloorTestMeetingRoom1#microsoft.com"
]
//and the rest of the rooms below this.. how do i do this outside in a loop? to prevent repetitive code?
]
],
"timeConstraint": [
"activityDomain":"unrestricted",
"timeslots": [
[
"start": [
"dateTime": dateStartString,
"timeZone": Resources.utcString
],
"end": [
"dateTime": dateEndString,
"timeZone": Resources.utcString
]
]
]
],
"meetingDuration": durationOfMeeting,
"returnSuggestionReasons": "true",
"minimumAttendeePercentage": "100",
"isOrganizerOptional": "true"
]
return jsonObj
}
What is the best way to go about doing this? Would I just remove the locations part of the JSON, and before returning, populate it with the array of locations?
I tried to implement a method to add locations to the JSON - using this method:
static func addLocationsToExistingJson(locations: [String], jsonObj: [String: Any]) -> [String: Any] {
var data: [String: Any] = jsonObj
for i in stride(from: 0, to: locations.count, by: 1){
let item: [String: Any] = [
"displayName": locations[i],
"locationEmailAddress": locations[i]
]
// get existing items, or create new array if doesn't exist
var existingItems = data["locations"] as? [[String: Any]] ?? [[String: Any]]()
// append the item
existingItems.append(item)
// replace back into `data`
data["locations"] = existingItems
}
return data
}
and calling this method before returning the JSON in the original method.. But it seems that the final JSON is not the format that I want.
The incorrect version looks like this:
["timeConstraint": ["activityDomain": "unrestricted", "timeslots": [["start": ["dateTime": "2019-02-07 14:00:00", "timeZone": "UTC"], "end": ["dateTime": "2019-02-07 15:00:00", "timeZone": "UTC"]]]], "minimumAttendeePercentage": "100", "isOrganizerOptional": "true", "returnSuggestionReasons": "true", "meetingDuration": "PT60M", "attendees": [["type": "required", "emailAddress": ["name": "N", "address": "TestUser6#qubbook.onmicrosoft.com"]]], "locationConstraint": ["isRequired": "true", "suggestLocation": "false"]]
Whereas the working JSON looks like this:
["timeConstraint": ["activityDomain": "unrestricted", "timeslots": [["start": ["dateTime": "2019-02-07 14:30:00", "timeZone": "UTC"], "end": ["dateTime": "2019-02-07 15:30:00", "timeZone": "UTC"]]]], "attendees": [["type": "required", "emailAddress": ["name": "N", "address": "TestUser6#qubbook.onmicrosoft.com"]]], "minimumAttendeePercentage": "100", "locations": [["displayName": "FirstFloorTestMeetingRoom1#qubbook.onmicrosoft.com", "locationEmailAddress": "FirstFloorTestMeetingRoom1#qubbook.onmicrosoft.com"], ["displayName": "GroundFloorTestMeetingRoom1#qubbook.onmicrosoft.com", "locationEmailAddress": "GroundFloorTestMeetingRoom1#qubbook.onmicrosoft.com"]], "locationConstraint": ["isRequired": "true", "suggestLocation": "false"], "meetingDuration": "PT60M", "isOrganizerOptional": "true", "returnSuggestionReasons": "true"]
How would I change my code so that the locations get added under the locationConstraint object within the JSON, rather than just to the JSON, not under the ["locationConstraint"] part?

Answer 1

As Joakim suggested, you could model the json structure via structs and Codable. For example:
struct AdditionalData: Codable {
let emailAdress: [String]
}
struct Person: Codable {
let age: Int
let name: String
let additionalData: AdditionalData
}
let additionalData = AdditionalData(emailAdress: ["test#me.com", "foo#bar.com"])
let p1 = Person(age: 30,
name: "Frank",
additionalData: additionalData)
let encoder = JSONEncoder()
encoder.outputFormatting = .prettyPrinted
if let data = try? encoder.encode(p1),
let jsonString = String(data: data, encoding: .utf8) {
print(jsonString)
}
Which results in:
{
"age" : 30,
"name" : "Frank",
"additionalData" : {
"emailAdress" : [
"test#me.com",
"foo#bar.com"
]
}
}