Swift 4: help decoding a JSON that contains an encoded image using base64 - json

Question

I'm a Swift (and programming) newb, fair warning.
I'm working on an app that is used to track scavenger hunt bonuses. I want to use a JSON file to contain all the bonus data, including a sample image. I see how to encode the image into base64 outside the program, then I can add it into my JSON as a string. Where I'm not certain is what to do with this? From searching I see you would use something like:
class func convertBase64ToImage(imageString: String) -> UIImage {
let imageData = Data(base64Encoded: imageString, options: Data.Base64DecodingOptions.ignoreUnknownCharacters)!
return UIImage(data: imageData)!
}
But I'm not certain if that would simply display said image, or if I need to save that and then call it somehow. The goal is to simply view the image (it is used for reference by the person taking a picture with their placard in the shot).
(I haven't implemented this in code yet, I'm still researching how to do it)

Answer 1

Your code works fine. You can test it out in a Playground easily enough. I used https://www.base64-image.de to Base64 encode a small PNG file and generate a string which I ran through your function. It worked fine.
To answer your direct question, UIImage is simply an image which you can display to the user as follows:
Create a view controller. Add a UIImageView to the view controller and wire up an outlet for it with a suitable name (for example, bonusImageView).
Call your function within the view controller to load the image into the image view.
bonusImageView.image = convertBase64ToImage(imageString: imageString)
Where imageString is the Base64-encoded string you obtained from your JSON.
Whether or not you choose to store the imageString first is up to you. It's not necessary to store it if all you want to do is retrieve it from a server and display it on demand.