Populating a table view with json data - json

Question

I've been busy creating a Schedule app for a school project but can't really seem to figure it out. Someone on this site already helped me to filter out data from a JSON link I had, but I can't really make it work. I want to put the Data that I get in my console into a Table view. I get roster info for 5 days, so every cell should have different information. I've watched several youtube videos and looked around SO but its either not really what I need, or I don't understand the way it works.
The code I currently have :
typealias JSONDictionary = [String:Any]
let savedValue = UserDefaults.standard.string(forKey: "LoginUserID")
let url = URL(string: "(url)")
let task = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url!) { (data, response, error) in
if error != nil
{
print ("ERROR")
}
else
{
if let content = data
{
do {
if let json = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with:data!, options: []) as? JSONDictionary {
if let days = json["Days"] as? [JSONDictionary] {
for day in days {
print(day["DayName"] as! String)
if let lessons = day["Lessons"] as? [JSONDictionary] {
for lesson in lessons {
let classRoom = lesson["Classroom"] as! String
let name = lesson["Name"] as! String
let teacher = lesson["Teacher"] as! String
print(teacher)
}
}
}
}
}
} catch {
print(error)
}
}
}
}
task.resume()
So I need to first of all be able to get info for example just Monday. Then i need to divide a table cell into 7 parts, and then put all the info i get into those parts.
I hope someone can help out because I'm really struggling

Answer 1

You are parsing the data. That's great, but you need a reference to it, i.e. an object. (UPDATE: looking at your data and your parsing, you are going to have some issues. DayName & Lesson are dictionaries inside an array of the dictionary Day. Your parsing isn't quite complete...)
TableViews work best when access an array of objects. To create an array of objects, you'll need to create a class ("Lessons" I'm assuming?). In the class, you'll set up the properties that a Lesson object should have -> Classroom, Name, Teacher. Here is a Class file I made for a simple project.
class DailyWeather: NSObject {
var time : Double = 0.0
var summaryDescription : String = ""
var temperatureMin : Double = 0.0
var temperatureMax : Double = 0.0
var precipProbability : Double = 0.0
override init() {
super.init()
self.time = 0.0
self.summaryDescription = ""
self.temperatureMin = 0.0
self.temperatureMax = 0.0
self.precipProbability = 0.0
}
}
As you can see, I declared all my properties that I'll need in the class. I took an easy route and gave them all values to start, whether they were empty strings or values of 0 if the data type was an Int or Double. Then I initialized them. After that, I was able to create an object, and set it's values when I parsed the JSON data.
if let dailyDict = jsonDictionary["daily"] as? JSONDictionary {
print(dailyDict)
if let dataArray = dailyDict["data"] as? JSONArray {
print(dataArray)
for dataDict in dataArray {
let dailyWeatherData = DailyWeather()
if let summary = dataDict["summary"] as? String {
dailyWeatherData.summaryDescription = summary
} else {
print("I could not parse summary")
} ... <continue to parse and then append the object at the end before the loop begins again>
As you can see, just after I began looping through my Data array, I created an instance of the Class I created above
let dailyWeatherData = DailyWeather()
From there, I could set the properties of that dailyWeatherData object while I parsed it. By placing the object inside the loop, it will create a new object for you every time.
From there, you'll need to append the object at the end of the loop before it starts over again to an array of objects, in my case, an array of DailyWeather objects.
I'm going to assume you're doing everything in the ViewController (which is where most newbies start) so put your object array at the top before ViewDidLoad()
var DailyWeatherArray = [DailyWeather]()
This creates an array that will hold all those objects you're create in the loop while you parse the data. You'll put those objects by appending the object to the array just before the end of the loop.
After that, you can just access the array from the TableViewDelegates and DataSource functions you will be using to populate the tableview. I'll let you figure that part out as I've given you quite a bit to be going on with.
** My code was in an older version of Swift, so there may be a couple of discrepancies...