How can I parse JSON to convert this to an array of objects in Swift?
I would personally do this using NSArrays and NSDictionaries to reference each object in your JSON. Something like this should suffice (let JSON
be your JSON variable)
if let array = JSON as? NSArray {
for obj in array {
if let dict = obj as? NSDictionary {
// Now reference the data you need using:
let id = dict.valueForKey("id")
}
}
}
This worked for me:
if let JSONData = try? Data(contentsOf: url!) {
do {
let parsed = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: JSONData, options: .mutableContainers) as? NSArray
for obj in parsed! {
let obj = MyObject(json: obj as! NSDictionary)
list.append(obj)
}
} catch let parseError {
print(parseError)
}
}
There is an easy way to do this in Swift 4.x But I had a difficult time getting to the simple answer so I'll post it here.
Step 1 : Create a class that matches your JSON and is derived from Codable.
Here I arbitrarily name the class (that wraps your original JSON) as BlogPost
.
You'll need to add an init method also
class BlogPost : Codable{
var id : Int
var day : Date
var title : String
var description : String
init (id : Int, day : Date, title : String, description : String){
self.id = id;
self.day = day;
self.title = title;
self.description = description;
}
}
Step 2 : add a load method that will load your array.
It will take a filename (pointing to file with json) and return an array of BlogPost ([BlogPost])
func loadJson(filename fileName: String) -> [BlogPost]? {
if let url = Bundle.main.url(forAuxiliaryExecutable: fileName) {
do {
let data = try Data(contentsOf: url)
let decoder = JSONDecoder()
let allBlogPosts = try decoder.decode([BlogPost].self, from: data)
return allBlogPosts
} catch {
print("error:\(error)")
}
}
return nil
}
}
I think the tricky part is the type that you send to the decoder method. Since we want to decode an array of Decodable BlogPost objects we have to use: [BlogPost].self
decoder.decode([BlogPost].self, from: data)