Simple and clean way to convert JSON string to Object in Swift

Question

I have been searching for days to convert a fairly simple JSON string to an object type in Swift but with no avail.

Here is the code for web service call:

Answer 1

For iOS 10 & Swift 3, using Alamofire & Gloss:

Alamofire.request("http://localhost:8080/category/en").responseJSON { response in

if let data = response.data {

    if let categories = [Category].from(data: response.data) {

        self.categories = categories

        self.categoryCollectionView.reloadData()
    } else {

        print("Casting error")
    }
  } else {

    print("Data is null")
  }
}

and here is the Category class

import Gloss

struct Category: Decodable {

    let categoryId: Int?
    let name: String?
    let image: String?

    init?(json: JSON) {
        self.categoryId = "categoryId" <~~ json
        self.name = "name" <~~ json
        self.image = "image" <~~ json
    }
}

IMO, this is by far the most elegant solution.

Answer 2

Using SwiftyJSON library, you could make it like

if let path : String = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "tiles", ofType: "json") {
    if let data = NSData(contentsOfFile: path) {
        let optData = try? JSON(data: data as Data)
        guard let json = optData else {
            return
        }
        for (_, object) in json {
            let name = object["name"].stringValue
            print(name)
        }
    }
} 

Answer 3

Swift 4 parses JSON much more elegantly. Just adopt the codable protocol for your structure as per this simplified example:

struct Business: Codable {
    let id: Int
    let name: String
}

To parse the JSON array, you tell the decoder what the objects of the data array are

let parsedData = decoder.decode([Business].self, from: data)

Here's a full working example:

import Foundation

struct Business: Codable {
    let id: Int
    let name: String
}

// Generating the example JSON data: 
let originalObjects = [Business(id: 0, name: "A"), Business(id: 1, name: "B")]
let encoder = JSONEncoder()
let data = try! encoder.encode(originalObjects)

// Parsing the data: 
let decoder = JSONDecoder()
let parsedData = try! decoder.decode([Business].self, from: data)

For more background, check out this excellent guide.

Answer 4

I like RDC's response, but why limit the JSON returned to have only arrays at the top level? I needed to allow a dictionary at the top level, so I modified it thus:

extension String
{
    var parseJSONString: AnyObject?
    {
        let data = self.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding, allowLossyConversion: false)

        if let jsonData = data
        {
            // Will return an object or nil if JSON decoding fails
            do
            {
                let message = try NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(jsonData, options:.MutableContainers)
                if let jsonResult = message as? NSMutableArray {
                    return jsonResult //Will return the json array output
                } else if let jsonResult = message as? NSMutableDictionary {
                    return jsonResult //Will return the json dictionary output
                } else {
                    return nil
                }
            }
            catch let error as NSError
            {
                print("An error occurred: \(error)")
                return nil
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Lossless conversion of the string was not possible
            return nil
        }
    }

Answer 5

let jsonString = "{\"id\":123,\"Name\":\"Munish\"}"

Convert String to NSData

 var data: NSData =jsonString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!

 var error: NSError?

Convert NSData to AnyObject

var jsonObject: AnyObject? = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(data,     options: NSJSONReadingOptions.allZeros, error: &error)

println("Error: \\(error)")

let id = (jsonObject as! NSDictionary)["id"] as! Int

let name = (jsonObject as! NSDictionary)["name"] as! String

println("Id: \\(id)")

println("Name: \\(name)")

Answer 6

Here are some tips how to begin with simple example.

Consider you have following JSON Array String (similar to yours) like:

 var list:Array<Business> = []

  // left only 2 fields for demo
  struct Business {
    var id : Int = 0
    var name = ""               
 }

 var jsonStringAsArray = "[\n" +
        "{\n" +
        "\"id\":72,\n" +
        "\"name\":\"Batata Cremosa\",\n" +            
        "},\n" +
        "{\n" +
        "\"id\":183,\n" +
        "\"name\":\"Caldeirada de Peixes\",\n" +            
        "},\n" +
        "{\n" +
        "\"id\":76,\n" +
        "\"name\":\"Batata com Cebola e Ervas\",\n" +            
        "},\n" +
        "{\n" +
        "\"id\":56,\n" +
        "\"name\":\"Arroz de forma\",\n" +            
    "}]"


        // convert String to NSData
        var data: NSData = jsonStringAsArray.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!
        var error: NSError?

        // convert NSData to 'AnyObject'
        let anyObj: AnyObject? = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(data, options: NSJSONReadingOptions(0),
            error: &error)
        println("Error: \(error)")

     // convert 'AnyObject' to Array<Business>
     list = self.parseJson(anyObj!)

     //===============

    func parseJson(anyObj:AnyObject) -> Array<Business>{

        var list:Array<Business> = []

         if  anyObj is Array<AnyObject> {

            var b:Business = Business()

            for json in anyObj as Array<AnyObject>{
             b.name = (json["name"] as AnyObject? as? String) ?? "" // to get rid of null
             b.id  =  (json["id"]  as AnyObject? as? Int) ?? 0                 

               list.append(b)
            }// for

        } // if

      return list

    }//func    

[EDIT]

To get rid of null changed to:

b.name = (json["name"] as AnyObject? as? String) ?? ""
b.id  =  (json["id"]  as AnyObject? as? Int) ?? 0 

See also Reference of Coalescing Operator (aka ??)

Hope it will help you to sort things out,