How do you make a variable from a string?

Question

I want to be able to convert a String into a variable name and then use it to call a variable in another Swift file.

//ViewController.swift
var hireTypes = [\"sc         


        

Answer 1

Short answer: You can't do that. Variable names are created and evaluated at compile time.

There are a few workarounds. One of them is passing the index and using a switch expression.

//ViewController.swift

func tableView(tableView: UITableView, didSelectRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) {

  var data = FullData.data(indexPath.row)
  print("The data from selected row is \(data)")
}

//FullData.swift

static func data(index : Int) -> [String:String] {
  switch index {
  case 0: return FullData.schoolData
  case 1: return FullData.councilData
  case 2: return FullData.nationalData
  default: return [String:String]()
  }
}

static var schoolData = [...]
static var councilData = [...]
static var nationalData = [...]

or still easier

//ViewController.swift

func tableView(tableView: UITableView, didSelectRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) {

  var data = FullData.data[indexPath.row]
  print("The data from selected row is \(data)")
}

//FullData.swift

static var data : [[String:String]] {
   return [FullData.schoolData, FullData.councilData, FullData.nationalData]
}

static var schoolData = [...]
static var councilData = [...]
static var nationalData = [...]

Answer 2

A better option is to use the string as a key into a dictionary to get the values.

E.g.

static var dataDictionary = [
"school" : [
    "name": "School",
    "warningMessageOne": "Please check system value",
    "warningMessageThree": "May or June",
    "warningMessageTwo": "Check hire fits in with morning and afternoon school runs"
 ],
"council" : [
    "name": "Council",
    "warningMessageOne": "Please check system value",
    "warningMessageThree": "Aug or June",
    "warningMessageTwo": "Check hire fits in with morning and afternoon school runs"
 ],
 .....
]

Then access the data as

var data = FullData.dataDictionary[variableName]