Elegant solutions to decoding a JSON nested array in swift using decodable - ios

Question

Currently working with an API, and while I have successfully gotten it to decode the full result, I am only interested in the Entities/identifier portion. While I have gotten it working and get what I want/need I feel like this could be done better and more elegant and maybe in a single step. Any insight/suggestions appreciated.
JSON returned from API:
{
"count": 4596,
"entities": [
{
"facet_ids": [
"contact",
"siftery",
"investor",
"ipqwery",
"aberdeen",
"apptopia",
"semrush",
"company",
"rank",
"builtwith",
"bombora",
"key_event"
],
"identifier": {
"uuid": "468bef9f-2f50-590e-6e78-62e3adb05aa1",
"value": "Citi",
"image_id": "v1417152861/pdgwqt8ddecult5ktvdf.jpg",
"permalink": "citigroup",
"entity_def_id": "organization"
},
"short_description": "Citigroup is a diversified financial services holding company that provides various financial products and services."
},
{
"facet_ids": [
"contact",
"siftery",
"investor",
"apptopia",
"semrush",
"company",
"rank",
"builtwith",
"key_event"
],
"identifier": {
"uuid": "031a344b-c2b9-e60b-d950-1ae062026fde",
"value": "Citi",
"image_id": "yzlzhjqpparamrswaqa1",
"permalink": "citi-2",
"entity_def_id": "organization"
},
"short_description": "CITi is an NPO supporting the ICT sector in Western Cape."
},
{
"facet_ids": [
"contact",
"siftery",
"semrush",
"company",
"rank",
"builtwith",
"bombora"
],
"identifier": {
"uuid": "7ce45379-957c-49c5-bca2-c9ffd521f7da",
"value": "CITI",
"image_id": "qbkqndm7d0wgbogxjcrs",
"permalink": "citi-f7da",
"entity_def_id": "organization"
},
"short_description": "CITI trusted gateway to project-based change expertise that major organisations need to thrive, change and innovate."
}
]
}
Structs:
struct Entity: Decodable, Identifiable
{
var id: String
var companyName: String
var permalink: String
var imageID: String
init(from entity: Entities.Entity) throws
{
self.id = entity.identifier?.uuid ?? ""
self.companyName = entity.identifier?.value ?? ""
self.permalink = entity.identifier?.permalink ?? ""
self.imageID = entity.identifier?.image_id ?? ""
}
}
struct Entities: Decodable
{
var count:Int?
var entities: [Entity]?
struct Entity: Decodable
{
var facet_ids:[String]?
var identifier:Identifier?
var short_description:String?
}
struct Identifier:Decodable
{
var permalink:String?
var value:String?
var image_id:String?
var entity_def_id:String?
var uuid:String?
}
}
Call to decode:
if let data = data{
do {
let businessEntities = try decoder.decode(Entities.self, from: data)
let entities:[Entity] = try businessEntities.entities!.compactMap{
entity in
do
{
return try Entity(from: entity)
}
}

Answer 1

Thinking you are just interested in the Entities/identifier, you can simplify your model. Here's an example:
typealias Entities = [Entitie]
struct Entitie: Codable {
let facetIDS: [String]
let identifier: Identifier
let shortDescription: String
enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case facetIDS = "facet_ids"
case identifier
case shortDescription = "short_description"
}
}
struct Identifier: Codable {
let uuid, value, imageID, permalink: String
let entityDefID: String
enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case uuid, value
case imageID = "image_id"
case permalink
case entityDefID = "entity_def_id"
}
}
You can access entities object and decode it like this:
guard let data = data,
let jsonDict = try? JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data) as? [String: Any],
let entitiesObj = jsonDict["entities"] else { return }
do {
let entitiesData = try JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: entitiesObj)
let result = try JSONDecoder().decode(Entities.self, from: entitiesData)
} catch {
print(error.localizedDescription)
}
Obs: I created the CodingKeys because I use camelCase in my projects, you can left it in snake_case just remember to replace variables.