SwiftUI: Having a plist to display - ios

Question

I am trying to read a plist and having it displayed as a List on SwiftUI. It compiles with no errors or warnings, but nothing gets displayed. I am not sure what I am doing wrong or the mistake I am making here. I've tried multiple things, but I still get a blank display.
import Foundation
struct PresidentModel: Decodable{
var Name: String
var Number: Int
var StartDate: String
var EndDate: String
var Nickname: String
var PoliticalParty: String
enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey{
case Name = "Name"
case Number = "Number"
case StartDate = "Start Date"
case EndDate = "End Date"
case Nickname = "Nickname"
case PoliticalParty = "Political Party"
}
}
class PresidentViewModel: ObservableObject{
#Published var PresArray: [PresidentModel] = []
#Published var name: String = ""
#Published var number: Int = 0
#Published var startDate: String = ""
#Published var endDate: String = ""
#Published var nickname: String = ""
#Published var politicalParty: String = ""
func loadProperityListData(){
guard let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "presidents", ofType: "plist"), let xml = FileManager.default.contents(atPath: path) else {
fatalError("Unable to access property list states.plist")
}
do{
PresArray = try PropertyListDecoder().decode([PresidentModel].self, from: xml)
name = PresArray[0].Name
number = PresArray[0].Number
startDate = PresArray[0].StartDate
endDate = PresArray[0].EndDate
nickname = PresArray[0].Nickname
politicalParty = PresArray[0].PoliticalParty
}
catch {
fatalError("Unable to decode property list states.plist")
}
}//func
}//class
Where the plist will be displayed as a List :
import SwiftUI
struct ContentView: View {
let presidents = PresidentViewModel()
var body: some View {
List(presidents.PresArray.indices, id: \.self){ president in
Text(presidents.PresArray[].Name)
}
}//Body
}//View
struct ContentView_Previews: PreviewProvider {
static var previews: some View {
ContentView()
}
}

Answer 1

First of all please conform to the naming convention and declare the struct member names with starting lowercase letters and add an id property
struct PresidentModel: Decodable, Identifiable {
let id = UUID()
let name: String
let number: Int
let startDate: String
let endDate: String
let nickname: String
let politicalParty: String
private enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case name = "Name"
case number = "Number"
case startDate = "Start Date"
case endDate = "End Date"
case nickname = "Nickname"
case politicalParty = "Political Party"
}
}
The main problem is that you don't load the data, a good place is the init method of the observable class. The properties are not needed because the array contains all data
class PresidentViewModel: ObservableObject{
#Published var presArray: [PresidentModel] = []
init() {
loadProperityListData()
}
func loadProperityListData(){
guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "presidents", withExtension: "plist"),
let data = try? Data(contentsOf: url) else {
fatalError("Unable to access property list states.plist")
}
do {
presArray = try PropertyListDecoder().decode([PresidentModel].self, from: data)
} catch {
print(error)
presArray = []
}
}//func
}//class
The second main problem is that PresidentViewModel is not declared as #StateObject. And due to the added id property you get rid of dealing with indices and specifying id: \.self
import SwiftUI
struct ContentView: View {
#StateObject var model = PresidentViewModel()
var body: some View {
List(model.presArray) { president in
Text(president.name)
}
}//Body
}//View