Nil while caching images - ios

Question

I've been able to solve the issue of caching images to improve scroll performance in my app. However nil is found when it tries to add it to cache. Also how can I add a placeholder image for images that failed to load or aren't available ?
let imageCache = NSCache<NSString, UIImage>()
extension UIImageView {
func downloadImage(from imgURL: String) -> URLSessionDataTask? {
guard let url = URL(string: imgURL) else { return nil }
// set initial image to nil so it doesn't use the image from a reused cell
image = nil
// check if the image is already in the cache
if let imageToCache = imageCache.object(forKey: imgURL as NSString) {
self.image = imageToCache
return nil
}
// download the image asynchronously
let task = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url) { (data, response, error) in
if let err = error {
print(err)
return
}
DispatchQueue.main.async {
// create UIImage
let imageToCache = UIImage(data: data!)
// add image to cache
imageCache.setObject(imageToCache!, forKey: imgURL as NSString)
self.image = imageToCache
}
}
task.resume()
return task
}
}

Answer 1

A couple of observations:
Just supply placeholder as parameter to function and use it instead of nil to initialize the image.
Do that after checking the cache (because there’s no point in using the placeholder if you found desired image in the cache).
Avoid use of ! forced unwrapping operator.
Check that UIImage(data:) found an image in the guard statement (and on the session queue, not the main thread).
Thus:
let imageCache = NSCache<NSString, UIImage>()
extension UIImageView {
func downloadImage(from imgURL: String, placeholder: UIImage? = nil) -> URLSessionDataTask? {
guard let url = URL(string: imgURL) else { return nil }
// check if the image is already in the cache
if let imageToCache = imageCache.object(forKey: imgURL as NSString) {
image = imageToCache
return nil
}
// set initial image to placeholder so it doesn't use the image from a reused cell
image = placeholder
// download the image asynchronously
let task = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url) { data, _, error in
guard
let data = data,
error == nil,
let imageToCache = UIImage(data: data)
else {
print(error ?? URLError(.badServerResponse))
return
}
imageCache.setObject(imageToCache, forKey: imgURL as NSString)
DispatchQueue.main.async {
self.image = imageToCache
}
}
task.resume()
return task
}
}