I have the following object
struct Properties: Decodable {
var id: String?
var value: String?
var color: String?
}
In the first request to server I get the following response
{
"id":"1",
"color":"red"
}
And after another request I get
{
"id":"1", // the id of the object props is meant for
"props":{
"value":"my value" // I can get any property here
}
}
After the two requests I should have the object with all properties set
By now I decode the second request as following
struct SetAttr: Decodable {
let id: String
let props: [String : Any]
enum SetAttrCodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case id
case props
}
init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try! decoder.container(keyedBy: SetAttrCodingKeys.self)
props = try! container.decode([String : Any].self, forKey: .props)
id = try! container.decode(String.self, forKey: .id)
}
}
But I do not know how to parse props dictionary and set the properties on the first object. I am willing to use a decoding library, but I did not find any that can do this
EDIT:
This is how I tried to set the properties from dictionary, but the solution is not scalable
var myObject: Properties
properties = setAttr.props // [String:Any]
let keys = properties.keys
keys.forEach { key in
if let value = properties[key] {
switch key {
case "value":
myObject.value = value as? String
case "color":
myObject.color = value as? String
default:
break
}
}
}
Just use JSONSerialization which parses whatever you throw at it into arrays and dictionaries. That frees you from all the problems you have with strangely formatted JSON.
For example, the second request will be parsed as a dictionary with two keys "id" and "props", and "props" has a value which is again a dictionary with one key "value" and a value "my value".
And please stop using try! That will cause your app to crash instantly if any input is not expected. Unexpected inputs should be handled, not lead to a crash.
There are various way to do this, but one possible way could be something like this:
struct SecAttr: Decodable {
let id: String
var props: Properties?
private enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case id
case props
}
init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
id = try container.decode(String.self, forKey: .id)
if let props = try container.decodeIfPresent(Properties.self, forKey: .props) {
self.props = props
} else {
// decode Properties from the same object
self.props = try Properties(from: decoder)
}
}
}
struct Properties: Decodable {
var value: String?
var color: String?
mutable update(from props: Properties) {
value = props.value ?? value
color = color.value ?? color
}
}
Now you can decode your original object and after getting updated properties, just update them on the original.
Related
This question already has answers here:
Using codable with value that is sometimes an Int and other times a String
(5 answers)
Closed last year.
i am working with a service that have both a websocket for live data and a api for historical data
the JSON looks similar and i would like to decode it to the same object
the only difference is that in the live one variable is a number but as a string and with the historical data the number is an int.
and preferably i would like to not have to create 2 almost identical decodable objects.
have anyone tried something similar.
You have to define a single type (Int or String) for your data structure and use init with Decoder to make a custom parsing.
struct MyData: Decodable {
let value: Int // Could be Int or String from different services
}
extension MyData {
enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case value
}
init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
do {
value = try container.decode(Int.self, forKey: .value)
} catch {
let stringValue = try container.decode(String.self, forKey: .value)
if let valueInt = Int(stringValue) {
value = valueInt
} else {
var codingPath = container.codingPath
codingPath.append(CodingKeys.value)
let debugDescription = "Could not create Int from String \(stringValue) of field \(CodingKeys.value.rawValue)"
let context = DecodingError.Context(codingPath: codingPath, debugDescription: debugDescription)
throw DecodingError.dataCorrupted(context)
}
}
}
}
I think you need a wrapper for that case of some sort. To make it as convenient as possible you could use a property wrapper for this
#propertyWrapper
struct NormalOrStringyInt: Decodable {
var wrappedValue: Int?
init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.singleValueContainer()
if let value = try? container.decode(Int.self) {
wrappedValue = value
} else if
let string = try? container.decode(String.self),
let value = Int(string)
{
wrappedValue = value
} else {
wrappedValue = nil // default value
}
}
}
struct Model: Codable {
#NormalOrStringyInt var id: Int?
var someInt: Int
var someString: String
...
}
let model = try! JSONDecoder().decode(Model, from: data)
let id: Int? = model.id.wrappedValue
I am trying to parse an array of heterogeneous objects using Codable. These objects are also unkeyed as well. I should note that I have the container structure correct, because it DOES loop through and print "it is type1" at all correct times as seen below. I just can't figure out how to access the actual object. Here is my code:
var data: [Any]
public init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
var container = try! decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self).nestedUnkeyedContainer(forKey: .data)
while !container.isAtEnd {
var itemContainer = try container.nestedContainer(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
let itemType = try itemContainer.decode(String.self, forKey: .type)
switch itemType {
case "type1":
print("it is type1")
// this does not compile, but is what I need
//let objectOfItem1 = try itemContainer.decode(Type1.self)
// this compiles, but doesn't work because there is no key with these objects
//let objectOfItem1 = try itemContainer.decode(Type1, forKey: .type)
default:
print("test:: it is the default")
}
}
}
private enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case data
case type
}
And here is the JSON I am trying to decode (many properties committed for clarity):
"contents" : {
"data" : [
{
"type" : "type1",
"id" : "6a406cdd7a9cace5"
},
{
"type" : "type2",
"id" : "ljhdgsouilghoipsu"
}
]
}
How can I correctly get my individual Type1 objects out of this structure?
I think the easy way to get around the heterogenous data is to use an enum as an interim type to wrap your various Item types (which all need to Codable):
To allow myself to test this I've changed your json slightly to give me more heterogenous data for testing. I've used:
let json = """
{
"contents": {
"data": [
{
"type": "type1",
"id": "6a406cdd7a9cace5"
},
{
"type": "type2",
"dbl": 1.01
},
{
"type": "type3",
"int": 5
}
]
}
}
and then created the three final types represented by this json
struct Item1: Codable {
let type: String
let id: String
}
struct Item2: Codable {
let type: String
let dbl: Double
}
struct Item3: Codable {
let type: String
let int: Int
}
To allow decoding the multiple types in a type-safe way (as required by Codable) you need to use a single type that can represent (or wrap) the possible options. An enum with associated values works nicely for this
enum Interim {
case type1 (Item1)
case type2 (Item2)
case type3 (Item3)
case unknown //to handle unexpected json structures
}
So far, so good, but then it gets slightly more complicated when it comes to creating the Interim from the JSON. It will need a CodingKey enum which represents all the possible keys for all the Item# types, and then it will need to decode the JSON linking all these keys to their respective types and data:
extension Interim: Decodable {
private enum InterimKeys: String, CodingKey {
case type
case id
case dbl
case int
}
init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: InterimKeys.self)
let type = try container.decode(String.self, forKey: .type)
switch type {
case "type1":
let id = try container.decode(String.self, forKey: .id)
let item = Item1(type: type, id: id)
self = .type1(item)
case "type2":
let dbl = try container.decode(Double.self, forKey: .dbl)
let item = Item2(type: type, dbl: dbl)
self = .type2(item)
case "type3":
let int = try container.decode(Int.self, forKey: .int)
let item = Item3(type: type, int: int)
self = .type3(item)
default: self = .unknown
}
}
}
This provides the mechanism for decoding the heterogenous components, now we just need to deal with the higher-level keys. As we have a Decodable Interim type this is straightforward:
struct DataArray: Decodable {
var data: [Interim]
}
struct Contents: Decodable {
var contents: DataArray
}
This now means the json can be decoded like this...
let data = Data(json.utf8)
let decoder = JSONDecoder()
do {
let contents = try decoder.decode(Contents.self, from: data)
print(contents)
} catch {
print("Failed to decode JSON")
print(error.localizedDescription)
}
This successfully decodes the data into a nested structure where the major component is the array of Interim types with their associated Item# objects. The above produces the following output, showing these nested types:
Contents(contents: testbed.DataArray(data: [testbed.Interim.type1(testbed.Item1(type: "type1", id: "6a406cdd7a9cace5")), testbed.Interim.type2(testbed.Item2(type: "type2", dbl: 1.01)), testbed.Interim.type3(testbed.Item3(type: "type3", int: 5))]))
I think there should be an even safer way to do this with Type Erasure to provide a more extensible solution, but I've not got my head around that fully yet.
I think you need use this structure:
struct A: Codable {
let contents: B?
enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case contents
}
struct B: Codable {
let data: [C]?
enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case data
}
struct C: Codable {
let type : String?
let id : String?
}
}
}
extension A {
init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
let contents = try container.decodeIfPresent(B.self, forKey: .contents)
self.init(contents: contents)
}
}
I'd like to add to flanker's answer an improvement for cleaner approach to avoid having all possible keys to be stored under Interim's CodingKey. Here is an updated Interim
enum Interim: Decodable {
case item1(Item1)
case item2(Item2)
case item3(Item3)
case unknown
init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let typeContainer = try decoder.container(keyedBy: Key.self)
// Fallback for any unsupported types
guard let type = try? typeContainer.decode(ItemType.self, forKey: .type) else {
self = .unknown
return
}
// Let corresponding Decodable Item to be initialized from the same decoder.
switch type {
case .type1: self = .item1(try .init(from: decoder))
case .type2: self = .item2(try .init(from: decoder))
case .type3: self = .item3(try .init(from: decoder))
}
}
/// These are values for Item.type
private enum ItemType: String, Decodable {
case type1
case type2
case type3
}
private enum Key: CodingKey {
case type
}
}
Here is the code I am using,
struct CreatePostResponseModel : Codable{
var transcodeId:String?
var id:String = ""
enum TopLevelCodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case _transcode = "_transcode"
case _transcoder = "_transcoder"
}
enum CodingKeys:String, CodingKey{
case id = "_id"
}
init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: TopLevelCodingKeys.self)
if let transcodeId = try container.decodeIfPresent(String.self, forKey: ._transcode) {
self.transcodeId = transcodeId
}else if let transcodeId = try container.decodeIfPresent(String.self, forKey: ._transcoder) {
self.transcodeId = transcodeId
}
}
}
Here, transcodeId is decided by either _transcode or _transcoder.
But I want id and rest of the keys (not included here) to be automatically decoded. How can I do it ?
You need to manually parse all the keys once you implement init(from:) in the Codable type.
struct CreatePostResponseModel: Decodable {
var transcodeId: String?
var id: String
enum CodingKeys:String, CodingKey{
case id, transcode, transcoder
}
init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
id = try container.decodeIfPresent(String.self, forKey: .id) ?? ""
if let transcodeId = try container.decodeIfPresent(String.self, forKey: .transcode) {
self.transcodeId = transcodeId
} else if let transcodeId = try container.decodeIfPresent(String.self, forKey: .transcoder) {
self.transcodeId = transcodeId
}
}
}
In the above code,
In case you only want to decode the JSON, there is no need to use Codable. Using Decodable is enough.
Using multiple enums for CodingKey seems unnecessary here. You can use a single enum CodingKeys.
If the property name and the key name is an exact match, there is no need to explicitly specify the rawValue of that case in enum CodingKeys. So, there is no requirement of "_transcode" and "_transcoder" rawValues in TopLevelCodingKeys.
Apart from all that, you can use keyDecodingStrategy as .convertFromSnakeCase to handle underscore notation (snake case notation), i.e.
do {
let decoder = JSONDecoder()
decoder.keyDecodingStrategy = .convertFromSnakeCase //here.....
let model = try decoder.decode(CreatePostResponseModel.self, from: data)
print(model)
} catch {
print(error)
}
So, you don't need to explicitly handle all the snake-case keys. It'll be handled by the JSONDecoder on its own.
This can be one of the good solution for you wherever you want you can add multiple keys for one variable:
var transcodeId:String?
public init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
do {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
transcodeId = container.getValueFromAvailableKey(codingKeys: [CodingKeys._transcoder,CodingKeys._transcode])
} catch {
print("Error reading config file: \(error.localizedDescription)")
}
}
extension KeyedDecodingContainerProtocol{
func getValueFromAvailableKey(codingKeys:[CodingKey])-> String?{
for key in codingKeys{
for keyPath in self.allKeys{
if key.stringValue == keyPath.stringValue{
do{
return try self.decodeIfPresent(String.self, forKey: keyPath)
} catch {
return nil
}
}
}
}
return nil
}
}
Hope it helps.
The compiler-generated init(from:) is all-or-nothing. You can’t have it decode some keys and “manually” decode others.
One way to use the compiler-generated init(from:) is by giving your struct both of the possible encoded properties, and make transcodeId a computed property:
struct CreatePostResponseModel: Codable {
var transcodeId: String? {
get { _transcode ?? _transcoder }
set { _transcode = newValue; _transcoder = nil }
}
var _transcode: String? = nil
var _transcoder: String? = nil
var id: String = “”
// other properties
}
Swift 4 added the new Codable protocol. When I use JSONDecoder it seems to require all the non-optional properties of my Codable class to have keys in the JSON or it throws an error.
Making every property of my class optional seems like an unnecessary hassle since what I really want is to use the value in the json or a default value. (I don't want the property to be nil.)
Is there a way to do this?
class MyCodable: Codable {
var name: String = "Default Appleseed"
}
func load(input: String) {
do {
if let data = input.data(using: .utf8) {
let result = try JSONDecoder().decode(MyCodable.self, from: data)
print("name: \(result.name)")
}
} catch {
print("error: \(error)")
// `Error message: "Key not found when expecting non-optional type
// String for coding key \"name\""`
}
}
let goodInput = "{\"name\": \"Jonny Appleseed\" }"
let badInput = "{}"
load(input: goodInput) // works, `name` is Jonny Applessed
load(input: badInput) // breaks, `name` required since property is non-optional
You can implement the init(from decoder: Decoder) method in your type instead of using the default implementation:
class MyCodable: Codable {
var name: String = "Default Appleseed"
required init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
if let name = try container.decodeIfPresent(String.self, forKey: .name) {
self.name = name
}
}
}
You can also make name a constant property (if you want to):
class MyCodable: Codable {
let name: String
required init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
if let name = try container.decodeIfPresent(String.self, forKey: .name) {
self.name = name
} else {
self.name = "Default Appleseed"
}
}
}
or
required init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
self.name = try container.decodeIfPresent(String.self, forKey: .name) ?? "Default Appleseed"
}
Re your comment: With a custom extension
extension KeyedDecodingContainer {
func decodeWrapper<T>(key: K, defaultValue: T) throws -> T
where T : Decodable {
return try decodeIfPresent(T.self, forKey: key) ?? defaultValue
}
}
you could implement the init method as
required init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
self.name = try container.decodeWrapper(key: .name, defaultValue: "Default Appleseed")
}
but that is not much shorter than
self.name = try container.decodeIfPresent(String.self, forKey: .name) ?? "Default Appleseed"
You can use a computed property that defaults to the desired value if the JSON key is not found.
class MyCodable: Decodable {
var name: String { return _name ?? "Default Appleseed" }
var age: Int?
// this is the property that gets actually decoded/encoded
private var _name: String?
enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case _name = "name"
case age
}
}
If you want to have the property read-write, you can also implement the setter:
var name: String {
get { _name ?? "Default Appleseed" }
set { _name = newValue }
}
This adds a little extra verbosity as you'll need to declare another property, and will require adding the CodingKeys enum (if not already there). The advantage is that you don't need to write custom decoding/encoding code, which can become tedious at some point.
Note that this solution only works if the value for the JSON key either holds a string or is not present. If the JSON might have the value under another form (e.g. it's an int), then you can try this solution.
Approach that I prefer is using so called DTOs - data transfer object.
It is a struct, that conforms to Codable and represents the desired object.
struct MyClassDTO: Codable {
let items: [String]?
let otherVar: Int?
}
Then you simply init the object that you want to use in the app with that DTO.
class MyClass {
let items: [String]
var otherVar = 3
init(_ dto: MyClassDTO) {
items = dto.items ?? [String]()
otherVar = dto.otherVar ?? 3
}
var dto: MyClassDTO {
return MyClassDTO(items: items, otherVar: otherVar)
}
}
This approach is also good since you can rename and change final object however you wish to.
It is clear and requires less code than manual decoding.
Moreover, with this approach you can separate networking layer from other app.
You can implement.
struct Source : Codable {
let id : String?
let name : String?
enum CodingKeys: String, CodingKey {
case id = "id"
case name = "name"
}
init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let values = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
id = try values.decodeIfPresent(String.self, forKey: .id) ?? ""
name = try values.decodeIfPresent(String.self, forKey: .name)
}
}
I came across this question looking for the exact same thing. The answers I found were not very satisfying even though I was afraid that the solutions here would be the only option.
In my case, creating a custom decoder would require a ton of boilerplate that would be hard to maintain so I kept searching for other answers.
I ran into this article that shows an interesting way to overcome this in simple cases using a #propertyWrapper. The most important thing for me, was that it was reusable and required minimal refactoring of existing code.
The article assumes a case where you'd want a missing boolean property to default to false without failing but also shows other different variants.
You can read it in more detail but I'll show what I did for my use case.
In my case, I had an array that I wanted to be initialized as empty if the key was missing.
So, I declared the following #propertyWrapper and additional extensions:
#propertyWrapper
struct DefaultEmptyArray<T:Codable> {
var wrappedValue: [T] = []
}
//codable extension to encode/decode the wrapped value
extension DefaultEmptyArray: Codable {
func encode(to encoder: Encoder) throws {
try wrappedValue.encode(to: encoder)
}
init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.singleValueContainer()
wrappedValue = try container.decode([T].self)
}
}
extension KeyedDecodingContainer {
func decode<T:Decodable>(_ type: DefaultEmptyArray<T>.Type,
forKey key: Key) throws -> DefaultEmptyArray<T> {
try decodeIfPresent(type, forKey: key) ?? .init()
}
}
The advantage of this method is that you can easily overcome the issue in existing code by simply adding the #propertyWrapper to the property. In my case:
#DefaultEmptyArray var items: [String] = []
Hope this helps someone dealing with the same issue.
UPDATE:
After posting this answer while continuing to look into the matter I found this other article but most importantly the respective library that contains some common easy to use #propertyWrappers for these kind of cases:
https://github.com/marksands/BetterCodable
If you don't want to implement your encoding and decoding methods, there is somewhat dirty solution around default values.
You can declare your new field as implicitly unwrapped optional and check if it's nil after decoding and set a default value.
I tested this only with PropertyListEncoder, but I think JSONDecoder works the same way.
If you think that writing your own version of init(from decoder: Decoder) is overwhelming, I would advice you to implement a method which will check the input before sending it to decoder. That way you'll have a place where you can check for fields absence and set your own default values.
For example:
final class CodableModel: Codable
{
static func customDecode(_ obj: [String: Any]) -> CodableModel?
{
var validatedDict = obj
let someField = validatedDict[CodingKeys.someField.stringValue] ?? false
validatedDict[CodingKeys.someField.stringValue] = someField
guard
let data = try? JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: validatedDict, options: .prettyPrinted),
let model = try? CodableModel.decoder.decode(CodableModel.self, from: data) else {
return nil
}
return model
}
//your coding keys, properties, etc.
}
And in order to init an object from json, instead of:
do {
let data = try JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: json, options: .prettyPrinted)
let model = try CodableModel.decoder.decode(CodableModel.self, from: data)
} catch {
assertionFailure(error.localizedDescription)
}
Init will look like this:
if let vuvVideoFile = PublicVideoFile.customDecode($0) {
videos.append(vuvVideoFile)
}
In this particular situation I prefer to deal with optionals but if you have a different opinion, you can make your customDecode(:) method throwable
I'm using the Decodable protocol in order to parse JSON received from an external source. After decoding the attributes that I do know about there still may be some attributes in the JSON that are unknown and have not yet been decoded. For example, if the external source added a new attribute to the JSON at some future point in time I would like to hold onto these unknown attributes by storing them in a [String: Any] dictionary (or an alternative) so the values do not get ignored.
The issue is that after decoding the attributes that I do know about there isn't any accessors on the container to retrieve the attributes that have not yet been decoded. I'm aware of the decoder.unkeyedContainer() which I could use to iterate over each value however this would not work in my case because in order for that to work you need to know what value type you're iterating over but the value types in the JSON are not always identical.
Here is an example in playground for what I'm trying to achieve:
// Playground
import Foundation
let jsonData = """
{
"name": "Foo",
"age": 21
}
""".data(using: .utf8)!
struct Person: Decodable {
enum CodingKeys: CodingKey {
case name
}
let name: String
let unknownAttributes: [String: Any]
init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
self.name = try container.decode(String.self, forKey: .name)
// I would like to store the `age` attribute in this dictionary
// but it would not be known at the time this code was written.
self.unknownAttributes = [:]
}
}
let decoder = JSONDecoder()
let person = try! decoder.decode(Person.self, from: jsonData)
// The `person.unknownAttributes` dictionary should
// contain the "age" attribute with a value of 21.
I would like for the unknownAttributes dictionary to store the age attribute and value in this case and any other possible value types if they get added to the JSON from the external source in the future.
The reason I am wanting to do something like this is so that I can persist the unknown attributes present in the JSON so that in a future update of the code I will be able to handle them appropriately once the attribute keys are known.
I've done plenty of searching on StackOverflow and Google but haven't yet encountered this unique case. Thanks in advance!
You guys keep coming up with novel ways to stress the Swift 4 coding APIs... ;)
A general solution, supporting all value types, might not be possible. But, for primitive types, you can try this:
Create a simple CodingKey type with string-based keys:
struct UnknownCodingKey: CodingKey {
init?(stringValue: String) { self.stringValue = stringValue }
let stringValue: String
init?(intValue: Int) { return nil }
var intValue: Int? { return nil }
}
Then write a general decoding function using the standard KeyedDecodingContainer keyed by the UnknownCodingKey above:
func decodeUnknownKeys(from decoder: Decoder, with knownKeys: Set<String>) throws -> [String: Any] {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: UnknownCodingKey.self)
var unknownKeyValues = [String: Any]()
for key in container.allKeys {
guard !knownKeys.contains(key.stringValue) else { continue }
func decodeUnknownValue<T: Decodable>(_ type: T.Type) -> Bool {
guard let value = try? container.decode(type, forKey: key) else {
return false
}
unknownKeyValues[key.stringValue] = value
return true
}
if decodeUnknownValue(String.self) { continue }
if decodeUnknownValue(Int.self) { continue }
if decodeUnknownValue(Double.self) { continue }
// ...
}
return unknownKeyValues
}
Finally, use the decodeUnknownKeys function to fill your unknownAttributes dictionary:
struct Person: Decodable {
enum CodingKeys: CodingKey {
case name
}
let name: String
let unknownAttributes: [String: Any]
init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
let container = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
self.name = try container.decode(String.self, forKey: .name)
let knownKeys = Set(container.allKeys.map { $0.stringValue })
self.unknownAttributes = try decodeUnknownKeys(from: decoder, with: knownKeys)
}
}
A simple test:
let jsonData = """
{
"name": "Foo",
"age": 21,
"token": "ABC",
"rate": 1.234
}
""".data(using: .utf8)!
let decoder = JSONDecoder()
let person = try! decoder.decode(Person.self, from: jsonData)
print(person.name)
print(person.unknownAttributes)
prints:
Foo
["age": 21, "token": "ABC", "rate": 1.234]