Parsing id to NSString - ios

When parsing API responses, sometimes I can not rely on strings being embedded in quotation marks. ID's are a good example of this, where some API's will send the numerical ID as a string while some will send it as a number.
What is a good practice when parsing such a value? If I simply parse it to an NSString like so:
NSString *myID = (NSString *)message["myID"];
I can end up with an NSString object that somehow contains (long)123.
And using stringValue would cause issues when the value is actually already sent as a string (since NSString does not have a stringValue function).
A way that works, but is somewhat ugly, is this:
id myID = (NSString *)message["myID"];
if ([myID respondsToSelector:#selector(stringValue)])
{
myID = [myID stringValue];
}

You could do something like:
id myID = message["myID"];
if ([myID isKindOfClass:[NSString class]]) { ... }
else { ... }

As long as this logic is encapsulated inside data parser and is opaque for your api users (i.e. they will always get a string) any approach is fine, e.g.:
- (NSString*)parseID:(NSDictionary*)message {
id rawID = message["myID"];
if ([rawID isKindOfClass:[NSString class]]){
return rawID;
} else if ([rawID isKindOfClass:[NSNumber class]]) {
return [(NSNumber*)rawID stringValue];
} else {
// We might still want to handle this case.
NSAssert(false, #"Unexpected id type");
return nil;
}
}

Alternative is to define stringValue in extension, so any possible objet will respond to selector:
#implementation NSString(JSONStringParsing)
- (NSString *)stringValue {
return [self copy];
}
#end

Why not just use description?
NSArray *objects = #[
#NSIntegerMin,
#NSIntegerMax,
#"123456789"
];
for (id object in objects) {
NSString *stringObject = [object description];
NSLog(#"%# -> %# | %#", [object className], [stringObject className], stringObject);
}

Related

Recursive method Objective-C

I'm checking is first letter of string is 0, if it is remove it and call again method to check is there is still 0. I've debugged this and it seems like when it accomplish number without 0, it goes backwards. Code:
-(NSString *)deleteZerosOnFirst:(NSString *)card
{
NSString *firstLetter = [card substringToIndex:1];
if ([firstLetter isEqualToString:#"0"]) {
card = [card substringFromIndex:1];
[self deleteZerosOnFirst:card];
NSLog(#"CARD: %#", card);
return card;
}
else {
NSLog(#"CARD: %#", card);
return card;
}
}
The main problem is that you're not using the result of the recursion. The line of code where you call yourself should say this:
card = [self deleteZerosOnFirst:card];
Also, you're calling deleteZerosOnFirst before you do the NSLog. Reverse the order of these two lines. That will at least give you your debug output in the right sequence.
Here's your recursive call:
[self deleteZerosOnFirst:card];
That doesn't modify the string that card references. It creates and returns a new string. You're ignoring the returned string. You want this:
card = [self deleteZerosOnFirst:card];
But this is really a lot simpler:
#implementation NSString (withoutLeadingZeroes)
- (NSString *)withoutLeadingZeroes {
NSString *s = self;
while ([s hasPrefix:#"0"]) {
s = [s substringFromIndex:1];
}
return s;
}
#end

How to check if json object contains <null>?

I am getting a Json from server by making a network request in my app.I am getting <null> value for some keys in Json object.My app gets crashed if this type of response is received.Please tell me how can i validate>?
I have tried this but it does not work all time.
if(!(user_post.username==(id)[NSNull null]) )
{
user_post.username=[dict_user_info objectForKey:#"name"];
if(user_post.username!=nil)
{
ser_post.username=[dict_user_info objectForKey:#"name"];
}
else
{
user_post.username=#"Username";
}
}
Consider testing the value for null so your program won't crash. Like this:
if([dict_user_info objectForKey:#"name"] != [NSNull null])
{
ser_post.username=[dict_user_info objectForKey:#"name"];
}
Create a Category of NSDictionary and add following method in it, which replaces null value with empty string for each key in dictionary.
- (NSDictionary *)dictionaryByReplacingNullsWithStrings
{
const NSMutableDictionary *replaced = [self mutableCopy];
const id nul = [NSNull null];
const NSString *blank = #"";
for(NSString *key in self) {
const id object = [self objectForKey:key];
if(object == nul || object == NULL) {
//pointer comparison is way faster than -isKindOfClass:
//since [NSNull null] is a singleton, they'll all point to the same
//location in memory.
[replaced setObject:blank
forKey:key];
}
}
return [replaced copy];
}
Usage :
[yourJSONDictionary dictionaryByReplacingNullsWithStrings];
Read more about Category in iOS Tutorial 1 and Tutorial 2
yourJsonObject = [myDic valueforkey#"key"];
if(yourJsonObject != [NSNull null])
{
//not null
}
** you can also check whether object exist or not
if(yourJsonObject)
{
//exist
}
I think you've confused your logic. I am trying to stay true to your code, but let me know if the following is not what you intended:
if (dict_user_info[#"name"] != nil && [dict_user_info[#"name"] isKindOfClass:[NSNull class]] == NO) {
user_post.username = dict_user_info[#"name"];
if (user_post.username != nil) {
ser_post.username = user_post.username;
} else {
user_post.username = #"Username";
}
}
These are a couple of methods I wrote for my projects, try them :
/*!
* #brief Makes sure the object is not NSNull or NSCFNumber, if YES, converts them to NSString
* #discussion Sometimes JSON responses can contain NSNull objects, which does not play well with Obj-C. So when you access a value from a JSON and expect it to be an NSString, pass it through this method just to make sure thats the case.
* #param str The object that is supposed to be a string
* #return The object cleaned of unacceptable values
*/
+ (NSString *)cleanedJsonString:(id)str
{
NSString *formattedstr;
formattedstr = (str == [NSNull null]) ? #"" : str;
if ([str isKindOfClass:[NSNumber class]]) {
NSNumber *num = (NSNumber*) str;
formattedstr = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#",num];
}
return formattedstr;
}
/*!
* #brief Makes Sure the object is not NSNull
* #param obj Sometimes JSON responses can contain NSNull objects, which does not play well with Obj-C. So when you access a value from a JSON ( NSArray, NSDictionary or NSString), pass it through this method just to make sure thats the case.
* #return The object cleaned of unacceptable values
*/
+ (id)cleanedObject:(id)obj
{
return (obj == [NSNull null]) ? nil : obj;
}
/*!
* #brief A JSON cleaning function for NSArray Objects.
* #discussion Sometimes JSON responses can contain NSNull objects, which does not play well with Obj-C. So when you access a value from a JSON and expect it to be an NSArray, pass it through this method just to make sure thats the case. This method first checks if the object itself is NSNull. If not, then it traverses the array objects and cleans them too.
* #param arr The Objects thats supposed to be an NSArray
* #return The NSNull Cleaned object
*/
+ (NSArray *)cleanedJsonArray:(id)arr
{
if (arr == [NSNull null]) {
return [[NSArray alloc] init];
}
else
{
NSMutableArray *arrM = [(NSArray*)arr mutableCopy];
int i=0;
for (id __strong orb in arrM)
{
if (orb == [NSNull null])
{
[arrM removeObjectAtIndex:i];;
}
i++;
}
return arrM;
}
}
Just pass a JSON string, array or object to the appropriate method and the method will clean it for you.
Do yourself a favour and write a method that handles this and put it into an extension. Like
- (NSString*)jsonStringForKey:(NSString*)key
{
id result = self [key];
if (result == nil || result == [NSNull null]) return nil;
if ([result isKindOfClass:[NSString class]]) return result;
NSLog (#"Key %#: Expected string, got %#", key, result);
return nil;
}
You might even add some code that accepts NSNumber* results and turns them into strings, if that is what your server returns (some poster here had the problem that his server returned dress sizes as numbers like 40 or strings like "40-42" which makes something like this useful).
And then your code becomes one readable line
user_post.username = [dict_user_info jsonStringForKey:#"name"] ?: #"username";
I actually use several slightly different methods depending on whether I expect null, expect no value, expect an empty string or not, which gives me warnings when my assumptions are wrong (but always returns something that doesn't break).
try this:
if(!(user_post.username == (NSString *)[NSNull null]) )

Create a Model Object from JSON/Dictionary without Objective-c Runtime & hard coding or keys

I am trying to parse a JSON and create a Model(a nested class structure). I can do it using JSONModel (available on Github) but I do not want to use Obj-c Runtime.
Is there any other way to achieve this? Lets see what I did with some dummy code.
NSDictionary *dictionary = #{#"personalDetail":#{#"name":#"Anoop kumar vaidya",
#"dob":#"3 Aug 1981",
#"sex":#"Male"},
#"workDetail":#{#"current":#"Photon",
#"y2014":#"TechM",
#"y2012":#"Exilant",
#"y2010":#"RSG"},
#"educationDetail":#{#"pg":#"Mca - 63%",
#"ug":#"Bca -63%",
#"s12":#"58%",
#"s10":#"66%"
}
};
self.model = [[MainModel alloc] initWithMainModel:dictionary];
Implementation of MainModel, here you see the keys are hard coded. I want to avoid it, to make it generic.
-(id)initWithMainModel:(NSDictionary *)dict{
for (NSString *key in dict) {
[self putValue:dict[key] forKey:key];
}
return self;
}
-(void)putValue:(NSDictionary *)value forKey:(NSString *)key{
if ([key isEqualToString:#"personalDetail"]) {
self.personalDetail = [[Personal alloc] initWithDictionary:value];
}
else if ([key isEqualToString:#"workDetail"]){
self.workDetail = [[Work alloc] initWithDictionary:value];
}
else if ([key isEqualToString:#"educationDetail"]){
self.educationDetail = [[Education alloc] initWithDictionary:value];
}
}
Implementation of Personal. Similarly other two classes, Work & Education are implemented.
-(id)initWithDictionary:(NSDictionary *)dict{
for (NSString *key in dict) {
[self putValue:dict[key] forKey:key];
}
return self;
}
-(void)putValue:(NSString *)value forKey:(NSString *)key{
[self setValue:value forKey:key];
}
You can use the key and extract the class name of it. Then you get the class for this identifier witch NSClassFromString() to get the class and instantiate it with +alloc as usual:
key = …;
if ([key hasSuffix:#"Detail"])
{
NSString *className = [key substringToIndex:[key length]-[#"Detail length]];
className = [[[className substringToIndex:1] uppercaseString] stringByAppendingString:[className substringFromIndex:1]];
}
id instance = [[NSClassFromString( className ) alloc] initWithDictionary:…];
I said: You can do it this way. I did not say: You should.

Parsing JSON data and handling an Array

I am using Mantle to parse some JSON data from Yelp.
For each business returned I get an NSArray of categories. This would be an example:
yelpCategories = (
(
"Wine Bars",
"wine_bars"
),
(
"Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt",
icecream
)
);
yelpCategories is the name of the array that I save. Later on I am trying to parse the array into a string:
NSMutableString *yelpCats = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
for (NSObject * obj in business.yelpCategories)
{
[yelpCats appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#,",[obj description]]];
}
The issue is with the above. I am being returned a string just as "(" so I must be accessing the array incorrectly. How can I correctly access each object, ideally I would be looking for the end string o be #"Wine Bars, Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt".
EDIT
The categories array: (
(
Pubs,
pubs
)
)
FINAL EDIT - Proposed Solution
for (NSArray *cats in business.yelpCategories)
{
NSString *category = [cats objectAtIndex:0];
if ([category length] > 0) {
category = [category substringToIndex:[category length] - 1];
}
if (cats == business.yelpCategories.lastObject) {
[yelpCats appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#",category]];
} else {
[yelpCats appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#, ",category]];
}
}
cell.yelpCategories.text = yelpCats;
Using the description of the object gives you what you see in the debugger, which includes extra carriage returns.
What you want to do is something like:
yelpCats = [yelpCategories componentsJoinedByString:#", "];
#jeffamaphone 's answer is the correct and best way of doing things however what your doing will almost work, I think your just confused on the contents of the array.
The yelpCategories array is an array of strings so you don't need to call stringWithFormat or call the description method. In fact [obj description] will return a string so you didn't even need stringWithFormat in your example and you would have gotten the same output. To make your original method work change to:
NSMutableString *yelpCats = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
for (id obj in business.yelpCategories)
{
//obj is a string so we can just append it.
[yelpCats appendString:obj]];
}
Also noticed I changed NSObject *obj to just id obj, this is the idiomatic way and shorthand way of declaring NSObjects in objective-c. In this example however I would actually use (NSString *category in business.yelpCategories) instead for better readability. In this case you are declaring to everyone that you expect each object in the array to be a string and then if you wanted to use NSString methods on it inside the loop then you don't have to cast it.
for (NSArray *cats in business.yelpCategories)
{
NSString *category = [cats objectAtIndex:0];
if ([category length] > 0) {
category = [category substringToIndex:[category length] - 1];
}
if (cats == business.yelpCategories.lastObject) {
[yelpCats appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#",category]];
} else {
[yelpCats appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#, ",category]];
}
}
cell.yelpCategories.text = yelpCats;

SoapRequest to NSString on iOS?

I'm using an API generated by Sudzc.com from a WDSL. I have this method:
- (SoapRequest*) getToolListAsXML: (id <SoapDelegate>) handler getEmptyFC: (BOOL) getEmptyFC repoid: (NSString* ) repoid
And I thought that It calls the webservice and receive an XML as string as the documentation generated by sudzc.com told me:
But I really don't know how the SoapDelegate works, if I want the response (the list as string) what I'm supposed to do? The examples are more confusing, it says:
But, obviously,
NSString resp = [service getToolListAsXML:self action:#selector(getToolListAsXMLHandler:) getEmptyFC: NO repoid: #""];
doesn't work because of 'incompatible pointer types..."
I'm very new on this so sorry if what I'm saying has nonsense.
Thanks.
Try this
[service getToolListAsXML:self action:#selector(getToolListAsXMLHandler:) getEmptyFC: NO repoid: #""]
- (void) getToolListAsXMLHandler: (id) value {
if([value isKindOfClass:[NSError class]]) {
//NSLog(#"%#", value);
return;
}
// Handle faults
if([value isKindOfClass:[SoapFault class]]) {
//NSLog(#"%#", value);
return;
}
NSString * resp =(NSString *)value;
}
you will get soap request in string

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