issue passing data to segue.destination within function - ios

Question

I'm trying to make 2 API calls on Segue invoke and ultimately pass Array of Data from Second Call to CollectionView. With first call I'm getting one value catID, which I need in order to make the other call:
let searchEndpoint: String = MY_ENDPOINT
// Add auth key
let serviceCallWithParams = searchEndpoint + "?PARAMETER"
guard let url = URL(string: serviceCallWithParams) else {
print("Error: cannot create URL")
return
}
let urlRequest = URLRequest(url: url)
// setting up the session
let config = URLSessionConfiguration.default
let session = URLSession(configuration: config)
// making the request
let task = session.dataTask(with: urlRequest) {
(data, response, error) in
// error check
guard error == nil else {
print("error")
print(error)
return
}
// make sure we got data
guard let responseData = data else {
print("Error: did not receive data")
return
}
// parse JSON
do {
guard let catData = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: responseData, options: []) as? [String: AnyObject] else {
print("error converting data to JSON")
return
}
if let data = catData["data"] as? [String: Any] {
if let array = data["categories"] as? [Any] {
if let firstObject = array.first as? [String: Any] {
if let catId = firstObject["catId"] as? Int {
getTitles(catId: catId)
}
}
}
}
} catch {
print("error converting data to JSON")
return
}
}
task.resume()
And then getTitles function looks like this:
func getTitles(catId: Int) {
let catIdString = String(catId)
let titlesEndPoint: String = MY_ENDPOINT + catIdString
// Add auth key
let titlesEndPointWithParams = titlesEndPoint + "?PARAMETER"
guard let titlesUrl = URL(string: titlesEndPointWithParams) else {
print("Error: cannot create URL")
return
}
let titlesUrlRequest = URLRequest(url: titlesUrl)
// set up the session
let config = URLSessionConfiguration.default
let session = URLSession(configuration: config)
// make the request
let task = session.dataTask(with: titlesUrlRequest) {
(data, response, error) in
// check for any errors
guard error == nil else {
print("error calling GET on listCategoryTitles")
print(error)
return
}
// make sure we got data
guard let titlesData = data else {
print("Error: did not receive data")
return
}
// parse the JSON
do {
guard let allTitles = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: titlesData, options: []) as? [String: AnyObject] else {
print("error converting data to JSON")
return
}
if let titlesJson = allTitles["data"] as? [String: Any] {
if let titlesArray = titlesJson["titles"] as? Array<AnyObject> {
self.books = []
for (index, value) in titlesArray.enumerated() {
var book = Book()
book.bookTitle = value["title"] as? String
book.bookAuthor = value["author"] as? String
if let imageSource = value["_links"] as? Array<AnyObject> {
book.bookImageSource = imageSource[1]["href"] as? String
}
self.books?.append(book)
}
}
}
} catch {
print("error converting data to JSON")
return
}
}
task.resume()
}
Now when I put:
let resultsVC = segue.destination as? CollectionViewController
resultsVC?.books = self.books
outside function, in target controller I'm getting an empty array as output on first click, but on every next one I'm getting proper data.
When I try putting this inside function "getTitles" the output in CollectionViewController is "nil" every time.
Worth mentioning could be that I have "books" variable defined like so:
Main Controller:
var books: [Book]? = []
Collection Controller:
var books: [Book]?
and I have created type [Book] which is basically object with 3 string variables in separate struct.
All of the code above is encapsulated in
override func prepare(for segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: Any?) {
if segue.identifier == "ShowResults" {
Any help/guideline would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

When you make api call it will execute in background means asynchronously where as prepare(for:sender:) will call synchronously.
Now from your question it is looks like that you have create segue in storyboard from Button to ViewController, so before you get response from your api you are moved to your destination controller, to solved your issue you need to create segue from your Source ViewController to Destination ViewController and set its identifier. After that inside getTitles(catId: Int) method after your for loop perform segue on the main thread.
for (index, value) in titlesArray.enumerated() {
var book = Book()
book.bookTitle = value["title"] as? String
book.bookAuthor = value["author"] as? String
if let imageSource = value["_links"] as? Array<AnyObject> {
book.bookImageSource = imageSource[1]["href"] as? String
}
self.books?.append(book)
}
DispatchQueue.main.async {
self.performSegue(withIdentifier: "ShowResults", sender: nil)
}
After that inside your prepare(for:sender:) make changes like below.
override func prepare(for segue: UIStoryboardSegue, sender: Any?) {
if segue.identifier == "ShowResults" {
let resultsVC = segue.destination as? CollectionViewController
resultsVC?.books = self.books
}
}