Populating Grouped Table from Alamofire and SwiftyJSON - ios

Question

I've been attempting to populate a grouped table with data from an Alamofire request. I've so far managed to populate a table with static data from an array (as shown in the picture), but after hours of trying, looking up and experimenting, have still gotten no-where working out how to use the JSON data. It shouldn't make too much of a difference, but for the record this is in Swift 3.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Here is my static code, which is working great.
import UIKit
import Alamofire
import SwiftyJSON
class ViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource {
//static Data Here:
var array = [ ["Clients", "John Doe", "Joe Bloggs"],["Departments", "HR", "Admin", "Finance"]]
let cellReuseIdentifier = "cell"
#IBOutlet var tableView: UITableView!
override func viewDidLoad() {
tableView.delegate = self
tableView.dataSource = self
super.viewDidLoad()
}
func numberOfSections(in tableView: UITableView) -> Int {
return array.count
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return array[section].count - 1
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell:AreasCustomCell = self.tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: cellReuseIdentifier) as! AreasCustomCell
cell.areasPreview.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
request(.GET, "https://url.here.com", parameters: ["file": "default.png"]).response { (request, response, data, error) in
cell.areasPreview.image = UIImage(data: data!, scale:0.5)
}
cell.areasCellLabel.text = array[indexPath.section][indexPath.row + 1]
return cell
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, titleForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> String? {
return array[section][0]
}
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, didSelectRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) {
print("You tapped cell number \(indexPath.row).")
//More things planned here later!
}
}
Here is also the format of the JSON I'm working with.
content = {
clients = (
{
desc = "Description here";
group = client;
id = "group_7jsPXXAcoK";
name = "John Doe";
},
{
desc = "Description here";
group = client;
id = "group_19MrV7OLuu";
name = "Joe Bloggs";
}
);
departments = (
{
desc = "Description here";
group = department;
id = "group_PhAeQZGyhx";
name = "HR";
},
{
desc = "Description here";
group = department;
id = "group_RMtUqvYxLy";
name = "Admin";
},
{
desc = "Description here";
group = department;
id = "group_T50mxN6fnP";
name = "Finance";
}
);
};
state = success;
I've so far added a new class to hold the JSON data which I believe is stepping in the right direction.
class Group {
let id : String
let name : String
let desc : String
let group : String
init(dictionary : [String : AnyObject]) {
id = dictionary["id"] as? String ?? ""
desc = dictionary["desc"] as? String ?? ""
name = dictionary["name"] as? String ?? ""
group = dictionary["group"] as? String ?? ""
}
}
And finally here is my function to get the JSON data in the first place which should be called from viewDidLoad.
func getData()
{
let defaults = UserDefaults.standard()
let token = defaults.string(forKey: defaultsKeys.userToken)
let email = defaults.string(forKey: defaultsKeys.userEmail)
request(.POST, "https://url.here.com/api/v2.php", parameters: ["type": "areas", "uEmail": email!, "token": token!])
.responseJSON { response in
var json = JSON(response.result.value!)
let state = json["state"].stringValue
if(state == "error"){
print(json["message"].stringValue)
} else {
print(response.result.value)
//Send JSON data here to Table!
}
}
}

Answer 1

typealias APIResultHandler = ((response: Int, json: JSON) -> Void)
func performAPICall(url: NSURL, method: String, body: String?, resultHandler: APIResultHandler) {
let session = NSURLSession(configuration: .defaultSessionConfiguration())
let tokenRequest = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: url)
tokenRequest.HTTPMethod = method
if body != nil && method == Constant.POST {
tokenRequest.HTTPBody = body!.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)
}
let dataTask = session.dataTaskWithRequest(tokenRequest) {
(let data, let response, let error) in
if let httpResponse = response as? NSHTTPURLResponse {
if error == nil {
let json = JSON(data: data!)
resultHandler(response: httpResponse.statusCode, json: json)
} else {
print("Error during \(method) Request to the endpoint \(url).\nError: \(error)")
}
}
}
dataTask.resume()
}
struct Client {
var id: String
var desc: String
var name: String
init() {
id = ""
desc = ""
name = ""
}
}
var clientArray: [Client] = []
let body = "key1=(value1)&key2=(value2)&key3=(value3)&key4=(value4)&key5=(value5)" etc...
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
performAPICall(url, method: "POST", body: body) {
json in
//this will have your full response
print(json)
//put this as a class variable instead in the call
var clientArray: [Client] = []
let clients = json["clients"]
for client in clients {
var thisClient = Client()
thisClient.id = json["id"].string
thisClient.desc = json["desc"].string
thisClient.name = json["name"].string
clientArray.append(thisClient)
}
tableview.reloadData()
}
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtindexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
if section == 0 {
let cell:AreasCustomCell = self.tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: cellReuseIdentifier) as! AreasCustomCell
cell.areasPreview.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
cell.areasCellLabel.text = clientArray[indexPath.row]
}
if section == 1 {
//do stuff for the other cell
}
}

Answer 2

Alright, when you receive a response from a request, the closure gives you back 3 values.
example:
request(gibberish: DoesntMatter) {
data, response, error in
}
you generally want to check the response for a 200 result like so
if let httpResponse = response as? NSHTTPURLResponse {
if httpResponse.statusCode == 200 {
//do something with data
}
}
At this point, when working with swiftyJSON, you can get the data like so:
if let httpResponse = response as? NSHTTPURLResponse {
if httpResponse.statusCode == 200 {
let json = JSON(data: data)
}
}
Now the best way to retrieve the json at this point is with a closure since API calls are done asynchronously and we need to know when the response is finished.
func performAPICall(url: NSURL, resultHandler: ((json: JSON) -> Void)) {
let session = NSURLSession(configuration: .defaultSessionConfiguration())
let tokenRequest = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: url)
tokenRequest.HTTPMethod = "GET"
let dataTask = session.dataTaskWithRequest(tokenRequest) {
(let data, let response, let error) in
if let httpResponse = response as? NSHTTPURLResponse {
if error == nil {
if httpResponse.statusCode == 200 {
let json = JSON(data: data!)
resultHandler(json)
} else {
print("Failed request with response: \(httpResponse.statusCode)")
}
} else {
print("Error during GET Request to the endpoint \(url).\nError: \(error)")
}
}
}
dataTask.resume()
}
Then you call the function and do what you like to with the data like so:
performAPICall(url) {
json in
//this will have your full response
print(json)
//parse the json easily by doing something like
var clientArray: [Group] = []
let clients = json["clients"]
for client in clients {
var thisClient = Group()
thisClient.id = json["id"].string
thisClient.desc = json["desc"].string
thisClient.name = json["name"].string
//not quite sure how to store this one
thisClient.group = json["group"].anyObject
clientArray.setByAddingObject(thisClient)
}
//make sure to call tableView.reloadData() when you give the tableViews //it's value.
}
You can do this through the init as well, but make sure you setup that function appropriately. Otherwise I would just initialize the values of your object to nil or empty. Also your JSON response is returning a value that is not a string. Make sure you mess with it to find a proper way of storing it. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

I use this a lot. Just pass in "POST" or "GET" into the method parameter and type the body into the body parameter or nil if it is a GET request. You can remove the Reachability part, but I generally like to use some form of checking for network connection with an API call so if I am not connected I immediately can diagnose the error. There are a several different git project's that you can use for that. Present alert controller is just an extension that I place on UIViewController for easier alert messages.
The only tricky part here is the body. If if follows RESTful design than just pass the body as a String that follows this design
"key1=(value1)&key2=(value2)&key3=(value3)&key4=(value4)&key5=(value5)" etc...
You can also do this through json serialization I believe, which is cleaner, but I haven't found it necessary in any of my projects yet.
typealias APIResultHandler = ((response: Int, json: JSON) -> Void)
func performAPICall(url: NSURL, method: String, body: String?, resultHandler: APIResultHandler) {
if Reachability.isConnectedToNetwork() == true {
print("Internet connection OK")
let session = NSURLSession(configuration: .defaultSessionConfiguration())
let tokenRequest = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: url)
tokenRequest.HTTPMethod = method
if body != nil && method == Constant.POST {
tokenRequest.HTTPBody = body!.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)
}
let dataTask = session.dataTaskWithRequest(tokenRequest) {
(let data, let response, let error) in
if let httpResponse = response as? NSHTTPURLResponse {
if error == nil {
let json = JSON(data: data!)
resultHandler(response: httpResponse.statusCode, json: json)
} else {
print("Error during \(method) Request to the endpoint \(url).\nError: \(error)")
}
}
}
dataTask.resume()
} else {
print("Internet connection FAILED")
presentAlertController("No Internet Connection", message: "Make sure your device is connected to the internet.")
}
}

Answer 4

It doesn't take me long, but I don't have time right now. Monday after work will be the next time I even have a few minutes to look at code. My email is sethmr21#gmail.com. Send me an email, and I will help you then if you still can't figure it out. Messing with closures, asynchronous things, API calls, and whatnot can be confusing when you first start. There is a lot of good articles on them though. I would advise getting a nice size book like SWIFT I'm sure you can find free pdf's online of some of the books. Reading them from back to front will give you a foundation its hard to get by skimming stack overflow.