XML parsing in swift not working, no errors - ios

Question

I am trying to parse a xml file direct from a URL the code has no errors, and the app opens fine but the tableview is empty. here is the link and the code I have used, if I can get some guidance it would be greatly appreciated.
I initially built this through a tutorial (just learning the ropes)
import UIKit
class firecallViewController: UIViewController, NSXMLParserDelegate{
#IBOutlet var tbData: UITableView?
var parser = NSXMLParser()
var posts = NSMutableArray()
var elements = NSMutableDictionary()
var element = NSString()
var title1 = NSMutableString()
var date = NSMutableString()
override func viewDidLoad()
{
super.viewDidLoad()
self.beginParsing()
}
func beginParsing()
{
posts = []
parser = NSXMLParser(contentsOfURL:(NSURL(string:"https://example.com/bushfirealert/bushfireAlert.xml"))!)!
parser.delegate = self
parser.parse()
tbData!.reloadData()
}
//XMLParser Methods
func parser(parser: NSXMLParser, didStartElement elementName: String, namespaceURI: String?, qualifiedName qName: String?, attributes attributeDict: [String : String])
{
element = elementName
if (elementName as NSString).isEqualToString("item")
{
elements = NSMutableDictionary()
elements = [:]
title1 = NSMutableString()
title1 = ""
date = NSMutableString()
date = ""
}
}
func parser(parser: NSXMLParser, didEndElement elementName: String, namespaceURI: String?, qualifiedName qName: String?)
{
if (elementName as NSString).isEqualToString("item") {
if !title1.isEqual(nil) {
elements.setObject(title1, forKey: "title")
}
if !date.isEqual(nil) {
elements.setObject(date, forKey: "date")
}
posts.addObject(elements)
}
}
func parser(parser: NSXMLParser, foundCharacters string: String)
{
if element.isEqualToString("title") {
title1.appendString(string)
} else if element.isEqualToString("pubDate") {
date.appendString(string)
}
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int
{
return posts.count
}
func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell
{
var cell : UITableViewCell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier("Cell")!
if(cell.isEqual(NSNull)) {
cell = NSBundle.mainBundle().loadNibNamed("Cell", owner: self, options: nil)[0] as! UITableViewCell;
}
cell.textLabel?.text = posts.objectAtIndex(indexPath.row).valueForKey("title") as! NSString as String
cell.detailTextLabel?.text = posts.objectAtIndex(indexPath.row).valueForKey("date") as! NSString as String
return cell as UITableViewCell
}
}

Answer 1

Updated answer
You told me in the comments that you don't have to use NSXMLParser.
In this case, I have an easy solution for your parsing: use CheatyXML, a very simple library.
First, follow the easy install intructions.
Then make a parser with your URL:
import CheatyXML
let feedUrl = NSURL(string: "https://example.com/bushfirealert/bushfireAlert.xml")!
let parser = XMLParser(contentsOfURL: feedUrl)
And safely unwrap all values as if you were subscripting dictionaries, and use the .string property to get the string fields contents.
Like this:
if let parser = parser,
channel = parser["channel"],
title = channel["title"].string,
link = channel["link"].string,
description = channel["description"].string,
docs = channel["docs"].string,
generator = channel["generator"].string {
print(title)
print(link)
print(description)
print(docs)
print(generator)
}
Result:
QFES Current Incidents
http://bneags01.desqld.internal/publicfeed/PublicRssFeed.aspx
QFES Current Incidents
http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification
Argotic Syndication Framework
Now instead of my series of print you call a method of yours to populate your variables and then you reload the table view, and you're set.
Old answer
NSXMLParser works asynchronously, so when you reload your table in beginParsing(), the data is not parsed yet.
You need to reload the table when the parser has finished parsing.
Luckily, there's a callback for that.
Remove tbData!.reloadData() from beginParsing() and add this delegate method to your view controller instead:
func parserDidEndDocument(parser: NSXMLParser) {
tbData!.reloadData()
}