Swift: Lazy load variable vs MVC model? - ios

Question

I'm building an app with MVC Model.
I use lazy load technical to fill up a variable. (Model)
And this variable is being by one UIViewController (Controller)
But i don't know how to reload or trigger the view controller when the model action is finished. Here is my code
Model (lazy load data)
class func allQuotes() -> [IndexQuotes]
{
var quotes = [IndexQuotes]()
Alamofire.request(.GET, api_indexquotes).responseJSON { response in
if response.result.isSuccess && response.result.value != nil {
for i in (response.result.value as! [AnyObject]) {
let photo = IndexQuotes(dictionary: i as! NSDictionary)
quotes.append(photo)
}
}
}
return quotes
}
And the part of view controller
class Index:
UIViewController,UICollectionViewDelegate,UICollectionViewDataSource {
var quotes = IndexQuotes.allQuotes()
var collectionView:UICollectionView!
override func viewDidLoad() {
This is really serious question, i'm confusing what technic will be used to full fill my purpose?

Answer 1

Since Alamofire works asynchronously you need a completion block to return the data after being received
class func allQuotes(completion: ([IndexQuotes]) -> Void)
{
var quotes = [IndexQuotes]()
Alamofire.request(.GET, api_indexquotes).responseJSON { response in
if response.result.isSuccess && response.result.value != nil {
for photoDict in (response.result.value as! [NSDictionary]) {
let photo = IndexQuotes(dictionary: photoDict)
quotes.append(photo)
}
}
completion(quotes)
}
}
Or a bit "Swiftier"
... {
let allPhotos = response.result.value as! [NSDictionary]
quotes = allPhotos.map {IndexQuotes(dictionary: $0)}
}
I'd recommend also to use native Swift collection types rather than NSArray and NSDictionary
In viewDidLoad in your view controller call allQuotes and reload the table view in the completion block on the main thread.
The indexQuotes property starting with a lowercase letter is assumed to be the data source array of the table view
var indexQuotes = [IndexQuotes]()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
IndexQuotes.allQuotes { (quotes) in
self.indexQuotes = quotes
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
self.tableView.reloadData()
}
}
}

Answer 2

First of all call the function from inside the viewdidLoad. Secondly use blocks or delegation to pass the control back to ViewController. I would prefer the blocks approch. You can have completion and failure blocks. In completions block you can reload the views and on failure you can use alertcontroller or do nothing.
You can see AFNetworking as an example for blocks.

Answer 3

It's async action, just use a callback here:
class func allQuotes(callback: () -> Void) -> [IndexQuotes]
{
var quotes = [IndexQuotes]()
Alamofire.request(.GET, api_indexquotes).responseJSON { response in
if response.result.isSuccess && response.result.value != nil {
for i in (response.result.value as! [AnyObject]) {
let photo = IndexQuotes(dictionary: i as! NSDictionary)
quotes.append(photo)
}
}
callback()
}
return quotes
}
In your UIViewController:
var quotes = IndexQuotes.allQuotes() {
self.update()
}
var collectionView:UICollectionView!
override func viewDidLoad() {
update()
}
private func update() {
// Update collection view or whatever.
}
Actually, I strongly don't recommend to use class functions in this case (and many other cases too), it's not scalable and difficult to maintain after some time.