EXC_BAD_ACCESS using Generics in Swift - ios

Question

Related question: Generic completion handler in Swift
In a Swift app I'm writing, I'm downloading JSON and I want to convert it into model objects. Right now, I'm doing that like this:
func convertJSONData<T: Entity>(jsonData: NSData?, jsonKey: JSONKey, _: T.Type) -> [T]? {
var entities = [T]()
if let data = jsonData {
// Left out error checking for brevity
var json = JSON(data: data, options: nil, error: nil)
var entitiesJSON = json[jsonKey.rawValue]
for (index: String, subJson: JSON) in entitiesJSON {
// Error: EXC_BAD_ACCESS(code=EXC_I386_GPFLT)
let entity = T(json: subJson)
entities.append(entity)
}
}
return entities
}
Each object conforming to Entity implements init(json: JSON). JSON is a type defined in the SwiftyJSON library. That's also the reason the enumeration looks a bit weird.
I call convertJSONData() in this method:
public func performJSONRequest<T where T: Entity>(jsonRequest: JSONRequest<T>) {
var urlString = ...
Alamofire.request(.GET, urlString, parameters: nil, encoding: .JSON).response { (request, response, data, error) -> Void in
var books = self.convertJSONData(data as? NSData, jsonKey: jsonRequest.jsonKey, T.self)
jsonRequest.completionHandler(books, error)
}
}
I get a runtime EXC_BAD_ACCESS(code=EXC_I386_GPFLT) error calling T(json: subJSON). There are no compiler warnings or errors. Although I left out error checking in the above code, there is error checking in the actual code and error is nil.
I'm not sure whether this is a compiler bug or my fault and any help figuring that out is much appreciated.

Answer 1

Several things are going on here, and I suspect the problem lies somewhere in the initializer of the class implementing the Entity protocol.
Assuming the code resembles the following:
protocol Entity {
init(json: JSON)
}
class EntityBase: Entity {
var name: String = ""
required init(json: JSON) { // required keyword is vital for correct type inference
if let nameFromJson = json["name"].string {
self.name = nameFromJson
}
}
func getName() -> String { return "Base with \(name)" }
}
class EntitySub: EntityBase {
convenience required init(json: JSON) {
self.init(json: json) // the offending line
}
override func getName() -> String { return "Sub with \(name)" }
}
The code compiles with self.init(json: json) in the sub-class, but actually trying to initialize the instance using the convenience method results in an EXC_BAD_ACCESS.
Either remove the initializer on the sub-class or simply implement required init and call super.
class EntitySub: EntityBase {
required init(json: JSON) {
super.init(json: json)
}
override func getName() -> String { return "Sub with \(name)" }
}
The method to convert the jsonData to an Entity (modified slightly to specifically return .None when jsonData is nil):
func convertJSONData<T:Entity>(jsonData: NSData?, jsonKey: JSONKey, type _:T.Type) -> [T]? {
if let jsonData = jsonData {
var entities = [T]()
let json = JSON(data: jsonData, options:nil, error:nil)
let entitiesJSON = json[jsonKey.rawValue]
for (index:String, subJson:JSON) in entitiesJSON {
let entity:T = T(json: subJson)
entities.append(entity)
}
return entities
}
return .None
}