-[__NSCFArray objectForKeyedSubscript:] error? - ios

Question

I'm trying to get the data from a JSON response object in my iOS app after I log in. I keep getting this error though.
Error:
'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[__NSCFArray objectForKeyedSubscript:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x8fc29b0'
Here is my code for the request, I'm using AFNetworking:
self.operation = [manager GET:urlString parameters:params success:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, id responseObject) {
NSDictionary *JSON = (NSDictionary *)responseObject;
NSDictionary *user = JSON[#"user"];
NSString *token = user[#"auth_token"];
NSString *userID = user[#"id"];
// NSString *avatarURL = user[#"avatar_url"];
// weakSelf.credentialStore.avatarURL = avatarURL;
weakSelf.credentialStore.authToken = token;
weakSelf.credentialStore.userId = userID;
weakSelf.credentialStore.username = self.usernameField.text;
weakSelf.credentialStore.password = self.passwordField.text;
[SVProgressHUD dismiss];
[self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
} failure:^(AFHTTPRequestOperation *operation, NSError *error) {
if (operation.isCancelled) {
return;
}
[SVProgressHUD showErrorWithStatus:#"Login Failed"];
NSLog(#"%#", error);
}];
What the JSON response object looks like logged:
<__NSCFArray 0x8cac0b0>(
{
user = {
"auth_token" = b3a18e0fb278739649a23f0ae325fee1e29fe5d6;
email = "jack#jack.com";
id = 1;
username = jack;
};
}
)
I'm converting the array to a Dictionary using pointers like this:
EDIT: As pointed out in the comments incase anyone else stumbles across this with limited knowledge in iOS. I'm casting here not converting. See the answers for a full explanation.
NSDictionary *JSON = (NSDictionary *)responseObject;
I'm new to iOS, apologies if problem is obvious.
Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

The "conversion" you do is not doing any conversion, it's a cast. This simply tells the compiler to ignore the type it knows for this object and act as if it's the type you pass it.
Looking at the output you have, you don't get a dictionary back, but an array of dictionaries with a single dictionary. To get to the first dictionary you can use this instead of the cast:
NSDictionary *JSON = [responseObject objectAtIndex:0];
Note that since you get your data from a web service, you should probably also check if the contents you get are what you expect.

Answer 2

You say:
I'm converting the array to a Dictionary using pointers like this:
But that is not what you are doing. You are casting it, but the underlying object is still an array.
From the JSON response you can see that those JSON is constructed as an array with a single element which is a dictionary. You can get to the dictionary by calling [responseObject firstObject];. Of course, so that you don't get error going in the other direction, you should check how the input is constructed before calling any array or dictionary specific methods on the response object.

Answer 3

You have to convert your self but do not use casting.
Or, this is the code to detect if a json object is an array or dictionary
NSError *jsonError = nil;
id jsonObject = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:jsonData options:kNilOptions error:&jsonError];
if ([jsonObject isKindOfClass:[NSArray class]]) {
NSLog(#"its an array!");
NSArray *jsonArray = (NSArray *)jsonObject;
NSLog(#"jsonArray - %#",jsonArray);
}
else {
NSLog(#"its probably a dictionary");
NSDictionary *jsonDictionary = (NSDictionary *)jsonObject;
NSLog(#"jsonDictionary - %#",jsonDictionary);
}