Working with JSON! (Swift in Xcode) Video Lecture | Swift in Xcode: The Complete iOS Development Guide - App Development

hmmm this works
hey what's going on everybody today I'm
going to show you how to work with JSON
with Swift in Xcode today we will be
using an open source project actually
called Swift e JSON it helps things with
JSON in Swift a lot so we're going to be
using that and I'm going to show you how
to set that up inside of your own
project this is actually going to be a
local file that we will be working with
although it is the same exact concept
we're using URLs as local files so
without any further ado let's get
started alright so first thing we need
to do is actually head into Xcode and
create a new Xcode project this will be
a single View application click Next and
our product name I'm just going to call
mine JSON language will be set to Swift
Android devices will be set to iPhone
although actually I'm just going to
change this to Universal click Next
I'm just going to head over to my
desktop and I'm going to create that
right there this is going to make it
easier to put it on the desktop or
basically somewhere that you know
because we're going to be using terminal
later on to find our file so now I'm
just going to make this a bit bigger for
you guys and now I'm going to head over
to Safari or whatever web browser you
use and I'm just going to search Swift D
JSON like so I will leave a link in the
description down below if you want to
find it for yourself it will be a github
page so be sure you go to that one
and now swifty JSON you can read all
about it if you want but really all we
want to care about is the operation of
it like how to install it and other
things like that so right up here it
says integration so this is going to let
us know you can use cocoapods you could
just take the file itself or you can use
Carthage or whatever you want
I prefer cocoa pod so I'm going to go
right over to my project file again and
I'm going to go file new file and this
is going to be an empty file click Next
and the name of this has actually very
important if you're following this exact
way of doing it you can install cocoa
pods other ways but I think this is the
simplest way for me so the file name is
going to be pod file spelt exactly like
that p OD fil e create and now as you
can see we have this pod file right in
here now if we head back over to our
integration and swiftie json we're going
to
take everything that you see right here
and just copy and paste that right
inside of there now we want to change a
few things so for target right here you
can see that it says my app we don't
want that to be there we were just going
to delete that and we're going to
replace that with capital JSON or
basically our project name so this is
going to target our project and create a
pod inside of our project so we can use
their frameworks from swiftie JSON
another let's head back to our main
scene and go over to terminal and I'm
going to type in LS to see where I am
I'm going to go CD desktop LS and then
CD JSON and then LS to see where we are
now as you can see inside of this JSON
folder if I were to open this up just
normally you will see that this is the
pod file right in here so now we need to
go in here and to say pod install and
then as you will see there's going to be
a lot of background processes that are
bringing everything in from swiftie JSON
and implementing that into our project
now all right so now that is done but as
you can see it says please close any
current Xcode sessions and use JSON XC
workspace from this project from now on
so I'm going to head back over to my
project and just shrink it down and X
out of it and now if I were to go into
my project folder again for JSON you
will see that a JSON XC workspace has
been created and now for working with
this project we need to actually open up
from JSON to XE workspace from now on
so now let's double click on that and
make it a bit bigger and write inside of
this JSON you will see that this is our
original project a few things have been
added such as these pods right here this
is going to allow us to control the pods
that were created alongside our project
so now we're going to be able to use
swift e JSON inside of our project now
in the instructions it says to go over
to your view controller dot Swift and
we're going to import swiftie JSON now
as you can see it gives me an error now
we need to head back over to their JSON
main project right here we're going to
click on that and head over to our build
phases and right in here we're going to
say link binary with libraries we're
going to hit this plus button right in
here and we're going to add in our
workspace this swiftie JSON framework
add that and now if we head back over to
our view control it up Swift it still
says you're having a problem but let's
build around this real quick so after I
added this import swiftie JSON it
actually did not work and so the thing
to I did to fix it was you need to go
through all these files and just open
them all up and just read make it
realize that these files are here and I
think that's what fixes things so if you
can go into the swiftie json dot swift
hit command s just try anything so the
recognizes that those files are there
then it'll work properly that's how I
fixed it it was a bit confusing but
hopefully it works for you guys and the
next thing we need to do is actually
create our JSON file itself so I'm going
to say file new file and this is going
to be an empty so click Next and I'm
going to save this as my JSON file dot
JSON create and this will be the file
that I store all my JSON so for this
example I'm just going to create a very
simple JSON project I'm going to have
basically a person and then the person
will have a name in an age so here we
are I'm just going to say Open bracket
enter and then that it should give you a
close bracket and then after that you
need to say open quotation mark close
quotation mark people and then after
that you go :
open curly bracket enter close curly
bracket after that and then after this
we need to say open go to my close
quotation mark and this is going to be
our person 1 and this person 1 is going
to have accumulation of our name and age
so now inside of these curly brackets
you're going to say open quotation mark
close quotation mark and outside of this
I'm just going to put name and then
colon and this is going to be Jared and
then after that I'm going to add open
quotation mark close quotation mark and
this is going to just be age and then
colon 17 now we can basically just copy
and paste this whole line of code a few
times and there we have person 1 2 3 & 4
now before we continue on right after
all of these curly brackets right here
this is a group you can see we need to
add a comma after all of these curly
brackets so just add a comma after all
of that and in a sense we're basically
creating in a
a of people so now to grab this array
and actually do things with it we need
to head back over to our view controller
dot Swift and inside of this I'm just
going to create a new function so this
will be our function for parse JSON so
we're going to parse the JSON in here
and we're going to apply it to our app
now after that you say open curly
bracket enter close curly bracket and
the first thing we need to do is
actually grab the file that we just
created and we're going to apply it to a
path so we're going to say let path :
string so we're basically creating a
path that's going to be turned into a
string equal NS bundle main bundle dot
path for resource and the resource is
going to be this one right here that
says name and of type so the name of
this is going to be Oakland quotation
mark close quotation mark and inside of
that we're going to have our JSON file
of the type open quotation mark close
quotation mark JSON so in a sense we're
grabbing that JSON file right over here
and we're applying this to a string
right now it's giving us this error
because this NS bundled main Bell doula
doesn't think that it's going to be a
string so we need to say as a string so
we're going to cast it as a string and
then right after that you're going to
add an exclamation mark then after that
we need to grab the JSON data and we're
going to apply it to some NS data so
we're going to say let JSON data equal
and this is going to be our NS data open
parentheses and this is going to be
concepts of file although if you are
using a URL you want to do it from the
contents of URL this is if you're doing
it JSON from the web which I assume most
of you are wanting to do but this is
it's essentially the same thing so now
we're going to say contents of file and
inside of this we're just going to say
path so we're basically grabbing the
contents of this path that we have right
here and we're applying it to some NS
data then after that we need to say as
NS data so we're casting it as NS data
and finally we're actually going to take
the JSON and make it more readable so
we're going to say let readable JSON
equal and this is going to be capital J
Oh n-now this comes from our swiftie
JSON so this is basically what we're
going to do we're going to grab this
file that we created right here and
we're going to convert it or do whatever
swiftie JSON does and apply it to
something that's readable for us this is
going to make it easily possible so
inside of this JSON we're going to type
in data and then it should automatically
have all this filled out for you where
it says data NS data NS JSON reading
options and NS air pointer so to have
all of that in and the data we're going
to say JSON data right there
we're basically applying this data that
we created right here into the data that
this JSON is going to convert into the
NS JSON reading options dot mutable
containers so we're putting it into
containers that we can easily parse and
actually apply to our application if
there's an error what you want to do I
don't want anything to happen right now
so I'm going to type in n il for nil so
now if we just wanted to grab our person
1 name this is what we'd have to do we
have to save our name is equal to and
this is going to be equal to our
readable readable JSON and then we're
going to say open square bracket close
square bracket and inside of this we're
going to say open quote each mark close
quotation mark people so we're basically
going down some certain levels and in
fact I'm just going to show you exactly
what's going on right now I'm going to
type in NS log like so open put disease
close parentheses and inside of this I'm
going to say open quilt Ajmer close
quotation mark slash open parentheses
close parentheses and we're going to
type in the name basically this variable
that we just created right there and
actually before we build and run this we
need to head over to our viewdidload and
when the view loads we want to call this
function that we just created so just
type in parse JSON and now let's build
and run now I'm actually giving this err
that says null right here that basically
means there's nothing in this JSON file
that it's reading which is absolutely
incorrect so we need to head over to our
JSON file JSON and I just realized that
I did a few things wrong so right in
here we need to have the name and jarred
but we need commas between every
now as you can see if this JSON file has
any errors whatsoever it doesn't let you
know that there's errors but if it has
any errors whatsoever it's not going to
work properly so now if we were actually
to build and run this we will actually
get all of the things we need so there
you have it if I were to make this a bit
bigger you can see that it's basically
printing our whole JSON file for us
everything that's inside of this people
now for some weird reason the person 2%
3 person 1 and person 4 are all out of
order but that doesn't really matter
right now so let's head back over to our
view controller dot Swift and now let's
just grab the name itself so I'm going
to go to people and then right after
this you can either go comma open
quotation mark close quotation mark
person 1 and then comma open quotation
mark close go touch mark name build and
run that and as you will see it will
print out Jared that is the name of
person 1 now this is one method of
actually parsing the JSON you can do it
with commas or you can actually just add
more square brackets so you can have
people and then you can have square
right up in square bracket close square
bracket then you can have person 1 and
then you can also have age or name it
doesn't really matter but as I'm just
trying to show you that there's
different ways of parsing the JSON I
prefer this way just because it's a bit
more clean but you might prefer the
other way now next thing I want to do is
I want to apply this JSON data and put
it inside of a table so let's head over
to our main dot storyboard and I'm
actually just going to delete the view
controller that's on there right now and
click and drag a table view controller
onto our scene now we need to head over
now we need to head back over to our
view controller dot Swift and inside of
this we're going to change the
superclass of our view controller hi and
we're just going to change the
superclass of this to a UI tableview
controller now let's head back over to
our main dot storyboard click on our
table view controller head over to our
identity inspector and inside of this
I'm going to change the class name to
our view controller basically anything
that I put inside of this view
controller right here is going to edit
this scene now so now next thing we need
to do is actually take some of the
things that are inside of our JSON file
and apply
that to our table view so in order for
us to do this I'm just going to go down
here and say table view and it's going
to come up with a bunch of options this
one will be number of rows in section
and we'll deal with that in just a
minute and then again table view and
this is going to be self or row at index
path so we're going to create cells and
we're going to apply either the age or
the name to that cell so now we can go
up here to our number of rows in section
and first thing we need to do is
actually create a variable right up here
so say var and this is going to number
of rows and this is going to be equal to
0 right now and if we head over to our
parse JSON function we can go down here
and we're just going to apply the number
of rows and we're going to set this
equal to our readable JSON then this
will be open go to mark close to at each
mark and this will be people then right
after that square bracket we're going to
say dot dot count so we're counting how
many things are inside of this people
function now we're going to go down here
into our number of rows in section and
we're going to say return number of rows
like so so that is going to return the
amount of people that we have as rows
now down here we're going to take those
rows and we're going to apply either the
name or the age to that row so down here
we're going to create a cell so to save
our so will be equal to our table view
dot deck reusable cell with identifier
and this identifier will be open
quotation mark close quotation mark
capital C e ll although you can do
whatever you want with that for index
path and I'm just going to type in index
path which is created right up here if
you want to know and then go down here
and we're going to say return cell
because it's expecting a uitableviewcell
to be there but right now it's actually
giving us an error saying we need to
cast our cell as a UI tableview cells
right after this we need to say as a UI
tableview cell and just add an
exclamation point right after the as now
before we actually start adding elements
into the cell we need to go up here and
we need to put the names into an array
so we're going to save our names array
will be equal to and this is going to be
an open square bracket close square
bracket and
string right inside of that and then
right outside of that we're going to say
open parentheses close parentheses and
now inside of this parse JSON I'm going
to say for I in 0 dot dot dot and this
is going to be our number of rows so for
all of the rows that are inside of our
table view we're going to do things so
right after this number of rows we're
going to say open and curly bracket
enter close curly bracket and then
inside of this we're going to append our
names into the names array that we
created so just say names array dot
append and we're going to add a new
element which will be our name now in
order to add every one of these names we
actually need to do something a bit
little bit special so we're going to go
up here and we're going to save our
person is equal to open quotation mark
close quotation mark person and then
right outside of that we're going to say
person plus equals and this is going to
be open quotation mark close quotation
mark slash open parentheses close
parentheses eye so we're basically going
person 1 2 3 4 for every person that's
inside of the people and we're going to
apply the name that for every person and
put that inside of our names array now
inside of this we're going to save our
name will be equal to and that's going
to be equal to our readable and we can
actually take that what's right up here
and just apply that right inside of
there and that's going to be people
person 1 and we're just going to switch
this out for a name and now inside of
this names array dot append we're going
to type in name and right now this is
giving me an error because it doesn't
know that this is we're adding a string
so right outside of the var name we're
going to just cast this as a string and
add an exclamation point right after the
as and right now it's giving us this
error because it doesn't know that this
is a string right here so right after
this we're actually need to say dot
string and then we need to cast this as
a string like so and now we're appending
this into our names array and that
should all work properly now if you want
to do the same with our age we can do
that so we just need to save our age
will be equal to and this is going to be
an array of strings or you can make it
of integers but I'm going to stick with
strings right now and it actually seems
like it doesn't want that as
the exclamation point right after the
ABS but it wants it right after the
string on name now right after this name
we're actually going to create another
variable and this will be our age we're
going to make this equal to and we can
basically just copy and paste all of
this and paste that right into our age
and then we're just going to switch out
this text right here to age so now it's
grabbing the age from all of these
people and I also forgot to mention that
this should not be open co-teach my
clothes go to each mark person one this
should just be person basically we're
adding this variable in here too in here
and this is going to allow us to grab
every person's name and age and apply
that to an array I made things a bit
confusing we need to go up here and I'm
going to save our age array and now
let's go down here and we're going to
say age array dot append and we're going
to append our age that we just created
right up here and we're basically just
adding all of the ages and all of the
names and two arrays and now if we head
over to our table view we can apply
these names or ages to our cell so we
can say if names array dot count is not
equal to zero basically there's
something inside of this array that we
can grab from then we want to build it
ourselves so we can say inside of this
cell dot text label will be equal to and
this is going to be our names array open
square bracket close square bracket and
this is going to be our index path row
so we're basically grabbing all of the
names for every row that we are in in
our table view controller and this
should be cell text label dot text and
now let's head back over to our main dot
storyboard and we can click on our table
view right here and let's head over to
our attributes inspector and right down
here you will see is the initial view
controller and we just want to click
that and now if we were to build and run
this now this is finding a nil value at
the row of zero so we actually need to
go up here and we're just going to say
one dot dot dot number of rows and
actually before we builder and run this
again we need to head over to our main
dot storyboard click on our cell that we
have right here and inside of our
attributes inspector we need to go to
the identifier and just type in capital
c e ll like we did in our view
controller dot swear
so now we're going to apply the Celtics
label to the cells now so now if we were
to build and run this as you can see we
have Jared Jared Jared and Jared now if
we head over to our JSON file JSON you
will see that as four people and that is
the perfect number that we want you can
actually see how this works if I just
add Jared two three and four build and
run this again and now you have these
changed and yeah that's basically it for
using JSON files inside of Swift thank
you all so much for watching if you
enjoyed this tutorial be sure to hit
that like button down below and if you
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me in the future be sure to subscribe
anyway thank you again and I will see
you in the next one
you