JSON Decodable nested array has varying formats and types

Question

Struggling with figuring out how to treat my decodable array where it has different types and structures. Essentially it is an array of data, which leads to an array of 4 types, and each of these types consists of a further array of search results.

Can you use decodable for arrays that have varying formats? Or is it simply to use object dicts?

I will attach my JSON at the bottom

struct SearchData: Decodable  {
var success: Bool
var server_response_time: Int
var data: [SearchDataType]
}

//This is the array of 3 of the group types: "Movies", "TV-Shows", "Artists"

struct SearchDataType: Decodable   {
let group: String
let data: [SearchDataMovies]
}


// Where group = "Movies"
struct SearchDataMovies: Decodable {
    let title: String
    let year: String
}

// Where group = "TV-Shows"
struct SearchDataTV: Decodable  {
    let title: String
    let year: Int
}
// Where group = "Artists"
struct SearchDataArtists: Decodable  {
    let name: String
}

Its better to get array of data first and later differentiate the group using dictionary. — SHISHIR R AMIN, Mar 16 '18 at 02:32
why are you creating separate decodable for television and movies, you can use one ,both using same keys in dictionary — Muhammad Shauket, Mar 16 '18 at 03:15

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 19 '19 at 18:30

Decodable isn't going to view the strings in your group as different groups. So having group: "group: Movies", "group: Television", and "group: Games" doesn't make sense. All groups are at the same level in your JSON.

This would be your model:

struct SearchData: Decodable  {
var success: Bool
var server_response_time: Int
var data: [SearchDataType]
}

//Group name and array of groups.

struct SearchDataType: Decodable   {
let group: String
let data: [SearchDataForGroup]
}

// Where group = Any Group (“Movies”, “Television”, “Games”, ect.)

struct SearchDataForGroup: Decodable {
let title: String
let year: String
}

If you want to call the name of your groups using decodable:

Declare a variable at the top level:

let allGroupNames = [data] = []

Then in your function for decoding you can pull out all of your group names from the group like this:

let mygroups = try decoder.decode(SearchData.self, from: data)

for groupValue in mygroups.data{

self.all groupNames = groupValue.group
print(groupNames)

}

From there if your intention is to create a tableView with sections you can use:

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, titleForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> String? {
    return allGroupNames[section].group
}

Not sure if that is your intent, but hopefully this gets you started.

JSON Decodable nested array has varying formats and types

1 Answers1