Is there a way to use my array of type Music, in another scope? - swift

Question

I'm attempting to print/dump and array of type Music outside of a function it's created in. I can successfully dump the musicItems array inside of the getMusicData function but when I set the musicItems array outside of the scope, it won't print anything. What am I doing wrong with the scope here? I have a feeling it's super simple but I just can't figure it out. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this.
edit: It's giving me "0 elements" in the console when I attempt to dump the musicItems array in the ViewController class. Well, the function is in the same class as well so I guess I don't know what to call the first array. The parent array?
struct MusicResults: Decodable {
let results: [Music]?
}
struct Music: Decodable {
let trackName: String?
let collectionName: String?
let artworkUrl30: String?
}
class ViewController: UITableViewController, UISearchBarDelegate {
var musicItems: [Music] = []
#IBAction func musicButton(_ sender: UIBarButtonItem) {
getMusicData()
dump(musicItems)
}
Here is the function.
func getMusicData() {
var musicItems: [Music] = []
guard let searchTerm = searchString else {return}
let newString = searchTerm.replacingOccurrences(of: " ", with: "+", options: .literal, range: nil)
let jsonUrlString = "https://itunes.apple.com/search?media=music&term=\(newString)"
guard let url = URL(string: jsonUrlString) else { return }
URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url) { (data, response, err) in
guard let data = data else { return }
do {
let music = try JSONDecoder().decode(MusicResults.self, from: data)
for results in music.results! {
// print(results.trackName!)
musicItems.append(results)
}
//dump(musicItems)
self.musicItems = musicItems
// DispatchQueue.main.async {
// self.tableView.reloadData()
// }
} catch let jsonErr {
print("Error serializing json:", jsonErr)
}
}.resume()
}
Fixed Code
#IBAction func musicButton(_ sender: UIBarButtonItem) {
getMusicData {
music in
dump(music)
}
function:
func getMusicData(completionHandler: #escaping (_ music: [Music]) -> ()) {
...
let music = try JSONDecoder().decode(MusicResults.self, from: data)
for results in music.results! {
musicItems.append(results)
}
completionHandler(musicItems)
...

Answer 1

Your 'getMusicData' function is asynchronous which means that when it executes, it queues data task in a background queue and proceeds the execution and since there are no more institutions it simply returns control to its calling site - 'musicButton()' action, which in its turn executes the next instruction - prints the 'musicItems' array which might (and most likely, is) still not populated as the network call haven’t yet completed. One of the options that you have here is to pass a completion block to your 'getMusicData' function, that runs it after data task gets the results.

Answer 2

Another option is to use Property Observers
var musicItems: [Music] = [] {
didSet {
dump(self.musicItems)
/// This is where I would do the...
// DispatchQueue.main.async {
// self.tableView.reloadData()
// }
}
}
and then
func getMusicData() {
guard let searchTerm = searchString else { print("no search"); return }
let newString = searchTerm.replacingOccurrences(of: " ", with: "+", options: .literal, range: nil)
let jsonUrlString = "https://itunes.apple.com/search?media=music&term=\(newString)"
guard let url = URL(string: jsonUrlString) else { print("url error"); return }
URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url) { (data, response, err) in
guard let data = data else { print(err ?? "unknown"); return }
do {
let music = try JSONDecoder().decode(MusicResults.self, from: data)
if let results = music.results {
self.musicItems.append(contentsOf: results)
}
} catch let jsonErr {
print("Error serializing json:", jsonErr)
}
}.resume()
}