How to create nested dictionary elements in Swift? - swift

Question

I want to create a variable which stores this:
["messageCode": API_200, "data": {
activities = (
{
action = 1;
state = 1;
}
);
messages = (
{
body = hi;
// ...
}
);
}, "message": ]
What I have done is this:
var fullDict: Dictionary<String, AnyObject> = [:]
fullDict["messageCode"] = "API_200" as AnyObject
var data: Dictionary<String, AnyObject> = [:]
fullDict ["data"] = data as AnyObject
Is this way is correct and how I can add activities?

Answer 1

I would suggest to go with creating a custom Model:
struct Model {
var messageCode: String
var data: MyData
var message: String
}
struct MyData {
let activities: [Activity]
let messages: [Message]
}
struct Activity {
var action: Int
var state: Int
}
struct Message {
var body: String
// ...
}
Thus you could use it as:
let data = MyData(activities: [Activity(action: 1, state: 1)], messages: [Message(body: "hi")])
let myModel = Model(messageCode: "API_200", data: data, message: "")
However, if you -for some reason- have to declare it as a dictionary, it could be something like this:
let myDict: [String: Any] = [
"messageCode": "API_200",
"data": ["activities": [["action": 1, "state": 1]],
"messages": [["body": "hi"]]
],
"message": ""
]
which means that myDict is a dictionary contains:
messageCode string.
data as nested dictionary, which contains:
activities array of dictionaries (array of [String: Int]).
messages array of dictionaries (array of [String: String]).
message string.
One of the simplest reasons why you should go with the modeling approach is because when it comes to read from myModel, all you have to do is to use the dot . notation. Unlike working with it as a dictionary, you would have to case its values which could be a headache for some point. For instance, let's say that we want to access the first message body in data messages array:
Model:
myModel.data.messages.first?.body
Dictionary:
if let data = myDict["data"] as? [String: [[String: Any]]],
let messages = data["messages"] as? [[String: String]],
let body = messages.first?["body"] {
print(body)
}

Answer 2

Since you explicitly want it as [String:AnyObject]:
var dict: [String:AnyObject] = ["messageCode":"API_200" as AnyObject,
"data": ["activities": [["action":1,
"state":1]],
"messages": [["body":"hi"]]] as AnyObject,
"message": "" as AnyObject]
Basically all the root values should be typecasted as AnyObject
Or the long way:
//Activities is as Array of dictionary with Int values
var activities = [[String:Int]]()
activities.append(["action": 1,
"state": 1])
//Messages is an Array of string
var messages = [[String:String]]()
messages.append(["body" : "hi"])
//Data is dictionary containing activities and messages
var data = [String:Any]()
data["activities"] = activities
data["messages"] = messages
//Finally your base dictionary
var dict = [String:AnyObject]()
dict["messageCode"] = "API_200" as AnyObject
dict["data"] = data as AnyObject
dict["message"] = "" as AnyObject
print(dict)
Parsing this to get your data back will be hell; with all the type casts and all.
Example (lets capture action):
let action = ((dict["data"] as? [String:Any])?["activities"] as? [String:Int])?.first?.value
As you can see you need to typecast at every level. This is the problem with using dictionaries in Swift. Too much cruft.
Sure, you could use a third-party library like SwiftyJSON to reduce the above to:
let action = dict["data"]["activities"][0]["action"]
But do you want a dependency just for something as simple as this?
Instead...
If your structure is defined then create models instead; as Ahmad F's answer suggests. It will be more readable, maintainable and flexible.
...but since you asked, this is how one would do it with pure Dictionary elements.