Swift cast if possible - swift

Question

I have this code
let jsonData = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data, options: []) as! [Any?]
if var first = jsonData[0] as! String?{
if(first=="Error"){
DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: {
self.postNotFoundLabel.isHidden = false
});
}else if(first=="Empty"){
print("Empty")
}
}
What i want to do is to cast jsonData[0] to String if it's possible and if it's not then move on.But instead when it's not possible application stops and gives me an error
Could not cast value of type '__NSDictionaryI' (0x1092054d8) to 'NSString' (0x108644508).
How can i cast only when it's possible?

Answer 1

You are trying to force-cast to an optional String. That's not what you want.
Change:
if var first = jsonData[0] as! String? {
to:
if var first = jsonData[0] as? String {
This tries to cast to String. If jsonData[0] isn't actually a String, you get nil and the if var fails.
And you probably want if let, not if var since you don't seem to be making any change to first.

Answer 2

First of all JSON objects will never return optional values so [Any?] is nonsense.
Second of all the error message says the type cast to string is inappropriate because the type of the result is actually a dictionary.
Solution: Check the type for both String and Dictionary
if let jsonData = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data) as? [Any],
let first = jsonData.first {
if let firstIsDictionary = first as? [String:Any] {
// handle case dictionary
} else if let firstIsString = first as? String {
// handle case string
}
}
PS: A type cast forced unwrap optional to optional (as! String?) is nonsense, too.

Answer 3

Here's the Swifty way to do what you're doing :)
guard let jsonData = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data, options: []) as? [Any?], let first = jsonData[0] as? String else {
DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: {
self.postNotFoundLabel.isHidden = false
});
return
}
if(first == "Empty") {
print(first)
}

Answer 4

Don't use as! if you are not sure that casting will succeed. The exclamation mark after the as keyword forces the casting, which throws an error if the casting does not succeed.
Use as? instead, which returns an optional variable of the type you were trying to casting to. If the casting fails, instead of throwing an error, it just returns nil.
let jsonData = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data) as? [Any]
if var first = jsonData.first as? String{
if(first=="Error"){
DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: {
self.postNotFoundLabel.isHidden = false
});
}else if(first=="Empty"){
print("Empty")
}
}