SWIFT append data to dictionary - swift

Question

I'm having trouble coding an apparently simple task. I want to add new client profile data to a client profile dictionary (clientDatabase) but keep getting errors - can't seem to append - error: value of type '(String: clientProfile)' has no member 'append' (see error at bottom of code)
Any insights you can provide are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Bill
//: Playground - noun: a place where people can play
import UIKit
import Foundation
/*
code copied from B-C Dev Database - structs but simplified with fewer variables
goal is to getappend new client to work.
*/
/*
Globals: these go in main.swift file
*/
struct clientProfile {
var firstName: String = ""
var lastName: String = ""
var group: Int = 0
}
//var clientDatabase : NSMutableDictionary! = [String:clientProfile]()
var clientDatabase:[String:clientProfile]
/* sample data template: phone is key, sub array is;
(firstName: "", lastName: "",pilatesGroup: )
*/
clientDatabase = [
"1234567": clientProfile(firstName: "Sally", lastName: "Sillious", group: 3),
"2345678": clientProfile(firstName: "Sue", lastName: "Parker",group: 8),
"3456789": clientProfile(firstName: "Bob", lastName: "Parker", group: 2),
"5678901": clientProfile(firstName: "Jim", lastName: "Beam", group: 12)
]
clientDatabase.count
// so far so good
/*
add new client
declare local variables in scene swift files where used
*/
var firstName: String = ""
var phone:String = ""
var newPhone: String = ""
var newFirstName: String = ""
var newLastName: String = ""
var newGroup: Int = 0
// define struct using these input variables for values but with same keys as (global) clientDatabase
struct newClientProfile {
var firstName: String = newFirstName
var lastName: String = newLastName
var group: Int = newGroup
}
// put newClientProfile into newClientDictionary
var newClientDatabase:Dictionary = [String:newClientProfile]()
// input values from scene - UITextFields
newPhone = "4567890"
newFirstName = "Super"
newLastName = "Dave"
newGroup = 14
// test that all values are where they should be
clientDatabase
clientDatabase.count
newClientDatabase = [newPhone:newClientProfile()]
newClientDatabase.count
// ok so far
//the following line returns an error
clientDatabase.append(newClientDatabase)
// can't seem to append - error value of type '(String: clientProfile)' has no member 'append'

Answer 1

Two things. First of all clientDatabase is a dictionary which doesn't have append, instead you'll have to iterate through the other dictionary and insert its elements into clientDatabase.
The other issue is that clientDatabase and newClientDatabase aren't the same type. The first one is [String : clientProfile] and the second is [String : newClientProfile]. You'll have to convert the values from one type to the other to combine the dictionaries.
Looking deeper into the code there some misunderstandings about the language. For example:
struct newClientProfile {
var firstName: String = newFirstName
var lastName: String = newLastName
var group: Int = newGroup
}
// put newClientProfile into newClientDictionary
var newClientDatabase:Dictionary = [String:newClientProfile]()
You're creating a struct just for the purpose of containing a single set of values when you already have clientProfile. Instead you could do:
var newClientProfile = clientProfile(firstName: newFirstName, lastName: newLastName, group: newGroup)
This will create a variable which is an instance of clientProfile and stores the information you want. However, you have the other variables defined as empty values.
Here's a cleaned up version of your code, take a look at it and let me know if you have any questions.
struct ClientProfile { // Convention is to use initial caps for enum, struct, class
let firstName: String
let lastName: String
let group: Int
}
var clientDatabase = [
"1234567": ClientProfile(firstName: "Sally", lastName: "Sillious", group: 3),
"2345678": ClientProfile(firstName: "Sue", lastName: "Parker",group: 8),
"3456789": ClientProfile(firstName: "Bob", lastName: "Parker", group: 2),
"5678901": ClientProfile(firstName: "Jim", lastName: "Beam", group: 12)
]
// input values from scene - UITextFields
let newPhone = "4567890"
let newFirstName = "Super"
let newLastName = "Dave"
let newGroup = 14
// define struct using these input variables for values but with same keys as (global) clientDatabase
let newClientProfile = ClientProfile(firstName: newFirstName, lastName: newLastName, group: newGroup)
let newClientDatabase = [newPhone:newClientProfile]
for (phone,client) in newClientDatabase {
clientDatabase[phone] = client
}