Swift error when trying to access Dictionary: `Could not find member 'subscript'` - swift

Question

This won't compile:
I've tried a couple different things; different ways of declaring the Dictionary, changing its type to match the nested-ness of the data. I also tried explicitly saying my Any was a collection so it could be subscripted. No dice.
import UIKit
import Foundation
class CurrencyManager {
var response = Dictionary<String,Any>()
var symbols = []
struct Static {
static var token : dispatch_once_t = 0
static var instance : CurrencyManager?
}
class var shared: CurrencyManager {
dispatch_once(&Static.token) { Static.instance = CurrencyManager() }
return Static.instance!
}
init(){
assert(Static.instance == nil, "Singleton already initialized!")
getRates()
}
func defaultCurrency() -> String {
let countryCode = NSLocale.currentLocale().objectForKey(NSLocaleCountryCode) as String
let codesToCountries :Dictionary = [ "US":"USD" ]
if let localCurrency = codesToCountries[countryCode]{
return localCurrency
}
return "USD"
}
func updateBadgeCurrency() {
let chanCurr = defaultCurrency()
var currVal :Float = valueForCurrency(chanCurr, exchange: "Coinbase")!
UIApplication.sharedApplication().applicationIconBadgeNumber = Int(currVal)
}
func getRates() {
//Network code here
valueForCurrency("", exchange: "")
}
func valueForCurrency(currency :String, exchange :String) -> Float? {
return response["current_rates"][exchange][currency] as Float
}
}

Answer 1

Let's take a look at
response["current_rates"][exchange][currency]
response is declared as Dictionary<String,Any>(), so after the first subscript you try to call another two subscripts on an object of type Any.
Solution 1. Change the type of response to be a nested dictionary. Note that I added the question marks because anytime you access a dictionary item you get back an optional.
var response = Dictionary<String,Dictionary<String,Dictionary<String, Float>>>()
func valueForCurrency(currency :String, exchange :String) -> Float? {
return response["current_rates"]?[exchange]?[currency]
}
Solution 2. Cast each level to a Dictionary as you parse. Make sure to still check if optional values exist.
var response = Dictionary<String,Any>()
func valueForCurrency(currency :String, exchange :String) -> Float? {
let exchanges = response["current_rates"] as? Dictionary<String,Any>
let currencies = exchanges?[exchange] as? Dictionary<String,Any>
return currencies?[currency] as? Float
}

Answer 2

You can get nested dictionary data by following these steps:
let imageData: NSDictionary = userInfo["picture"]?["data"]? as NSDictionary
let profilePic = imageData["url"] as? String

Answer 3

func valueForCurrency(currency :String, exchange :String) -> Float? {
if let exchanges = response["current_rates"] as? Dictionary<String,Any> {
if let currencies = exchanges[exchange] as? Dictionary<String,Any> {
return currencies[currency] as? Float
}
}
return nil
}

Answer 4

response is declared as such:
var response = Dictionary<String,Any>()
So the compiler thinks response["current_rates"] will return an Any. Which may or may not be something that is subscript indexable.
You should be able to define you type with nested Dictionaries, 3 levels and eventually you get to a float. You also need to drill in with optional chaining since the dictionary may or may not have a value for that key, so it's subscript accessor returns an optional.
var response = Dictionary<String,Dictionary<String,Dictionary<String,Float>>>()
// ... populate dictionaries
println(response["current_rates"]?["a"]?["b"]) // The float