I've been playing with swift and am getting quite tortured! Consider:
var myDict : Dictionary <String, String>
//DO SOME MAGIC TO POPULATE myDict with values
<magic being done>
//Now myDict has values. Let's parse out the values of myDict
//This doesn't work
let title : String = myDict["title"]
//This does
let title : String? myDict["title"]
This is because it isn't known whether the key is in the dictionary. What I want to say, though, is "If the title key is in the dictionary, give me that value, else, just give me an empty string"
I could probably write:
var myTitle : String
if let title : String = myDict["title"] {
myTitle = title
} else {
myTitle = ""
}
I believe that works...BUT...it's quite a lot of code for EACH key of the dictionary. Does anyone have any ideas in the swift world on how this is supposed to be written?
RD
You could write an extension on optional:
extension Optional {
/// Unwrap the value returning 'defaultValue' if the value is currently nil
func or(defaultValue: T) -> T {
switch(self) {
case .None:
return defaultValue
case .Some(let value):
return value
}
}
}
Then you can do:
myDict["title"].or("")
This would also work for all optionals.
Note: I started a module to add common helpers like this or on Optional to swift.
You unwrap the value either explicitly:
let title : String = myDict["title"]!
or implicitly:
let title : String! = myDict["title"]
Note that you still have to check whether title is nil or not unless you are really sure it's there.
Edit:
Here's a sample global operator overload for any optional for type T:
#infix func | <T: Any>(lhs: T?, rhs: T!) -> T! {
if lhs {
return lhs!
}
return rhs
}
var myDict : Dictionary <String, String> = ["a": "b"]
let title1 = (myDict["a"] | "") // "b"
let title2 = (myDict["title"] | "") // ""
Related
I have a class in my app, where the user inputs values and i set them to an instance of the class, then i upload this data to Database, but i have to convert the class to something the database accepts and i'm converting to dictionary using Mirror Reflection. Some properties in my class can be nil, because by design not all properties are required. But i can't pass nil values to the database.
I have recreated my example is very simplified playground. i didn't set a value for the name property of the class
I tried to check for nil before adding the key, value pair to the dictionary
Below is my code
import UIKit
class Color: NSObject {
var name: String?
var code: Int?
var shade: String?
}
let cl = Color()
cl.code = 3456
cl.shade = "DARK"
var colorDict = [String: Any]()
for x in Mirror(reflecting: cl).children.makeIterator() {
if let val = x.value as Any? {
print(type(of: val))
colorDict[x.label!] = val
}
}
print (colorDict)
the output in console is as below
Optional<String>
Optional<Int>
Optional<String>
["name": nil, "code": Optional(3456), "shade": Optional("DARK")]
how can i check for nil values and skip adding that property to the Dictionary
i have tried to loop through the dictionary after i add all values including nils and check for values too but i get the below warning
Comparing non-optional value of type 'Any' to nil always returns false
declaring the dictionary as below
var colorDict = [String: Any?]()
for x in colorDict {
if x.value == nil {
colorDict.removeValue(forKey: x.key)
}
}
removes the warning but it doesn't remove anything.
I would really appreciate your help.
The way of unwrapping objects of type Any that contain optionals is kind of weird but you can check that the values aren't nil in your mirror like this:
for x in Mirror(reflecting: cl).children {
if case Optional<Any>.some(let val) = x.value {
print(type(of: val))
colorDict[x.label!] = val
}
}
You can do this really easily in a one-liner, using filter:
let dict: [String : Any?] = ["Foo" : 3, "Bar" : nil, "Baz" : "Qux"]
let noNils = dict.filter { $0.value != nil }
print(noNils) // prints ["Foo": Optional(3), "Baz": Optional("Qux")]
As i have suggested, initialise all values.
If you decide not to store the nil values you will end up with children that some of them will have 1, some 2 and some 3 nodes, nothing wrong with that, BUT what happens when you go to read them?
You havent shared any info as to how these values will be used by the app, but assuming you have one function to read the properties/nodes of stored colors, it will go to read all 3 :
ref.child("colors").child("someSpecificColor").observeSingleEvent(of: .value, with: { (snapshot) in
// Get color values
let value = snapshot.value as? NSDictionary
let name = value?["name"] as? String ?? ""
let code = value?["code"] as? String ?? ""
let shade = value?["shade"] as? String ?? ""
// ...
}) { (error) in
print(error.localizedDescription)
}
See the issue?
Here is a simple solution :
var colorDict = [String: Any?]()
for x in Mirror(reflecting: cl).children.makeIterator() {
if let val = x.value, val != nil {
print(type(of: val))
colorDict[x.label!] = val
}
}
Here before to print and add you val, you check if the val is different than nil. As your output suggests in your console log you print :
Optional<String>
Optional<Int>
Optional<String>
val is an optional. So, if it's nil it won't be added. If not, you enter into the if statement and that's it.
So here I have a basic setup
var preferenceSpecification = [String : String?]()
preferenceSpecification["Key"] = "Some Key"
preferenceSpecification["Some Key"] = nil
preferenceSpecification["DefaultValue"] = "Some DefaultValue"
print(preferenceSpecification)
var defaultsToRegister = [String : String]()
if let key = preferenceSpecification["Key"], let defaultValueKey = preferenceSpecification["DefaultValue"] {
defaultsToRegister[key] = preferenceSpecification[defaultValueKey]!
}
But the error points out where it demands that I force unwrap this, to be like this:
defaultsToRegister[key!] = preferenceSpecification[defaultValueKey!]!
Which doesn't make sense, because keyValue and defaultValue already are unwrapped
When you extract a value from a dictionary like this using subscript
[String: String?]
you need to manage 2 levels of optional. The first one because the subscript returns an optional. The second one because the value of you dictionary is an optional String.
So when you write
if let value = preferenceSpecification["someKey"] {
}
you get value defined as an optional String.
Here's the code to fix that
if let
optionalKey = preferenceSpecification["Key"],
key = optionalKey,
optionalDefaultValueKey = preferenceSpecification["DefaultValue"],
defaultValueKey = optionalDefaultValueKey,
value = preferenceSpecification[defaultValueKey] {
defaultsToRegister[key] = value
}
Suggestions
You should avoid force unwrapping as much as possible. Instead you managed to put 3 ! on a single line!
You should also try to use better name for your constants and variables.
You could also define an extension which helps get rid of the double optional situation.
extension Dictionary where Value == Optional<String> {
func flattened(_ key: Key) -> Value {
if let value = self[key] {
return value
}
return nil
}
}
Usage: preferenceSpecification.flattened("someKey")
Just simple task. I've got a dictionary var types = [Int : String]() which inits like an empty and after some user actions it fills with data. According to emptiness or some specific data in this dictionary I enable/disable a button in UI.
Check for emptiness is easy, but how to check if dictionary contains certain value?
Compiler suggested me a placeholder with predicate:
types.contains(predicate: ((Int, String)) throws -> Bool>)
Since you only want to check for existance of a given value, you can apply the contains method for the values properties of your dictionary (given native Swift dictionary), e.g.
var types: [Int : String] = [1: "foo", 2: "bar"]
print(types.values.contains("foo")) // true
As mentioned in #njuri: answer, making use of the values property of the dictionary can seemingly yield an overhead (I have not verified this myself) w.r.t. just checking the contains predicate directly against the value entry in the key-value tuple of each Dictionary element. Since Swift is fast, this shouldn't be an issue, however, unless you're working with a huge dictionary. Anyway, if you'd like to avoid using the values property, you could have a look at the alternatives given in the forementioned answer, or, use another alternative (Dictionary extension) as follows:
extension Dictionary where Value: Equatable {
func containsValue(value : Value) -> Bool {
return self.contains { $0.1 == value }
}
}
types.containsValue("foo") // true
types.containsValue("baz") // false
I wrote a function which is using contains method on dictionary.
Your specific case:
let dic : [Int : String] = [1 : "a", 2 : "b"]
func dictionary(dict : [Int : String], containsValue value : String)->Bool{
let contains = dict.contains { (_,v) -> Bool in
return v == value
}
return contains
}
let c = dictionary(dic, containsValue: "c") // false
let a = dictionary(dic, containsValue: "a") // true
Generic:
extension Dictionary{
func containsValue<T : Equatable>(value : T)->Bool{
let contains = self.contains { (k, v) -> Bool in
if let v = v as? T where v == value{
return true
}
return false
}
return contains
}
}
I've tested this function against dictionary.values.contains() and it is roughly two times faster.
If you want to check if already contains a value this would be the way:
if !yourDictionary.values.contains("Zero") {
yourDictionary[newItemKey] = newItemValue; //addNewItem
}
else {
print("this value already exists");
}
And this one if you want to check if the key exists:
You get the item to add to your dictionary.
Check if the item's key already exists
If it doesn't, append the item or enable the button.
//1
let newItemKey = 0
let newItemValue = "Zero"
//2
let keyExists = yourDictionary[newItemKey] != nil
//3
if !keyExists {
yourDictionary[newItemKey] = newItemValue; //addNewItem
}
else {
print("This key already exists");
}
The dictionary getter returns an optional value.
let dictionary = ["ben": "says hi"]
let containsAlpha = dictionary["alpha"] != nil
let containsBen = dictionary["ben"] != nil
A pattern I've gotten used to with Python's defaultdicts is a dictionary that returns a default value if the value for a given key has not been explicitly set. Trying to do this in Swift is a little verbose.
var dict = Dictionary<String, Array<Int>>()
let key = "foo"
var value: Array<Int>! = dict[key]
if value == nil {
value = Array<Int>()
dict[key] = value
}
I realize I can make a class that does this, but then the actual Dictionary has to be accessed through a property to use any of the other normal Dictionary methods
class DefaultDictionary<A: Hashable, B> {
let defaultFunc: () -> B
var dict = Dictionary<A, B>()
init(defaultFunc: () -> B) {
self.defaultFunc = defaultFunc
}
subscript(key: A) -> B {
get {
var value: B! = dict[key]
if value == nil {
value = defaultFunc()
dict[key] = value
}
return value
}
set {
dict[key] = newValue
}
}
}
Is there a better pattern for this?
This changed in Swift 4, and there's now a way to read a key's value or provide a default value if the key isn't present. For example:
let person = ["name": "Taylor", "city": "Nashville"]
let name = person["name", default: "Anonymous"]
This is particularly useful when modifying dictionary values, because you can write code like this:
var favoriteTVShows = ["Red Dwarf", "Blackadder", "Fawlty Towers", "Red Dwarf"]
var favoriteCounts = [String: Int]()
for show in favoriteTVShows {
favoriteCounts[show, default: 0] += 1
}
I covered this change and others in my article What's new in Swift 4.
Using Swift 2 you can achieve something similar to python's version with an extension of Dictionary:
// Values which can provide a default instance
protocol Initializable {
init()
}
extension Dictionary where Value: Initializable {
// using key as external name to make it unambiguous from the standard subscript
subscript(key key: Key) -> Value {
mutating get { return self[key, or: Value()] }
set { self[key] = newValue }
}
}
// this can also be used in Swift 1.x
extension Dictionary {
subscript(key: Key, or def: Value) -> Value {
mutating get {
return self[key] ?? {
// assign default value if self[key] is nil
self[key] = def
return def
}()
}
set { self[key] = newValue }
}
}
The closure after the ?? is used for classes since they don't propagate their value mutation (only "pointer mutation"; reference types).
The dictionaries have to be mutable (var) in order to use those subscripts:
// Make Int Initializable. Int() == 0
extension Int: Initializable {}
var dict = [Int: Int]()
dict[1, or: 0]++
dict[key: 2]++
// if Value is not Initializable
var dict = [Int: Double]()
dict[1, or: 0.0]
Unless I'm misunderstanding defaultdict in Python, I don't see how nil coalescing wouldn't work for you. Let's say you had a dictionary of type [Int:Int], and you wanted it to return 0 by default. With nil coalescing it looks like this:
let dict = [1:10, 2:8, 3:64]
let valueForKey = dict[4] ?? 0
You mentioned in a comment that that wouldn't work because it wouldn't update the dictionary. I don't understand the problem, though: why would you need to update the dictionary if you knew that every instance of nil would be replaced by your default? Maybe I'm missing something here but it seems like defaults and nil coalescing are (in practice) the same.
You can change the syntax a little, if it makes things more clear:
extension Dictionary {
subscript(key: Key, or r: Value) -> Value {
get { return self[key] ?? r }
set { self[key] = newValue }
}
}
In this case, the example above could be written like this:
let dict = [1:10, 2:8, 3:64]
let valueForKey = dict[4, or: 0]
In this case, mutating methods can work on the keys, like this:
var dict = [2: 8, 3: 64, 1: 10]
dict[2, or: 0]++
dict // [2: 9, 3: 64, 1: 10]
dict[4, or: 0]++
dict // [2: 9, 3: 64, 1: 10, 4: 1]
This extension is similar to the default subscript in Swift 4, with the difference that it will actually store the default value in the dictionary.
(It's also similar to QByte's answer, with the difference that it uses an autoclosure to prevent accessing the default when not needed).
extension Dictionary {
subscript(key: Key, setDefault defaultValue: #autoclosure () -> Value) -> Value {
mutating get {
return self[key] ?? {
let value = defaultValue()
self[key] = value
return value
}()
}
}
}
Note that no setter is defined for the subscript as the standard default subscript already fulfills this purpose.
Example:
var items = [String: ComplexItem]()
let item1 = items["milk", setDefault: ComplexItem()]
let item2 = items["milk", setDefault: ComplexItem()]
Here the ComplexItem is only created once because the dictionary retained it after the first access.
I am trying to write an extension method on Dictionary with the following signature:
func firstNonNilObjectForKey(keys: [Key], ofClass aClass: Any.Type = String.self) -> Value?
This is meant to help me deal with JSON dictionaries, where I often need the first non-null value, but sometimes the JSON includes null itself as value, which is converted to NSNull in Cocoa.
The usage would be something like:
let dict: [String:AnyObject] = [...]
let myValue = dict.firstNonNilObjectForKey([ "key1", "key2" ]) as? String
The issue is implementational - how to match the class:
if let value = self[key] {
if value is aClass { ... } <--- error: aClass is not a type
if let castedValue = value as? aClass { ... } <--- error: ditto
let type = value.dynamicType
if type == aClass { ... } <--- no error, but doesn't handle subclasses!
// Cannot use value.isKindOfClass() since value may be Any
}
I have thought of an alternative:
func firstNonNilObjectForKey<ReturnValueType>(keys: [Key]) -> ReturnValueType?
which allows to be implemented as
if let value = self[key] as? ReturnValueType { ... }
But:
- Here I cannot set the default type (I mostly need String.Type).
- I'm not really sure how to invoke this:
let value = dict.firstNonNilObjectForKey([ "key1", "key2" ]) as? String <--- error: Cannot invoke 'firstNonNilObjectForKey' with an argument list of type '([String])'
let value = dict.firstNonNilObjectForKey<String>([ ... ]) <--- error: Cannot explicitly specialize a generic function
I hope this isn't a duplicate, but most similar questions here are simply handling a situation where you are matching against a known class.
I'm not sure I got the requirements exactly, but can something like this work for you?
extension Dictionary {
func firstNonNilObjectForKey(keys: [Key]) -> String? {
return self.firstNonNilObjectForKey(keys, ofClass: String.self)
}
func firstNonNilObjectForKey<T>(keys: [Key], ofClass aClass: T.Type) -> T? {
for k in keys {
if let v = self[k] as? T {
return v
}
}
return nil
}
}
let dict = ["key1": 2, "key2": "Foo"]
let aString = dict.firstNonNilObjectForKey(["key1", "key2"]) // "Foo"
let anInt = dict.firstNonNilObjectForKey(["key1", "key2"], ofClass: Int.self) // 2
The main gotcha here is that I'm using overloading as opposed to default parameters, which don't seem to get along well with the swift type checker.