Trouble reading JSON object using Obj-C - iphone

Question

I am trying to read the following json object using the json-framework and obj-C
{
Sections = {
Now = "Wednesday 9 February 2011 02:40";
Section = (
{
Article = (
{
Exceprt = "text here";
ID = 49011;
Title = "text here";
Type = Politics;
audioCounter = 0;
commentsCounter = 0;
hasMore = false;
important = False;
likesCounter = 0;
photoCounter = 0;
time = "21:12";
timeStamp = "2/8/2011 9:14:16 PM";
timeStatus = True;
videoCounter = 0;
viewsCounter = 0;
},
{
Exceprt = "text here";
ID = 49010;
Title = "text here";
Type = Politics;
audioCounter = 0;
commentsCounter = 0;
hasMore = false;
important = True;
likesCounter = 0;
photoCounter = 0;
time = "20:45";
timeStamp = "2/8/2011 9:10:59 PM";
timeStatus = True;
videoCounter = 0;
viewsCounter = 0;
},
{
Exceprt = "text here";
ID = 49008;
Title = "text here";
Type = Politics;
audioCounter = 0;
commentsCounter = 0;
hasMore = false;
important = False;
likesCounter = 0;
photoCounter = 0;
time = "20:28";
timeStamp = "2/8/2011 9:09:44 PM";
timeStatus = True;
videoCounter = 0;
viewsCounter = 0;
}
);
ID = 22;
Name = "EN Live";
totalNews = 3416;
}
);
};
}
My intent is to have a list of the articles (list of dictionaries) so that I can later access them easily. I have been stuck a while on this and my code is giving me an error about calling a non existent method for NSArray which has led me to suspect that I am misunderstanding the json object. I am totally new to this and any help is greatly appreciated.
Here's my code:
NSDictionary *results = [jsonString JSONValue];
NSDictionary *Articles = [[results objectForKey:#"Sections"] objectForKey:#"Section"];
NSArray *ListOfArticles = [Articles objectForKey:#"Article"];
for (NSDictionary *article in ListOfArticles)
{
NSString *title = [article objectForKey:#"Title"];
NSLog(title);
}
Thanks !

Answer 1

First of all, those aren’t valid JSON data. Names (in name/value pairs) are strings and must be quoted. String values must always be quoted. Boolean values must be either true or false (lowercase). Check http://json.org/ and http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4627.txt?number=4627 and http://jsonlint.com
Here’s the structure of your data:
The top level value is an object (dictionary)
This object has a name (key) called Sections whose value is itself another object (dictionary)
Sections has a name (key) called Section whose value is an array
Each element in the Section array is an object (dictionary)
Each element in the Section array has a name (key) called Article whose value is an array, as well as other names (keys): ID, title, totalNews
Each element in the Article array is an object
If your JSON data were valid, you could parse them as follows:
// 1.
NSDictionary *results = [jsonString JSONValue];
// 2.
NSDictionary *sections = [results objectForKey:#"Sections"];
// 3.
NSArray *sectionsArray = [sections objectForKey:#"Section"];
// 4.
for (NSDictionary *section in sectionsArray) {
// 5.
NSLog(#"Section ID = %#", [section objectForKey:#"ID"];
NSLog(#"Section Title = %#", [section objectForKey:#"Title"];
NSArray *articles = [section objectForKey:#"Article"];
// 6.
for (NSDictionary *article in articles) {
NSLog(#"Article ID = %#", [article objectForKey:#"ID"];
NSLog(#"Article Title = %#", [article objectForKey:#"Title"];
// …
}
}

Answer 2

Your JSON framework is probably parsing out an NSDictionary where you're expecting an NSArray. It'll let you assign an NSDictionary to an NSArray, but then you'll get a runtime exception when you attempt to call a method on your "array". Judging by the JSON you posted (which isn't correct JSON), this is what I would have my parsing code look like. The names of the NSDictionaries and NSArrays are simply named after the JSON attributes they represent.
NSDictionary* results = [jsonString JSONValue];
NSDictionary* sections = [results valueForKey:#"Sections"];
NSArray* section = [sections valueForKey:#"Section"];
NSArray article = [[section objectAtIndex:0] valueForKey:#"Article"];
for (NSDictionary* anArticle in article) {
NSLog(#"%#", [anArticle valueForKey:#"Title"]);
}