How to decode a property with type of JSON dictionary in Swift [45] decodable protocol

Question

Let's say I have Customer data type which contains a metadata property that can contains any JSON dictionary in the customer object

struct Customer {
  let id: String
  let email: String
  let metadata: [String: Any]
}

---

{  
  "object": "customer",
  "id": "4yq6txdpfadhbaqnwp3",
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "metadata": {
    "link_id": "linked-id",
    "buy_count": 4
  }
}

The metadata property can be any arbitrary JSON map object.

Before I can cast the property from a deserialized JSON from NSJSONDeserialization but with the new Swift 4 Decodable protocol, I still can't think of a way to do that.

Do anyone know how to achieve this in Swift 4 with Decodable protocol?

Answer 1

With some inspiration from this gist I found, I wrote some extensions for UnkeyedDecodingContainer and KeyedDecodingContainer. You can find a link to my gist here. By using this code you can now decode any Array<Any> or Dictionary<String, Any> with the familiar syntax:

let dictionary: [String: Any] = try container.decode([String: Any].self, forKey: key)

or

let array: [Any] = try container.decode([Any].self, forKey: key)

Edit: there is one caveat I have found which is decoding an array of dictionaries [[String: Any]] The required syntax is as follows. You'll likely want to throw an error instead of force casting:

let items: [[String: Any]] = try container.decode(Array<Any>.self, forKey: .items) as! [[String: Any]]

EDIT 2: If you simply want to convert an entire file to a dictionary, you are better off sticking with api from JSONSerialization as I have not figured out a way to extend JSONDecoder itself to directly decode a dictionary.

guard let json = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data, options: []) as? [String: Any] else {
  // appropriate error handling
  return
}

The extensions

// Inspired by https://gist.github.com/mbuchetics/c9bc6c22033014aa0c550d3b4324411a

struct JSONCodingKeys: CodingKey {
    var stringValue: String

    init?(stringValue: String) {
        self.stringValue = stringValue
    }

    var intValue: Int?

    init?(intValue: Int) {
        self.init(stringValue: "\(intValue)")
        self.intValue = intValue
    }
}


extension KeyedDecodingContainer {

    func decode(_ type: Dictionary<String, Any>.Type, forKey key: K) throws -> Dictionary<String, Any> {
        let container = try self.nestedContainer(keyedBy: JSONCodingKeys.self, forKey: key)
        return try container.decode(type)
    }

    func decodeIfPresent(_ type: Dictionary<String, Any>.Type, forKey key: K) throws -> Dictionary<String, Any>? {
        guard contains(key) else { 
            return nil
        }
        guard try decodeNil(forKey: key) == false else { 
            return nil 
        }
        return try decode(type, forKey: key)
    }

    func decode(_ type: Array<Any>.Type, forKey key: K) throws -> Array<Any> {
        var container = try self.nestedUnkeyedContainer(forKey: key)
        return try container.decode(type)
    }

    func decodeIfPresent(_ type: Array<Any>.Type, forKey key: K) throws -> Array<Any>? {
        guard contains(key) else {
            return nil
        }
        guard try decodeNil(forKey: key) == false else { 
            return nil 
        }
        return try decode(type, forKey: key)
    }

    func decode(_ type: Dictionary<String, Any>.Type) throws -> Dictionary<String, Any> {
        var dictionary = Dictionary<String, Any>()

        for key in allKeys {
            if let boolValue = try? decode(Bool.self, forKey: key) {
                dictionary[key.stringValue] = boolValue
            } else if let stringValue = try? decode(String.self, forKey: key) {
                dictionary[key.stringValue] = stringValue
            } else if let intValue = try? decode(Int.self, forKey: key) {
                dictionary[key.stringValue] = intValue
            } else if let doubleValue = try? decode(Double.self, forKey: key) {
                dictionary[key.stringValue] = doubleValue
            } else if let nestedDictionary = try? decode(Dictionary<String, Any>.self, forKey: key) {
                dictionary[key.stringValue] = nestedDictionary
            } else if let nestedArray = try? decode(Array<Any>.self, forKey: key) {
                dictionary[key.stringValue] = nestedArray
            }
        }
        return dictionary
    }
}

extension UnkeyedDecodingContainer {

    mutating func decode(_ type: Array<Any>.Type) throws -> Array<Any> {
        var array: [Any] = []
        while isAtEnd == false {
            // See if the current value in the JSON array is `null` first and prevent infite recursion with nested arrays.
            if try decodeNil() {
                continue
            } else if let value = try? decode(Bool.self) {
                array.append(value)
            } else if let value = try? decode(Double.self) {
                array.append(value)
            } else if let value = try? decode(String.self) {
                array.append(value)
            } else if let nestedDictionary = try? decode(Dictionary<String, Any>.self) {
                array.append(nestedDictionary)
            } else if let nestedArray = try? decode(Array<Any>.self) {
                array.append(nestedArray)
            }
        }
        return array
    }

    mutating func decode(_ type: Dictionary<String, Any>.Type) throws -> Dictionary<String, Any> {

        let nestedContainer = try self.nestedContainer(keyedBy: JSONCodingKeys.self)
        return try nestedContainer.decode(type)
    }
}