How do I parse an array inside parsed JSON in Swift?

Question

I'm using an API that returns JSON that looks like this

{    "boards":[       {          "attribute":"value1"       },       {          "attribute":"value2"       },       {          "attribute":"value3",       },       {          "attribute":"value4",       },       {          "attribute":"value5",       },       {          "attribute":"value6",       }    ] } 

In Swift I use two functions to get and then parse the JSON

func getJSON(urlToRequest: String) -> NSData{     return NSData(contentsOfURL: NSURL(string: urlToRequest)) }  func parseJSON(inputData: NSData) -> NSDictionary{     var error: NSError?     var boardsDictionary: NSDictionary = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(inputData, options: NSJSONReadingOptions.MutableContainers, error: &error) as NSDictionary     return boardsDictionary } 

and then I call it using

var parsedJSON = parseJSON(getJSON("link-to-API")) 

The JSON is parsed fine. When I print out

println(parsedJSON["boards"]) 

I get all the contents of the array. However I am unable to access each individual index. I'm positive it IS an Array, because ween I do

parsedJSON["boards"].count 

the correct length is returned. However if I attempt to access the individual indices by using

parsedJSON["boards"][0] 

XCode turns off syntax highlighting and gives me this:

and the code won't compile.

Is this a bug with XCode 6, or am I doing something wrong?

Answer 1

Dictionary access in Swift returns an Optional, so you need to force the value (or use the if let syntax) to use it.

This works: parsedJSON["boards"]![0]

(It probably shouldn't crash Xcode, though)