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

Question

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)
    }
}

I have played with this problem, too, and finally wrote a simple library for working with “generic JSON” types. (Where “generic” means “with no structure known in advance”.) Main point is representing the generic JSON with a concrete type:

public enum JSON {
    case string(String)
    case number(Float)
    case object([String:JSON])
    case array([JSON])
    case bool(Bool)
    case null
}

This type can then implement Codable and Equatable.

You can create metadata struct which confirms to Decodable protocol and use JSONDecoder class to create object from data by using decode method like below

let json: [String: Any] = [
    "object": "customer",
    "id": "4yq6txdpfadhbaqnwp3",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "metadata": [
        "link_id": "linked-id",
        "buy_count": 4
    ]
]

struct Customer: Decodable {
    let object: String
    let id: String
    let email: String
    let metadata: Metadata
}

struct Metadata: Decodable {
    let link_id: String
    let buy_count: Int
}

let data = try JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: json, options: .prettyPrinted)

let decoder = JSONDecoder()
do {
    let customer = try decoder.decode(Customer.self, from: data)
    print(customer)
} catch {
    print(error.localizedDescription)
}

I came with a slightly different solution.

Let's suppose we have something more than a simple [String: Any] to parse were Any might be an array or a nested dictionary or a dictionary of arrays.

Something like this:

var json = """
{
  "id": 12345,
  "name": "Giuseppe",
  "last_name": "Lanza",
  "age": 31,
  "happy": true,
  "rate": 1.5,
  "classes": ["maths", "phisics"],
  "dogs": [
    {
      "name": "Gala",
      "age": 1
    }, {
      "name": "Aria",
      "age": 3
    }
  ]
}
"""

Well, this is my solution:

public struct AnyDecodable: Decodable {
  public var value: Any

  private struct CodingKeys: CodingKey {
    var stringValue: String
    var intValue: Int?
    init?(intValue: Int) {
      self.stringValue = "\(intValue)"
      self.intValue = intValue
    }
    init?(stringValue: String) { self.stringValue = stringValue }
  }

  public init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
    if let container = try? decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self) {
      var result = [String: Any]()
      try container.allKeys.forEach { (key) throws in
        result[key.stringValue] = try container.decode(AnyDecodable.self, forKey: key).value
      }
      value = result
    } else if var container = try? decoder.unkeyedContainer() {
      var result = [Any]()
      while !container.isAtEnd {
        result.append(try container.decode(AnyDecodable.self).value)
      }
      value = result
    } else if let container = try? decoder.singleValueContainer() {
      if let intVal = try? container.decode(Int.self) {
        value = intVal
      } else if let doubleVal = try? container.decode(Double.self) {
        value = doubleVal
      } else if let boolVal = try? container.decode(Bool.self) {
        value = boolVal
      } else if let stringVal = try? container.decode(String.self) {
        value = stringVal
      } else {
        throw DecodingError.dataCorruptedError(in: container, debugDescription: "the container contains nothing serialisable")
      }
    } else {
      throw DecodingError.dataCorrupted(DecodingError.Context(codingPath: decoder.codingPath, debugDescription: "Could not serialise"))
    }
  }
}

Try it using

let stud = try! JSONDecoder().decode(AnyDecodable.self, from: jsonData).value as! [String: Any]
print(stud)

When I found the old answer, I only tested a simple JSON object case but not an empty one which will cause a runtime exception like @slurmomatic and @zoul found. Sorry for this issue.

So I try another way by having a simple JSONValue protocol, implement the AnyJSONValue type erasure struct and use that type instead of Any. Here's an implementation.

public protocol JSONType: Decodable {
    var jsonValue: Any { get }
}

extension Int: JSONType {
    public var jsonValue: Any { return self }
}
extension String: JSONType {
    public var jsonValue: Any { return self }
}
extension Double: JSONType {
    public var jsonValue: Any { return self }
}
extension Bool: JSONType {
    public var jsonValue: Any { return self }
}

public struct AnyJSONType: JSONType {
    public let jsonValue: Any

    public init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
        let container = try decoder.singleValueContainer()

        if let intValue = try? container.decode(Int.self) {
            jsonValue = intValue
        } else if let stringValue = try? container.decode(String.self) {
            jsonValue = stringValue
        } else if let boolValue = try? container.decode(Bool.self) {
            jsonValue = boolValue
        } else if let doubleValue = try? container.decode(Double.self) {
            jsonValue = doubleValue
        } else if let doubleValue = try? container.decode(Array<AnyJSONType>.self) {
            jsonValue = doubleValue
        } else if let doubleValue = try? container.decode(Dictionary<String, AnyJSONType>.self) {
            jsonValue = doubleValue
        } else {
            throw DecodingError.typeMismatch(JSONType.self, DecodingError.Context(codingPath: decoder.codingPath, debugDescription: "Unsupported JSON tyep"))
        }
    }
}

And here is how to use it when decoding

metadata = try container.decode ([String: AnyJSONValue].self, forKey: .metadata)

The problem with this issue is that we must call value.jsonValue as? Int. We need to wait until Conditional Conformance land in Swift, that would solve this problem or at least help it to be better.

---

[Old Answer]

I post this question on the Apple Developer forum and it turns out it is very easy.

I can do

metadata = try container.decode ([String: Any].self, forKey: .metadata)

in the initializer.

It was my bad to miss that in the first place.

If you use SwiftyJSON to parse JSON, you can update to 4.1.0 which has Codable protocol support. Just declare metadata: JSON and you're all set.

import SwiftyJSON

struct Customer {
  let id: String
  let email: String
  let metadata: JSON
}