Swift JSONDecode decoding arrays fails if single element decoding fails

Question

One option is to use a wrapper type that attempts to decode a given value; storing nil if unsuccessful:

struct FailableDecodable<Base : Decodable> : Decodable {

    let base: Base?

    init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
        let container = try decoder.singleValueContainer()
        self.base = try? container.decode(Base.self)
    }
}

We can then decode an array of these, with your GroceryProduct filling in the Base placeholder:

import Foundation

let json = """
[
    {
        "name": "Banana",
        "points": 200,
        "description": "A banana grown in Ecuador."
    },
    {
        "name": "Orange"
    }
]
""".data(using: .utf8)!


struct GroceryProduct : Codable {
    var name: String
    var points: Int
    var description: String?
}

let products = try JSONDecoder()
    .decode([FailableDecodable<GroceryProduct>].self, from: json)
    .compactMap { $0.base } // .flatMap in Swift 4.0

print(products)

// [
//    GroceryProduct(
//      name: "Banana", points: 200,
//      description: Optional("A banana grown in Ecuador.")
//    )
// ]

We're then using .compactMap { $0.base } to filter out nil elements (those that threw an error on decoding).

This will create an intermediate array of [FailableDecodable<GroceryProduct>], which shouldn't be an issue; however if you wish to avoid it, you could always create another wrapper type that decodes and unwraps each element from an unkeyed container:

struct FailableCodableArray<Element : Codable> : Codable {

    var elements: [Element]

    init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {

        var container = try decoder.unkeyedContainer()

        var elements = [Element]()
        if let count = container.count {
            elements.reserveCapacity(count)
        }

        while !container.isAtEnd {
            if let element = try container
                .decode(FailableDecodable<Element>.self).base {

                elements.append(element)
            }
        }

        self.elements = elements
    }

    func encode(to encoder: Encoder) throws {
        var container = encoder.singleValueContainer()
        try container.encode(elements)
    }
}

You would then decode as:

let products = try JSONDecoder()
    .decode(FailableCodableArray<GroceryProduct>.self, from: json)
    .elements

print(products)

// [
//    GroceryProduct(
//      name: "Banana", points: 200,
//      description: Optional("A banana grown in Ecuador.")
//    )
// ]

I would create a new type Throwable, which can wrap any type conforming to Decodable:

enum Throwable<T: Decodable>: Decodable {
    case success(T)
    case failure(Error)

    init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
        do {
            let decoded = try T(from: decoder)
            self = .success(decoded)
        } catch let error {
            self = .failure(error)
        }
    }
}

For decoding an array of GroceryProduct (or any other Collection):

let decoder = JSONDecoder()
let throwables = try decoder.decode([Throwable<GroceryProduct>].self, from: json)
let products = throwables.compactMap { $0.value }

where value is a computed property introduced in an extension on Throwable:

extension Throwable {
    var value: T? {
        switch self {
        case .failure(_):
            return nil
        case .success(let value):
            return value
        }
    }
}

I would opt for using a enum wrapper type (over a Struct) because it may be useful to keep track of the errors that are thrown as well as their indices.

Swift 5

For Swift 5 Consider using the Result enum e.g.

struct Throwable<T: Decodable>: Decodable {
    let result: Result<T, Error>

    init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
        result = Result(catching: { try T(from: decoder) })
    }
}

To unwrap the decoded value use the get() method on the result property:

let products = throwables.compactMap { try? $0.result.get() }

The problem is that when iterating over a container, the container.currentIndex isn’t incremented so you can try to decode again with a different type.

Because the currentIndex is read only, a solution is to increment it yourself successfully decoding a dummy. I took @Hamish solution, and wrote a wrapper with a custom init.

This problem is a current Swift bug: https://bugs.swift.org/browse/SR-5953

The solution posted here is a workaround in one of the comments. I like this option because I’m parsing a bunch of models the same way on a network client, and I wanted the solution to be local to one of the objects. That is, I still want the others to be discarded.

I explain better in my github https://github.com/phynet/Lossy-array-decode-swift4

import Foundation

    let json = """
    [
        {
            "name": "Banana",
            "points": 200,
            "description": "A banana grown in Ecuador."
        },
        {
            "name": "Orange"
        }
    ]
    """.data(using: .utf8)!

    private struct DummyCodable: Codable {}

    struct Groceries: Codable 
    {
        var groceries: [GroceryProduct]

        init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
            var groceries = [GroceryProduct]()
            var container = try decoder.unkeyedContainer()
            while !container.isAtEnd {
                if let route = try? container.decode(GroceryProduct.self) {
                    groceries.append(route)
                } else {
                    _ = try? container.decode(DummyCodable.self) // <-- TRICK
                }
            }
            self.groceries = groceries
        }
    }

    struct GroceryProduct: Codable {
        var name: String
        var points: Int
        var description: String?
    }

    let products = try JSONDecoder().decode(Groceries.self, from: json)

    print(products)

There are two options:

1. Declare all members of the struct as optional whose keys can be missing

   struct GroceryProduct: Codable {
       var name: String
       var points : Int?
       var description: String?
   }
   

2. Write a custom initializer to assign default values in the nil case.

   struct GroceryProduct: Codable {
       var name: String
       var points : Int
       var description: String
   
       init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
           let values = try decoder.container(keyedBy: CodingKeys.self)
           name = try values.decode(String.self, forKey: .name)
           points = try values.decodeIfPresent(Int.self, forKey: .points) ?? 0
           description = try values.decodeIfPresent(String.self, forKey: .description) ?? ""
       }
   }
   

A solution made possible by Swift 5.1, using the property wrapper:

@propertyWrapper
struct IgnoreFailure<Value: Decodable>: Decodable {
    var wrappedValue: [Value] = []

    private struct _None: Decodable {}

    init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
        var container = try decoder.unkeyedContainer()
        while !container.isAtEnd {
            if let decoded = try? container.decode(Value.self) {
                wrappedValue.append(decoded)
            }
            else {
                // item is silently ignored.
                try? container.decode(_None.self)
            }
        }
    }
}

And then the usage:

let json = """
{
    "products": [
        {
            "name": "Banana",
            "points": 200,
            "description": "A banana grown in Ecuador."
        },
        {
            "name": "Orange"
        }
    ]
}
""".data(using: .utf8)!

struct GroceryProduct: Decodable {
    var name: String
    var points: Int
    var description: String?
}

struct ProductResponse: Decodable {
    @IgnoreFailure
    var products: [GroceryProduct]
}


let response = try! JSONDecoder().decode(ProductResponse.self, from: json)
print(response.products) // Only contains banana.

Note: The property wrapper things will only works if the response can be wrapped in a struct (i.e: not a top level array). In that case, you can still wrap it manually (with a typealias for better readability):

typealias ArrayIgnoringFailure<Value: Decodable> = IgnoreFailure<Value>

let response = try! JSONDecoder().decode(ArrayIgnoringFailure<GroceryProduct>.self, from: json)
print(response.wrappedValue) // Only contains banana.