Mapping NSDictionary from JSON as a result of fetch HTTP request - objective-c

Question

I have NSDictionary object as result of NSJSONSerialization, and it has child that is array of dictionary called list. Look at my json result:
{
"tags": [
"rofl",
"lmao",
"funny",
"haha",
"lmfao"
],
"result_type": "exact",
"list": [
{
"defid": 3689813,
"word": "Lol",
"author": "Lol B",
"permalink": "http://lol.urbanup.com/3689813",
"definition": "The name 'Lol' is an abreviated form of the name '[Laurence]'.",
"example": "\"Hey Lol, you alright?\"\r\n\r\n\"..Well i was chattin to Lol and he said..\"",
"thumbs_up": 44617,
"thumbs_down": 9926,
"current_vote": ""
},
------- bla bla bla ----------
],
"sounds": [
"http://media.urbandictionary.com/sound/lol-871.mp3",
------- bla bla bla ----------
]
}
I also created a class model for item (child of list).
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#interface Item : NSObject
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *defid;
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *word;
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *author;
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSURL *permalink;
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *definition;
#property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *example;
-(instancetype)initWithDictionary:(NSDictionary *)dict;
#end
I also created its initializer
-(instancetype)initWithDictionary:(NSDictionary *)dict {
if (self = [super init]) {
self.defid = [dict valueForKey:#"defid"];
self.word = [dict valueForKey:#"word"];
self.author = [dict valueForKey:#"author"];
self.permalink = [dict valueForKey:#"permalink"];
self.definition = [dict valueForKey:#"definition"];
self.example = [dict valueForKey:#"example"];
}
return self;
}
I already create an array of list item (NSDictionary), my problem is I want to map those into my class so I can create an instance of list item. So how to convert item in array into my item class?
Should I iterate each item of array and call that initialization?
or any elegant method for doing that?
Additional question
I am relatively new into iOS development. I just want to parse my request result. Is there any tips for fetch some request and assign its result for datasource a table view (array)?
This is my fetch method:
- (void)fetchDataFromMashape:(NSURL *)URL {
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:URL];
[request setHTTPMethod:#"GET"];
[request setValue:API_KEY_MASHAPE forHTTPHeaderField:API_MASHAPE_HEADER_1];
[request setValue:API_ACCEPT forHTTPHeaderField:API_MASHAPE_HEADER_2];
NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sharedSession];
NSURLSessionDataTask *task = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request completionHandler:^(NSData * _Nullable data, NSURLResponse * _Nullable response, NSError * _Nullable error) {
NSDictionary *jsonResult = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:0 error:nil];
NSLog(#"Result: %#", jsonResult);
_results = [[NSArray alloc] initWithArray:[jsonResult valueForKey:#"list"]];
}];
[task resume];
}

Answer 1

My advice is to create a static method with the json list as a parameter
+ (NSArray<Item*>*) parseJson:(NSArray*) json {
NSMutableArray<Item*>* results = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:son.length];
for (NSDictionary* anItem in json){
[results append:[[Item alloc] initWithDictionary:anItem]];
}
return results;
}