Find a string inside a plist Dictionary

Question

I'm attempting to find a string inside a plist Dictionary but I'm not sure how. Can I get some help please?

The code contains two plists, one with the list of Clients and the second with the list or Products, we're populating the client's data in a cell from the ClientArray, but I need to also include the ProductName for that client from the ProductArray in the same Cell, the matching key is productID.

plist ClientArray

plist ProductArray

import UIKit

class TestViewController: UIViewController {
    var ClientArray = [[String:Any]]()
    var ProductArray = [[String:Any]]()

    @IBOutlet weak var tableView: UITableView!

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        //path of plist file Array Client
        let path1 = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "ClientList", ofType: "plist")
        ClientArray = NSArray(contentsOfFile: path1!)! as! [Any] as! [[String : Any]]

        //path of plist file Array Products
        let path2 = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "ProductList", ofType: "plist")
        ProductArray = NSArray(contentsOfFile: path2!)! as! [Any] as! [[String : Any]]
        // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
    }

    func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
        let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "TestCell", for: indexPath) as! TestTableViewCell

        //fill out custom cell values
        cell.testName.text = ClientArray[indexPath.row]["name"] as? String
        cell.testNumber.text = ClientArray[indexPath.row]["number"] as? String


        for product in ProductArray {
            if let productName = product[ClientArray[indexPath.row]["productID"] as! String] {
                cell.testProduct.text = productName["productName"] as? String
            }
        }

        return cell
    }
}

Answer 1

First of all don't use NSArray and NSDictionary in Swift. Use native types. This avoids weird cast dances like NSArray ... as! [Any] as! [[String : Any]].

Second of all there is a class PropertyListSerialization to convert Property List to collection types and vice versa.

Finally the proper type of both arrays is [[String:String]]. The avoids more unnecessary type casting.

Please conform to the naming convention that variable names start with a lowercase letter.

var clientArray = [[String:String]]()
var productArray = [[String:String]]()

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    //URL of plist file Array Client
    let clientURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "ClientList", withExtension: "plist")!
    let clientData = try! Data(contentsOf: clientURL)
    clientArray = try! PropertyListSerialization.propertyList(from: clientData, format: nil) as! [[String:String]]

    //URL of plist file Array Products
    let productURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource:  "ProductList", withExtension: "plist")!
    let productData = try! Data(contentsOf: productURL)
    productArray = try! PropertyListSerialization.propertyList(from: productData, format: nil) as! [[String:String]]
    // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
}

In cellForRow filter the product name with the first function.

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
    let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "TestCell", for: indexPath) as! TestTableViewCell

    //fill out custom cell values
    let client = clientArray[indexPath.row]
    cell.testName.text = client["name"]
    if let product = productArray.first{ $0["productID"]! == client["productID"]! } {
        cell.testNumber.text = product["productName"]
    }

    return cell
}

---

A more efficient solution is to decode the Property List into structs with PropertyListDecoder

struct Client : Decodable {
    let name, number, productID : String
}

struct Product : Decodable {
    let productID, productName, productQty : String
}

...

var clients = [Client]()
var products = [Product]()

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    //URL of plist file Array Client
    let clientURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "ClientList", withExtension: "plist")!
    let clientData = try! Data(contentsOf: clientURL)
    clients = try! PropertyListDecoder().decode([Client].self, from: clientData)

    //URL of plist file Array Products
    let productURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource:  "ProductList", withExtension: "plist")
    let productData = try! Data(contentsOf: productURL)
    products = try! PropertyListDecoder().decode([Product].self, from: productData)
}

...


func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
    let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "TestCell", for: indexPath) as! TestTableViewCell

    //fill out custom cell values
    let client = clients[indexPath.row]
    cell.testName.text = client.name
    if let product = products.first{ $0.productID == client.productID } {
        cell.testNumber.text = product.productName
    }

    return cell
}

Consider to use CoreData with relationships for the data model. It's still more efficient.