Issue assigning variable value to open Apple Maps when pressing a UILabel

Question

Essentially I am parsing JSON data and assigning it to a variable called addressPressNow I then have the following function that executes when a user taps on a UILabel:

The goal is to have Apple Maps open provided the variable value it contains.

Because I am assigning an address to a variable it will contain spaces ex: 3981 Test Drive Cupertino CA 95014

NOTE: The value of the variable is being passed correctly because when I do print(addressPressNow) in func tapFunction it prints correctly.

@objc
func tapFunction(sender:UITapGestureRecognizer) {

    let targetURL = NSURL(string: "http://maps.apple.com/?q=" + addressPressNow)!


    UIApplication.shared.openURL(targetURL as URL)

}

The issue is I am having trouble applying the variable to the string URL with the following error:

Thread 1: Fatal error: Unexpectedly found nil while unwrapping an Optional value

The following is how I am assigning the value to the variable:

struct FacilityInfo: Decodable {
    let address: String

class infoViewController: UIViewController {

    var addressPressNow : String = ""

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()



    let tap = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(infoViewController.tapFunction))
    addressInfo.isUserInteractionEnabled = true
    addressInfo.addGestureRecognizer(tap)


    let url = URL(string: "https://test/test/example”)!

    let task = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url) { data, response, error in

        // ensure there is no error for this HTTP response
        guard error == nil else {
            print ("error: \(error!)")
            return
        }

        // ensure there is data returned from this HTTP response
        guard let data = data else {
            print("No data")
            return
        }

        // Parse JSON into array of Car struct using JSONDecoder


        guard let cars = try? JSONDecoder().decode([FacilityInfo].self, from: data), let secondCar = cars.first
        else {
            print("Error: Couldn't decode data into cars array")
            return
        }
        DispatchQueue.main.async {
            self.addressPressNow = secondCar.facility_address
        }

    }

Answer 1

"I am assigning an address to a variable it will contain spaces"

If the address contains spaces then creating NSURL with the string will crash. You can use addingPercentEncoding to solve the problem

if let encodedAddress = addressPressNow.addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: .urlQueryAllowed) {
    let targetURL = NSURL(string: "http://maps.apple.com/?q=" + encodedAddress)!
    UIApplication.shared.openURL(targetURL as URL)
}

And don't use NSURL and force unwrapping. Update it like this

if let encodedAddress = addressPressNow.addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: .urlQueryAllowed),
    let targetURL = URL(string: "http://maps.apple.com/?q=" + encodedAddress) {
        UIApplication.shared.openURL(targetURL)
}

---

As suggested by matt use URLComponents

let addressPressNow = "3981 Test Drive Cupertino CA 95014"
var components = URLComponents(string: "http://maps.apple.com")
components?.queryItems = [URLQueryItem(name: "q", value: addressPressNow)]
print(components?.url)//http://maps.apple.com?q=3981%20Test%20Drive%20Cupertino%20CA%2095014
if let targetURL = components?.url {
    UIApplication.shared.open(targetURL, options: [:], completionHandler: nil)
}