Ios – How to get a plist as a Dictionary in Swift

iosswift

I am playing around with Apple's new Swift programming language and have some problems…

Currently I'm trying to read a plist file, in Objective-C I would do the following to get the content as a NSDictionary:

NSString *filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"Config" ofType:@"plist"];
NSDictionary *dict = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:filePath];

How do I get a plist as a Dictionary in Swift?

I assume I can get the path to the plist with:

let path = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("Config", ofType: "plist")

When this works (If it's correct?): How do I get the content as a Dictionary?

Also a more general question:

Is it OK to use the default NS* classes? I think so…or am I missing something? As far as I know the default framework NS* classes are still valid and alright to use?

Best Answer

You can still use NSDictionaries in Swift:

For Swift 4

 var nsDictionary: NSDictionary?
 if let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Config", ofType: "plist") {
    nsDictionary = NSDictionary(contentsOfFile: path)
 }

For Swift 3+

if let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Config", ofType: "plist"),
   let myDict = NSDictionary(contentsOfFile: path){
    // Use your myDict here
}

And older versions of Swift

var myDict: NSDictionary?
if let path = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("Config", ofType: "plist") {
    myDict = NSDictionary(contentsOfFile: path)
}
if let dict = myDict {
    // Use your dict here
}

The NSClasses are still available and perfectly fine to use in Swift. I think they'll probably want to shift focus to swift soon, but currently the swift APIs don't have all the functionality of the core NSClasses.

Using Objective-C Classes in Swift

If you have an existing class that you'd like to use, perform Step 2 and then skip to Step 5. (For some cases, I had to add an explicit #import <Foundation/Foundation.h to an older Objective-C File.)

Step 1: Add Objective-C Implementation -- .m

Add a .m file to your class, and name it CustomObject.m.

Step 2: Add Bridging Header

When adding your .m file, you'll likely be hit with a prompt that looks like this:

A macOS sheet-style dialog from Xcode asking if you would "like to configure an Objective-C bridging header"

Click Yes!

If you did not see the prompt, or accidentally deleted your bridging header, add a new .h file to your project and name it <#YourProjectName#>-Bridging-Header.h.

In some situations, particularly when working with Objective-C frameworks, you don't add an Objective-C class explicitly and Xcode can't find the linker. In this case, create your .h file named as mentioned above, then make sure you link its path in your target's project settings like so:

An animation demonstrating the above paragraph

Note:

It's best practice to link your project using the $(SRCROOT) macro so that if you move your project, or work on it with others using a remote repository, it will still work. $(SRCROOT) can be thought of as the directory that contains your .xcodeproj file. It might look like this:

$(SRCROOT)/Folder/Folder/<#YourProjectName#>-Bridging-Header.h

Step 3: Add Objective-C Header -- .h

Add another .h file and name it CustomObject.h.

Step 4: Build your Objective-C Class

In CustomObject.h

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface CustomObject : NSObject

@property (strong, nonatomic) id someProperty;

- (void) someMethod;

@end

In CustomObject.m

#import "CustomObject.h"

@implementation CustomObject 

- (void) someMethod {
    NSLog(@"SomeMethod Ran");
}

@end

Step 5: Add Class to Bridging-Header

In YourProject-Bridging-Header.h:

#import "CustomObject.h"

Step 6: Use your Object

In SomeSwiftFile.swift:

var instanceOfCustomObject = CustomObject()
instanceOfCustomObject.someProperty = "Hello World"
print(instanceOfCustomObject.someProperty)
instanceOfCustomObject.someMethod()

There is no need to import explicitly; that's what the bridging header is for.

Using Swift Classes in Objective-C

Step 1: Create New Swift Class

Add a .swift file to your project, and name it MySwiftObject.swift.

In MySwiftObject.swift:

import Foundation

@objc(MySwiftObject)
class MySwiftObject : NSObject {

    @objc
    var someProperty: AnyObject = "Some Initializer Val" as NSString

    init() {}

    @objc
    func someFunction(someArg: Any) -> NSString {
        return "You sent me \(someArg)"
    }
}

Step 2: Import Swift Files to ObjC Class

In SomeRandomClass.m:

#import "<#YourProjectName#>-Swift.h"

The file:<#YourProjectName#>-Swift.h should already be created automatically in your project, even if you can not see it.

Step 3: Use your class

MySwiftObject * myOb = [MySwiftObject new];
NSLog(@"MyOb.someProperty: %@", myOb.someProperty);
myOb.someProperty = @"Hello World";
NSLog(@"MyOb.someProperty: %@", myOb.someProperty);

NSString * retString = [myOb someFunctionWithSomeArg:@"Arg"];

NSLog(@"RetString: %@", retString);

Notes:

If Code Completion isn't behaving as you expect, try running a quick build with ⌘⇧R to help Xcode find some of the Objective-C code from a Swift context and vice versa.
If you add a .swift file to an older project and get the error dyld: Library not loaded: @rpath/libswift_stdlib_core.dylib, try completely restarting Xcode.
While it was originally possible to use pure Swift classes (Not descendents of NSObject) which are visible to Objective-C by using the @objc prefix, this is no longer possible. Now, to be visible in Objective-C, the Swift object must either be a class conforming to NSObjectProtocol (easiest way to do this is to inherit from NSObject), or to be an enum marked @objc with a raw value of some integer type like Int. You may view the edit history for an example of Swift 1.x code using @objc without these restrictions.

Swift – #pragma mark in Swift

You can use // MARK:

There has also been discussion that liberal use of class extensions might be a better practice anyway. Since extensions can implement protocols, you can e.g. put all of your table view delegate methods in an extension and group your code at a more semantic level than #pragma mark is capable of.