Decoder

The Decoder protocol in Swift translates data from external formats such as JSON or XML into native Swift types. All data intended for decoding should conform to the Decodable protocol. While creating custom decoders is possible, existing classes like JSONDecoder and PropertyListDecoder cover a wide range of use cases, making the need for custom decoders relatively rare.

Syntax

struct SomeStruct: Decodable {
  // Define properties that match the data structure
  init(from decoder: Decoder) throws {
    // Custom decoding logic, if needed
  }
}
let decoder = JSONDecoder()
let someData: Data
let someInstance = try decoder.decode(SomeStruct.self, from: someData)

• SomeStruct conforms to the Decodable protocol indicating it can decode an external data source.
• The init(from:) initializer is optional and provides a way to implement custom decoding logic.
• Instantiate a decoder class, such as JSONDecoder, to convert the encoded data into the desired Swift type.
• someData is a Data object containing the data to decode.
• The decode(_:from:) method transforms the data into an instance of SomeStruct.

Example

In the following example, a JSON object is decoded into a Book struct.

import Foundation
struct Book: Decodable {
   let title: String
   let author: String
   let publicationYear: Int
}
// JSON data for a book
let bookJson = """
{
   "title": "Journey to the Center of the Earth",
   "author": "Jules Verne",
   "publicationYear": 1864
}
"""
let bookData = Data(bookJson.utf8)
let jsonDecoder = JSONDecoder()
let book = try jsonDecoder.decode(Book.self, from: bookData)
print("\(book.title) by \(book.author)")

In this example, a Book struct has three properties, title, author, and publicationYear, that match the keys in the JSON data. The init(from:) initializer is not implemented because the property labels match the JSON data keys. The JSON data is then decoded into a Book instance using the decode(_:from:) method of the JSONDecoder class.

This will output the following:

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne