Retrieving JSON Data¶
JSON values are stored in database columns of type JSON
. The data retrieval mechanism for JSON values is the same as for any other data stored in Backendless database. You can use the data retrieval API to retrieve objects from the Backendless database. Data in the JSON
columns is returned to the client application as either a strongly-typed object or as . Consider the example below:
Suppose the database stores objects in the Person
data table. The table declares the profile
column of type JSON. The column contains JSON values in the following format:
{
"age": 55,
"name": "Bob",
"address": {
"city": "Los Angeles",
"state": "California",
"street": "123 Santa Monica Blvd."
},
"lastname": "Smith",
"favoriteColors": [
"Blue", "Red"
],
"favoriteNumbers": [
13, 21, 88
]
}
As you can see the sample JSON value above exhibits the following "qualities":
- literal string and numeric values -
age
,name
andlastname
keys. - an array consisting of strings -
favoriteColors
- an array consisting of numbers -
favoriteNumbers
- an enclosed JSON object in the
address
key.
The JSON values and the Person objects may appear as shown below in the database:
Suppose the client application needs to retrieve both Person
objects and the corresponding profile
values as dictionary objects. This can be accomplished with the following code:
[[Backendless.shared.data ofTable:@"Person"] findByIdWithObjectId:@"1316FEE4-92A6-4400-9D08-EB243BF57671" responseHandler:^(NSDictionary *person) {
NSDictionary *profile = person[@"profile"];
NSLog(@"Name %@", profile[@"name"]);
NSLog(@"Last name %@", profile[@"lastname"]);
NSLog(@"Age %@", profile[@"age"]);
NSLog(@"Favorite numbers %@", profile[@"favoriteNumbers"]);
NSLog(@"Favorite colors %@", profile[@"favoriteColors"]);
NSDictionary *address = profile[@"address"];
NSLog(@"Street %@", address[@"street"]);
NSLog(@"City %@", address[@"city"]);
NSLog(@"State %@", address[@"state"]);
} errorHandler:^(Fault *fault) {
NSLog(@"Error: %@", fault.message);
}];
Backendless.shared.data.ofTable("Person").findById(objectId: "1316FEE4-92A6-4400-9D08-EB243BF57671", responseHandler: { person in
guard let profile = person["profile"] as? [String : Any] else { return }
print("Name \(profile["name"] as? String ?? "")")
print("Last name \(profile["lastname"] as? String ?? "")")
print("Age \(profile["age"] as? NSNumber ?? 0)")
print("Favorite numbers \(profile["favoriteNumbers"] as? [NSNumber] ?? [NSNumber]())")
print("Favorite colors \(profile["favoriteColors"] as? [String] ?? [String]())")
guard let address = profile["address"] as? [String : Any] else { return }
print("Street \(address["street"] as? String ?? "")")
print("City \(address["city"] as? String ?? "")")
print("State \(address["state"] as? String ?? "")")
}, errorHandler: { fault in
print("Error: \(fault.message ?? "")")
})
The code produces the following log output:
Name Bob
Last name Smith
Age 55
Favorite numbers [13, 21, 88]
Favorite colors [Blue, Red]
Street 123 Santa Monica Blvd.
City Los Angeles
State California
As you can see, the entire JSON structure is converted to a dictionary with all the key/value pairs becoming corresponding entries in the returned object.
Your application may use an alternative approach - representing objects in the Backendless database with strongly-typed classes. In the context of the example above, this means you will have the Person
class defined in your application. But then there is a question of what data type to use for the profile
property? In this case, you have a choice for how to represent the JSON values. You can use either strongly-typed objects or the dictionaryapproach described above. See the example below:
Person class:
@interface Person : NSObject
@property (strong, nonatomic) Profile *profile;
@end
@interface Profile : NSObject
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *name;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *lastname;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSNumber *age;
@property (strong, nonatomic) Address *address;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSArray<NSNumber *> *favoriteNumbers;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSArray<NSString *> *favoriteColors;
@end
@interface Address : NSObject
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *street;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *city;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *state;
@end
[[Backendless.shared.data of:[Person class]] findByIdWithObjectId:@"742A4482-D50A-43F0-AB7F-94C3DFEBD1F3" responseHandler:^(Person *person) {
Profile *profile = person.profile;
NSLog(@"Name %@", profile.name);
NSLog(@"Last name %@", profile.lastname);
NSLog(@"Age %@", profile.age);
NSLog(@"Favorite numbers %@", profile.favoriteNumbers);
NSLog(@"Favorite colors %@", profile.favoriteColors);
Address *address = profile.address;
NSLog(@"Street %@", address.street);
NSLog(@"City %@", address.city);
NSLog(@"State %@", address.state);
} errorHandler:^(Fault *fault) {
NSLog(@"Error: %@", fault.message);
}];
Person class:
@objcMembers class Person: NSObject {
var profile: Profile?
}
@objcMembers class Profile: NSObject {
var name: String?
var lastname: String?
var age: NSNumber?
var address: Address?
var favoriteNumbers: [NSNumber]?
var favoriteColors: [String]?
}
@objcMembers class Address: NSObject {
var street: String?
var city: String?
var state: String?
}
Backendless.shared.data.of(Person.self).findById(objectId: "1316FEE4-92A6-4400-9D08-EB243BF57671", responseHandler: { person in
guard let person = person as? Person else { return }
guard let profile = person.profile else { return }
print("Name \(profile.name ?? "")")
print("Last name \(profile.lastname ?? "")")
print("Age \(profile.age ?? 0)")
print("Favorite numbers \(profile.favoriteNumbers ?? [NSNumber]())")
print("Favorite colors \(profile.favoriteColors ?? [String]())")
guard let address = profile.address else { return }
print("Street \(address.street ?? "")")
print("City \(address.city ?? "")")
print("State \(address.state ?? "")")
}, errorHandler: { fault in
print("Error: \(fault.message ?? "")")
})
Person class:
@interface Person : NSObject
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSDictionary *profile;
@end
[[Backendless.shared.data of:[Person class]] findByIdWithObjectId:@"1316FEE4-92A6-4400-9D08-EB243BF57671" responseHandler:^(Person *person) {
NSDictionary *profile = person.profile;
NSLog(@"Name %@", profile[@"name"]);
NSLog(@"Last name %@", profile[@"lastname"]);
NSLog(@"Age %@", profile[@"age"]);
NSLog(@"Favorite numbers %@", profile[@"favoriteNumbers"]);
NSLog(@"Favorite colors %@", profile[@"favoriteColors"]);
NSDictionary *address = profile[@"address"];
NSLog(@"Street %@", address[@"street"]);
NSLog(@"City %@", address[@"city"]);
NSLog(@"State %@", address[@"state"]);
} errorHandler:^(Fault *fault) {
NSLog(@"Error: %@", fault.message);
}];
Person class:
@objcMembers class Person: NSObject {
var profile: [String : Any]?
}
Backendless.shared.data.of(Person.self).findById(objectId: "1316FEE4-92A6-4400-9D08-EB243BF57671", responseHandler: { person in
guard let person = person as? Person else { return }
guard let profile = person.profile else { return }
print("Name \(profile["name"] as? String ?? "")")
print("Last name \(profile["lastname"] as? String ?? "")")
print("Age \(profile["age"] as? NSNumber ?? 0)")
print("Favorite numbers \(profile["favoriteNumbers"] as? [NSNumber] ?? [NSNumber]())")
print("Favorite colors \(profile["favoriteColors"] as? [String] ?? [String]())")
guard let address = profile["address"] as? [String : Any] else { return }
print("Street \(address["street"] as? String ?? "")")
print("City \(address["city"] as? String ?? "")")
print("State \(address["state"] as? String ?? "")")
}, errorHandler: { fault in
print("Error: \(fault.message ?? "")")
})
In case when the JSON values are represented as strongly-typed classes, Backendless automatically adapts them to the instances of your classes. It is important to maintain the basic fidelity between the JSON types and the corresponding types as shown below:
JSON Type |
Objective-C Type |
Swift Type |
---|---|---|
string |
NSString |
String |
number |
NSNumber |
NSNumber |
boolean |
NSNumber (represented as 0 or 1)or bool |
Bool |
object |
custom class or NSDictionary |
custom class orDictionary |
array |
NSArray NSArray<NSNumber*> NSArray<NSString*> |
[Any] [NSNumber] [String] [Bool] |