CODEWITHSUNDEEP
swiftplist
user2690354
user2690354

Reputation: 23

Get value with type from plist in swift

I have seen many examples of how to get a value from a plist in swift - however all involve type casting the variable after it is read from the plist. Since we already give the property a type when creating it in the plist, why do we have to type it again? Is there any way to read values from the plist with the type they have in the plist?

For example this is the approach I am using to read the value from a plist:

extension Bundle {
  var someVar: String {
    return object(forInfoDictionaryKey: "someVar") as? String ?? ""
  }
}

Why do I need to cast the variable again as String when I have already typed it as String in the plist?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 740

Answers (2)

vadian
vadian

Reputation: 285092

Please ⌥-click on object(forInfoDictionaryKey. You will see

enter image description here

Since a property list can contain many different types (array, dictionary, string, url, numeric values, date, data) the return value is optional Any and you have to cast the type.

Apple provides another approach in URL: If you get a value from resourceValues(forKeys with an URLResourceKey you get also the expected type.

Feel free to write an extension of Bundle which considers also the actual type.

Upvotes: 1

Bruno Rocha
Bruno Rocha

Reputation: 998

Because your plist is a [String: Any] dictionary. It can hold values that are not String and the compiler can't know what is what until you specifically tell it - via the casting you are doing.

Upvotes: 1

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