Generate JSON string from NSDictionary in iOS

Question

I have a dictionary I need to generate a JSON string by using dictionary. Is it possible to convert it? Can you guys please help on this?

Worsen

@RicardoRivaldo that is this – Guardant

anybody coming here from google search, please read through the answer below by @Guillaume – Nedranedrah

Answer 1

Here are categories for NSArray and NSDictionary to make this super-easy. I've added an option for pretty-print (newlines and tabs to make easier to read).

@interface NSDictionary (BVJSONString)
-(NSString*) bv_jsonStringWithPrettyPrint:(BOOL) prettyPrint;
@end

.

@implementation NSDictionary (BVJSONString)

  -(NSString*) bv_jsonStringWithPrettyPrint:(BOOL) prettyPrint {
     NSError *error;
     NSData *jsonData = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:self
                                                   options:(NSJSONWritingOptions)    (prettyPrint ? NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted : 0)
                                                     error:&error];

     if (! jsonData) {
        NSLog(@"%s: error: %@", __func__, error.localizedDescription);
        return @"{}";
     } else {
        return [[NSString alloc] initWithData:jsonData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
     } 
 }
@end

.

@interface NSArray (BVJSONString)
- (NSString *)bv_jsonStringWithPrettyPrint:(BOOL)prettyPrint;
@end

.

@implementation NSArray (BVJSONString)
-(NSString*) bv_jsonStringWithPrettyPrint:(BOOL) prettyPrint {
    NSError *error;
    NSData *jsonData = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:self
                                                       options:(NSJSONWritingOptions) (prettyPrint ? NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted : 0)
                                                         error:&error];

    if (! jsonData) {
        NSLog(@"%s: error: %@", __func__, error.localizedDescription);
        return @"[]";
    } else {
        return [[NSString alloc] initWithData:jsonData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    }
}
@end

Walkyrie

if we create a category of NSObject and put the same method, it works for both NSArray and NSDictionary. No need to write two separate files/interfaces. And it should return nil in case of error. – Grannias

Why do you assume that NSUTF8StringEncoding is the correct encoding? – Injudicious

Nevermind, the documentation says "The resulting data is a encoded in UTF-8." – Injudicious

@AbdullahUmer That's what I've done too as I presume it'll also work on NSNumber, NSString, and NSNull – will find out in a minute or two! – Philemol

Answer 2

Apple added a JSON parser and serializer in iOS 5.0 and Mac OS X 10.7. See NSJSONSerialization.

To generate a JSON string from a NSDictionary or NSArray, you do not need to import any third party framework anymore.

Here is how to do it:

NSError *error; 
NSData *jsonData = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:dictionaryOrArrayToOutput 
                                                   options:NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted // Pass 0 if you don't care about the readability of the generated string
                                                     error:&error];

if (! jsonData) {
    NSLog(@"Got an error: %@", error);
} else {
    NSString *jsonString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:jsonData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
}

Blastocoel

This is good advice...it's really annoying to have projects have a ton of third party libraries. – Diabolism

+1 Adding this as a category to NSArray and NSDictionary would make reusing it much simpler. – Plasmo

how to convert the json back to dictionary? – Conformable

@Conformable - [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:options:error:] returns a Foundation objec from given JSON data – Occiput

Successfully converted to JSON format but I'm getting this error *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '*** +[NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:options:error:]: Invalid top-level type in JSON write' *** First throw call stack: – Opalescent

This not make escape string for special characters like & (ampersand). for example: output is like & instead of \& – Truda

Answer 3

To convert a NSDictionary to a NSString:

NSError * err;
NSData * jsonData = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:myDictionary options:0 error:&err]; 
NSString * myString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:jsonData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

Hind

Answer 4

NOTE: This answer was given before iOS 5 was released.

Get the json-framework and do this:

#import "SBJsonWriter.h"

...

SBJsonWriter *jsonWriter = [[SBJsonWriter alloc] init];

NSString *jsonString = [jsonWriter stringWithObject:myDictionary];  

[jsonWriter release];

myDictionary will be your dictionary.

Florina

Thanks for your response. Can you please suggest me how to add the framework to my application, looks like there are so many folder in the stig-json-framework-36b738f – Worsen

@ChandraSekhar after cloning the git repository, it should suffice to add the Classes/ folder to your project. – Florina

I just wrote #11765537 to fully illustrate this. Include error checking and some pieces of advise. – Jephthah

Answer 5

You can also do this on-the-fly by entering the following into the debugger

po [[NSString alloc] initWithData:[NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:yourDictionary options:1 error:nil] encoding:4];

Whispering

Hard coded constants are a bit scary. Why not use NSUTF8StringEncoding etc.? – Latchkey

That doesn't currently work in LLDB: error: use of undeclared identifier 'NSUTF8StringEncoding' – Whispering

Perfect for those moments where you quickly want to inspect a dictionary with an external json editor! – Salol

Answer 6

You can pass array or dictionary. Here, I am taking NSMutableDictionary.

NSMutableDictionary *contentDictionary = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc]init];
[contentDictionary setValue:@"a" forKey:@"b"];
[contentDictionary setValue:@"c" forKey:@"d"];

To generate a JSON string from a NSDictionary or NSArray, You don't need to import any third party framework. Just use following code:-

NSError *error; 
NSData *jsonData = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:contentDictionary // Here you can pass array or dictionary
                    options:NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted // Pass 0 if you don't care about the readability of the generated string
                    error:&error];
NSString *jsonString;
if (jsonData) {
    jsonString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:jsonData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    //This is your JSON String
    //NSUTF8StringEncoding encodes special characters using an escaping scheme
} else {
    NSLog(@"Got an error: %@", error);
    jsonString = @"";
}
NSLog(@"Your JSON String is %@", jsonString);

Bil

Answer 7

NSMutableDictionary *contentDictionary = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc]init];
        [contentDictionary setValue:@"a" forKey:@"b"];
        [contentDictionary setValue:@"c" forKey:@"d"];
        NSData *data = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:contentDictionary options:NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted error:nil];
        NSString *jsonStr = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data
                                                  encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

Ralfston

When I pass this to POST request as a parameter, I'm recieveing +[NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:options:error:]: Invalid top-level type in JSON write' error. Using XCode 9.0 – Opalescent

Answer 8

In Swift (version 2.0):

class func jsonStringWithJSONObject(jsonObject: AnyObject) throws -> String? {
    let data: NSData? = try? NSJSONSerialization.dataWithJSONObject(jsonObject, options: NSJSONWritingOptions.PrettyPrinted)

    var jsonStr: String?
    if data != nil {
        jsonStr = String(data: data!, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding)
    }

    return jsonStr
}

Anthelion

Answer 9

Now no need third party classes ios 5 introduced Nsjsonserialization

NSString *urlString=@"Your url";
NSString *urlUTF8 = [urlString stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSURL *url=[[NSURL alloc]initWithString:urlUTF8];
NSURLRequest *request=[NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];

NSURLResponse *response;

NSData *GETReply = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:&response error:nil];

NSError *myError = nil;

NSDictionary *res = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:GETReply options:NSJSONReadingMutableLeaves|| NSJSONReadingMutableContainers error:&myError];

Nslog(@"%@",res);

this code can useful for getting jsondata.

Weaks

I think it's NSJSONReadingMutableLeaves | NSJSONReadingMutableContainers. – Biquadrate

Answer 10

Here is the Swift 4 version

extension NSDictionary{

func toString() throws -> String? {
    do {
        let data = try JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: self, options: .prettyPrinted)
        return String(data: data, encoding: .utf8)
    }
    catch (let error){
        throw error
    }
}

}

Usage Example

do{
    let jsonString = try dic.toString()
    }
    catch( let error){
        print(error.localizedDescription)
    }

Or if you are sure it is valid dictionary then you can use

let jsonString = try? dic.toString()

Ulrikeulster

This wont perform like the requested question, prettyPrint retains the spacing when attempting to squash into a string. – Minister

let data = try JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: self, options: .fragmentsAllowed) – Nations

Answer 11

This will work in swift4 and swift5.

let dataDict = "the dictionary you want to convert in jsonString" 

let jsonData = try! JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: dataDict, options: JSONSerialization.WritingOptions.prettyPrinted)

let jsonString = NSString(data: jsonData, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue)! as String

print(jsonString)

Coloquintida

Answer 12

As of ISO7 at least you can easily do this with NSJSONSerialization.

Isoniazid

this is actually available as of iOS 5.0, not 7.0, according to the link. – Ema

Answer 13

In Swift, I've created the following helper function:

class func nsobjectToJSON(swiftObject: NSObject) {
    var jsonCreationError: NSError?
    let jsonData: NSData = NSJSONSerialization.dataWithJSONObject(swiftObject, options: NSJSONWritingOptions.PrettyPrinted, error: &jsonCreationError)!

    if jsonCreationError != nil {
        println("Errors: \(jsonCreationError)")
    }
    else {
        // everything is fine and we have our json stored as an NSData object. We can convert into NSString
        let strJSON : NSString =  NSString(data: jsonData, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding)!
        println("\(strJSON)")
    }
}

Evelineevelinn

Answer 14

public func jsonPrint(_ o: NSObject, spacing: String = "", after: String = "", before: String = "") {
    let newSpacing = spacing + "    "
    if o.isArray() {
        print(before + "[")
        if let a = o as? Array<NSObject> {
            for object in a {
                jsonPrint(object, spacing: newSpacing, after: object == a.last! ? "" : ",", before: newSpacing)
            }
        }
        print(spacing + "]" + after)
    } else {
        if o.isDictionary() {
            print(before + "{")
            if let a = o as? Dictionary<NSObject, NSObject> {
                for (key, val) in a {
                    jsonPrint(val, spacing: newSpacing, after: ",", before: newSpacing + key.description + " = ")
                }
            }
            print(spacing + "}" + after)
        } else {
            print(before + o.description + after)
        }
    }
}

This one is pretty close to original Objective-C print style

Basal