Question

I’m in a bit over my head here (a lot actually). I have a JSON response that’s been converted to an NSDictionary. It’s a mess of nested arrays and dictionaries within dictionaries within arrays, etc… I have no clue what to do with it. What I would like to do is make a simple NSDictionary for each “item” and use the properties to drive a UITableView. I don’t know how to access objects several levels down. I’ve done a bit of searching and i see there’s several ways to go about it (fast enumeration, blocks, etc..) but before I start spinning my wheels I’d love to know what would be best for my particular situation. I saved the NSDictionary as a plist for readability. I’ll post it here:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>search_result</key>
    <dict>
        <key>latitude</key>
        <string>51.508129</string>
        <key>longitude</key>
        <string>-0.128005</string>
        <key>page</key>
        <string>1</string>
        <key>per_page</key>
        <integer>3</integer>
        <key>results</key>
        <array>
            <dict>
                <key>result</key>
                <dict>
                    <key>description_short</key>
                    <string>Experience the history and mystery of the most famous sites in the South of England!</string>
                    <key>flex_reference</key>
                    <string>FLX-LON-77B-D2F-5ED5</string>
                    <key>geocoded_latitude</key>
                    <string>51.5081289</string>
                    <key>geocoded_longitude</key>
                    <string>-0.128005</string>
                    <key>name</key>
                    <string>Stonehenge, Glastonbury, Avebury and Chalice Well</string>
                    <key>primary_image</key>
                    <string>http://media.****.com/FLX-LON-77B-D2F-5ED5-image_original-56.jpg</string>
                    <key>product_categories</key>
                    <array>
                        <dict>
                            <key>product_category</key>
                            <dict>
                                <key>kind</key>
                                <string>type</string>
                                <key>name</key>
                                <string>Sightseeing Tours</string>
                            </dict>
                        </dict>
                        <dict>
                            <key>product_category</key>
                            <dict>
                                <key>kind</key>
                                <string>category</string>
                                <key>name</key>
                                <string>Excursion</string>
                            </dict>
                        </dict>
                        <dict>
                            <key>product_category</key>
                            <dict>
                                <key>kind</key>
                                <string>type</string>
                                <key>name</key>
                                <string>Attractions</string>
                            </dict>
                        </dict>
                    </array>
                </dict>
            </dict>
            <dict>
                <key>result</key>
                <dict>
                    <key>description_short</key>
                    <string>Experience some of the most famous landmarks in English history, University City of Oxford, rolling countryside and honey stoned cottages of the Cotswolds and Stratford upon Avon home of the famous English plyright, William Shakespeare.</string>
                    <key>flex_reference</key>
                    <string>FLX-LON-2AD-267-38AB</string>
                    <key>geocoded_latitude</key>
                    <string>51.5081289</string>
                    <key>geocoded_longitude</key>
                    <string>-0.128005</string>
                    <key>name</key>
                    <string>Oxford, Stratford and the Cotswolds Villages</string>
                    <key>primary_image</key>
                    <string>http://media.*****.com/FLX-LON-2AD-267-38AB-image_original-AF.jpg</string>
                    <key>product_categories</key>
                    <array>
                        <dict>
                            <key>product_category</key>
                            <dict>
                                <key>kind</key>
                                <string>type</string>
                                <key>name</key>
                                <string>Sightseeing Tours</string>
                            </dict>
                        </dict>
                        <dict>
                            <key>product_category</key>
                            <dict>
                                <key>kind</key>
                                <string>category</string>
                                <key>name</key>
                                <string>Excursion</string>
                            </dict>
                        </dict>
                        <dict>
                            <key>product_category</key>
                            <dict>
                                <key>kind</key>
                                <string>type</string>
                                <key>name</key>
                                <string>Attractions</string>
                            </dict>
                        </dict>
                    </array>
                </dict>
            </dict>
            <dict>
                <key>result</key>
                <dict>
                    <key>description_short</key>
                    <string>The must see attractions of the United Kingdom, World Heritage sites, Stonehenge and the Roman Baths.</string>
                    <key>flex_reference</key>
                    <string>FLX-LON-65D-AC0-B08E</string>
                    <key>geocoded_latitude</key>
                    <string>51.5081289</string>
                    <key>geocoded_longitude</key>
                    <string>-0.128005</string>
                    <key>name</key>
                    <string>Stonehenge and Bath</string>
                    <key>primary_image</key>
                    <string>http://media.****.com/FLX-LON-65D-AC0-B08E-image_original-2E.jpg</string>
                    <key>product_categories</key>
                    <array>
                        <dict>
                            <key>product_category</key>
                            <dict>
                                <key>kind</key>
                                <string>type</string>
                                <key>name</key>
                                <string>Sightseeing Tours</string>
                            </dict>
                        </dict>
                        <dict>
                            <key>product_category</key>
                            <dict>
                                <key>kind</key>
                                <string>category</string>
                                <key>name</key>
                                <string>Excursion</string>
                            </dict>
                        </dict>
                    </array>
                </dict>
            </dict>
        </array>
        <key>total_pages</key>
        <integer>18</integer>
        <key>total_results</key>
        <integer>54</integer>
    </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Answer 1

NSDictionary *jsonResponse = /* get your dictionary from wherever */
NSDictionary *searchResults = [jsonResponse objectForKey:@"search_result"];
NSArray *allResults = [searchResults objectForKey:@"results"];

for (NSDictionary *result in allResults)
{
    NSDictionary *resultDetails = [result objectForKey:@"result"];

    NSString *name = [resultDetails objectForKey:@"name"];
    NSURL *imageURL = [NSURL URLWithString:[resultDetails objectForKey:@"primary_image"]];

    NSLog(@"Name: %@\n URL: %@", name, imageURL);
}