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https://github.com/MPLew-is/deep-codable

Encode and decode deeply-nested data into flat Swift objects
https://github.com/MPLew-is/deep-codable

codable decoding json propertywrapper result-builder swift

Last synced: 11 days ago
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Encode and decode deeply-nested data into flat Swift objects

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# `DeepCodable`: Encode and decode deeply-nested data into flat Swift objects #

Have you ever gotten a response from an API that looked like this and wanted to pull out and flatten the values you care about?
(This is a real response from the GitHub GraphQL API, with only the actual values changed)

```json
{
"data": {
"node": {
"content": {
"__typename": "Example type",
"title": "Example title"
},
"fieldValues": {
"nodes": [
{},
{},
{
"name": "Example node name",
"field": {
"name": "Example field name"
}
}
]
}
}
}
}
```

`DeepCodable` lets you easily do so in Swift while maintaining type-safety, with the magic of result builders, key paths, and property wrappers:

```swift
import DeepCodable

struct GithubGraphqlResponse: DeepDecodable {
static let codingTree = CodingTree {
Key("data") {
Key("node") {
Key("content") {
Key("__typename", containing: \._type)
Key("title", containing: \._title)
}

Key("fieldValues") {
Key("nodes", containing: \._nodes)
}
}
}
}

struct Node: DeepDecodable {
static let codingTree = CodingTree {
Key("name", containing: \._name)

Key("field", "name", containing: \._fieldName)
/*
The above is a "flattened" shortcut for:
Key("field") {
Key("name", containing: \._fieldName)
}
*/
}

@Value var name: String?
@Value var fieldName: String?
}

enum TypeName: String, Decodable {
case example = "Example type"
}

@Value var title: String
@Value var nodes: [Node]
@Value var type: TypeName
}

dump(try JSONDecoder().decode(GithubGraphqlResponse.self, from: jsonData))
```

## Quick start ##

Add to your `Package.Swift`:
```swift
...
dependencies: [
...
.package(url: "https://github.com/MPLew-is/deep-codable", branch: "main"),
],
targets: [
...
.target(
...
dependencies: [
...
.product(name: "DeepCodable", package: "deep-codable"),
]
),
...
]
]
```

Conform a type you want to decode to `DeepDecodable` by defining a coding tree representing which nodes are bound to which values:
```swift
struct DeeplyNestedResponse: DeepDecodable {
static let codingTree = CodingTree {
Key("topLevel") {
Key("secondLevel") {
Key("thirdLevel", containing: \._property)
}
}
}
/*
Also valid is the flattened form:
static let codingTree = CodingTree {
Key("topLevel", "secondLevel", "thirdLevel", containing: \._property)
}
*/

@Value var property: String
}
/*
Corresponding JSON would look like:
{
"topLevel": {
"secondLevel": {
"thirdLevel: "{some value}"
}
}
}
*/
```

Nodes in your `codingTree` are made of `Key`s initialized one of the following ways:

- `Key("name") { /* More Keys */ }`: node that don't capture values directly, but contain other nodes
- This maps to a serialized representation like `{"name": { ... } }`

- `Key("name", containing: \._value)`: node that should be decoded into the `value` property

All values to decode must be wrapped with the `@Value` property wrapper, and the `\._{name}` syntax refers directly to the wrapping instance (`\.{name}` without the underscore refers to the actual underlying value).

Decode a value into an instance of your type:
```swift
let instance = try JSONDecoder().decode(Response.self, from: jsonData)
```

`DeepCodable` is built on top of normal `Codable`, so any decoder (like [the property list decoder in `Foundation`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/propertylistdecoder) or [the excellent third-party YAML decoder, Yams](https://github.com/jpsim/Yams)) can be used to decode values.

## Encoding ##

While decoding is probably the most common use-case for this type of nested decoding, this package also supports encoding a flat Swift struct into a deeply nested one with the same pattern:
```swift
struct DeeplyNestedRequest: DeepEncodable {
static let codingTree = CodingTree {
Key("topLevel") {
Key("secondLevel") {
Key("thirdLevel", containing: \.bareProperty)
}

Key("otherSecondLevel", containing: \._wrappedProperty)
}
}
/*
Also valid is the flattened form:
static let codingTree = CodingTree {
Key("topLevel") {
Key("secondLevel", "thirdLevel", containing: \.bareProperty)

Key("otherSecondLevel", containing: \._wrappedProperty)
}
}
*/

let bareProperty: String
@Value var wrappedProperty: String
}
/*
Corresponding JSON would look like:
{
"topLevel": {
"secondLevel": {
"thirdLevel: "{bareProperty}"
},
"otherSecondLevel": "{wrappedProperty}"
}
}
*/

let instance: DeeplyNestedRequest = ...
let jsonData = try JSONEncoder().encode(instance)
```

With encoding, you don't have to use the `@Value` wrappers, though you can if you'd like to support decoding and encoding on the same type (in which case you can conform to `DeepCodable` as an alias for the two).

## Key features ##

- Encoding and decoding a Swift object to/from an arbitrarily complex deeply nested serialized representation without manually writing `Codable` implementations

- Preservation of existing `Codable` behavior on the values being encoded/decoded, including custom types
- Since `DeepCodable` is just a custom implementation of the `Codable` requirements, this also means you can nest `DeepCodable` objects like in the `GithubGraphqlResponse` example

- When conforming to `DeepEncodable` or `DeepDecodable`, don't interfere with the opposite normal `Codable` implementation (`Decodable`/`Encodable`, respectively)
- You can declare something like `struct Response: DeepDecodable, Encodable { ... }` and decode from a deeply nested tree, and then re-encode back to a flat structure like normal `Encodable` objects

- No requirement for `@Value` property wrapper for types only conforming to `DeepEncodable`

- Omission of the corresponding tree sections when all values at the leaves are `nil`
- This makes it so trying to encode an object with a `nil` value doesn't result in something like `{"top": {"second": {"third": null} } }`

- Flattened shortcuts using variadic parameters for long paths with no branching:
- `Key("topLevel", "secondLevel", containing: \._property)` instead of `Key("topLevel") { Key("secondLevel", containing: \._property) }`