How do I cast an Array<AnyObject> to an empty array variable?

Question

Problem: I can't assign a string array (typed as 'AnyObject') to an empty array.

Steps:
1. Get a dictionary containing strings & arrays.
2. Grab an array from this dictionary via the key 'photos'.
Note: Xcode's warning suggest that I give the explicit type 'AnyObject'.
3. Create an empty array.
4. Attempt to assign it (failed).

let responseDictionary = responseDict as [String : AnyObject]
let ricPhotos:AnyObject = responseDictionary["photos"]!              
var thePhotos:Array<AnyObject>?              
thePhotos = ricPhotos  <--- fails

Compiler Error:

...'AnyObject' is not convertible to 'Array<AnyObject>'

Question: How do I assign 'ricPhotos' to the empty array 'thePhotos' and preferably cast 'AnyObject' to 'String'?

Revision

let responseDictionary = responseDict as [String : AnyObject]
var anyObject: AnyObject? = responseDictionary["photos"]

Okay, 'anyObject' appears to be a Dictionary, and inside it is 'photo' which is an array; as seen in the data. Here's some of the data(anyObject):

{
    page = 1;
    pages = 1334;
    perpage = 100;
    photo =     (
                {
            farm = 3;
            "height_m" = 336;
            "height_s" = 161;
            "height_sq" = 75;
            "height_t" = 67;
            id = 15166756998;
            isfamily = 0;
            isfriend = 0;
            ispublic = 1;
            owner = "127012961@N08";
            secret = 053032f300;
            server = 2941;
            title = "You @NYPL";
            "url_m" = "https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2941/15166756998_053032f300.jpg";
            "url_s" = "https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2941/15166756998_053032f300_m.jpg";
            "url_sq" = "https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2941/15166756998_053032f300_s.jpg";
            "url_t" = "https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2941/15166756998_053032f300_t.jpg";
            "width_m" = 500;
            "width_s" = 240;
            "width_sq" = 75;
            "width_t" = 100;
        },
        ...etc.

I want to grab the 'photo' array. But I can't downcast 'anyObject' to 'Dictionary' so that I can subscript it. I tried:

var anyObject:Dictionary = responseDictionary["photos"]

But I got:

'(String, AnyObject)' is not convertible to '[String : AnyObject]'

So I'm stuck with:

var anyObject: AnyObject? = responseDictionary["photos"]

So with anyObject, I tried to access 'photos':

let RicPhotos = anyObject["Photo"] as [String : AnyObject]

...I also tried:

let RicPhotos = anyObject["Photo"] as Array<Dictionary<String,String>>

But I got:

'AnyObject?' does not have a member named 'subscript'

I can see the data, but I can't extract into an empty variable.
I attempted to downcast to a specific type (Dictionary) but the compiler refuses.

There must be a strait forward way of getting an embedded array from a dictionary whilst casting to its respective cast (without the 'anyObject').

Any ideas?

delannoyk · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-26 07:20:37Z

1

Edited my answer to fit your edit...

let responseDictionary = [:] as [String : AnyObject]
var photosDic: AnyObject? = responseDictionary["photos"]
if let photosDic = photosDic as? Dictionary<String, AnyObject> {
    var photosArray: AnyObject? = photosDic["photo"]
    if let photosArray = photosArray as? Array<Dictionary<String, AnyObject>> {
        //There you go
    }
}

edited Sep 26, 2014 at 7:20

answered Sep 25, 2014 at 18:36

delannoyk

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3 Comments

Frederick C. Lee Over a year ago

let ricPhotos:Array = responseDic["photos"] <-- I get the compiler error: '(String, AnyObject)' is not convertible to 'Array<T>'

Frederick C. Lee Over a year ago

"let photos = anyObject as? Array<String>" <- returns nil. Swift is frustrating.

delannoyk Over a year ago

Does it fix your issue ?

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