RealmCoder

master

JSON Encoder / Decoder for Realm objects
OakCityLabs/RealmCoder

RealmCoder

JSON Encoder / Decoder for Realm objects

TL;DR

A RealmCoder object allows you to easily decode a Realm object from a chunk of JSON data. It also does the reverse, converting a Realm object to JSON data. A key feature of RealmCoder is that it allows for incremental updates to the Realm. Decoding a JSON block with partial data leaves the other attributes intact.

Table of Contents

Motivation

Most iOS apps are clients to a network server accessed via REST/JSON. At Oak City Labs, we use Realm as a local database to cache data from the server, so the app can respond more quickly and still function offline. (Sometimes we cache info for upload too.) That means every app needs to retrieve JSON data from the server and write it to the Realm database. It is an excellent opportunity for a shared library.

Here's the tricky bit. We need to update our Realm objects incrementally. Sometimes we don't get all the data about an object from the server. Imagine a master-detail view for restaurants. In the master view, you have a list of restaurants. Tap on a restaurant and you drill down into the restaurant's detail page.

We want the master list to be fast, so the server response includes summary info shown in the list, like the restaurant's name, but not the phone number. When the detail page loads, we request the full info including the phone number. When you go back to the master list, you don't want a refresh of the summary data to clear the detailed info stored in the cache.

If we're careful, Realm makes it simple to do these incremental updates. Realm can do a partial update on any object that has a primary key as long as we have a dictionary that only includes the updated values.

And that's what RealmCoder does. By using the Realm schema for an object, we can match the attributes to the JSON keys and parse the data in a type safe way. With the parsed data, we build an 'update' dictionary and apply it to the Realm database. Everything happens at runtime and works automatically with any Realm object. Using class variables on your Realm Object subclass, you can control things like name mapping, ignoring fields, etc. If you have experience with Codable, RealmCoder should feel familar.

Usage

The Simple Case

You can create a RealmCoder object by passing a Realm object to the init function.

    let coder = RealmCoder(realm: realm)

RealmCoder works with an Realm object out of the box, with no special modifications to the object class. This simple User class works automatically with RealmCoder.

    class User: Object {        
        @objc dynamic var objId: String = ""
        @objc dynamic var rank: Int = -1
    }

Decoding JSON data to a Realm object is a simple one line call, just like Codable. The decode call returns an object already commited to the Realm. If this class has a primary key and an object with the same primary key already exists, the decode method will update only the fields included in the JSON data, leaving other attributes unchanged.

    let user = try coder.decode(User.self, from: jsonData)

Encoding JSON is also simple.

    let jsonData = try coder.encode(user)

Note that these methods can throw. Transactions with the underlying Realm can throw and those exceptions are propagated up. Also, the RealmCoder can run into issues when the Realm object's schema doesn't match the given data. For example, an object defines an attribute as an Int but the JSON value is a String.

Pulling this all together, it's simple to declare a model and create a Realm object in the database from JSON data.

    // Declare the model
    class User: Object {        
        @objc dynamic var objId: String = ""
        @objc dynamic var rank: Int = -1
    }

    // Create a RealmCoder    
    let coder = RealmCoder(realm: realm)

    // Decode some data and commit it to the realm
    let user = try coder.decode(User.self, from: jsonData)
    print("Decode User with objId: \(user.objId)")

    // Make some modifications to the `user` object in 
    // the usual Realm ways.

    // Encode the object to send to the server
    let modifiedData = try coder.encode(user)

Key Mapping

Invariably there's a mismatch between object attribute names and JSON keys. In RealmCoder, the default assumption is that the attribute names and the keys match exactly. If that's not the case, you can create your own mapping with a class variable called realmCodableKeys. This String to String map should have the object's attribute name on the left and the JSON key names on the right. Let's add a few fields to our User object.

    class User: Object {
        @objc dynamic var objId: String = ""
        @objc dynamic var username: String = ""
        @objc dynamic var firstName: String = ""
        @objc dynamic var lastName: String = ""
    }

We'll need to translate between the camel case swift names and the snake case names in the JSON. Also, let's map the JSON key of id to an attribute name of objId. The translate is easy to define in a class attribute. Any attribute names not listed are assumed to have the same name in the JSON keys.

    override class var realmCodableKeys: [String: String] {
        return [
            "firstName": "first_name",
            "lastName": "last_name",
            "objId": "id"
        ]
    }

Ignored Attributes

In some projects, you may have declared local attributes of a Realm object that shouldn't be sent to the server in the JSON. You can specify these via a class variable called realmCodableIgnoredAttributes which returns an array of attribute names to skip when encoding.

    override class var realmCodableIgnoredAttributes: [String] {
        return ["privateAttr1", "privateAttr2"]
    }

Raw JSON Substrings

Occasionally, it might be useful to store raw JSON in an attribute. You might store a complex (and possibly unknown) subtree for another component to consume. You can specify those attributes with a realmCodableRawJsonSubstrings class attribute that returns an array of attribute names, just like 'ignored attributes'. RealmCoder will store the JSON subtree for that key as the string value of that attribute.

    override class var realmCodableRawJsonSubstrings: [String] {
        return ["jsonSubTreeBlob"]
    }

REST Envelopes

Many REST servers return objects contained in an 'envelope' to identify the type of object returned. For example, a User object might look like this in a JSON response, enclosed in an envelope labeled "user":

    {
      "user": {
        "email": "bats@superfriends.org",
        "first_name": "Bruce",
        "id": 3,
        "last_name": "Wayne",
      }
    }

In the same way, an array of objects often has a slightly different envelope. A list of User objects might look like, with an envelope labeled "users":

    {
      "users": [
        {
          "email": "bats@superfriends.org",
          "first_name": "Bruce",
          "id": 3,
          "last_name": "Wayne",
        },
        {
          "email": "ww@superfriends.org",
          ...
        },
            {
          "email": "sups@superfriends.org",
          ...
        }
      ]
    }

Objects classes can express their envelope names to RealmCoder through class attributes. realmObjectEnvelope defines the envelope for a single object and realmListEnvelope is the envelope for a list of objects.

For the example JSON here, you can define the envelopes like this:

    override class var realmObjectEnvelope: String? {
        return "user"
    }
    
    override class var realmListEnvelope: String? {
        return "users"
    }

Example

Combining all these options, we have fine grain control over the encoding / decoding process.

    // Create the model
    class User: Object {
        @objc dynamic var objId: String = ""
        @objc dynamic var username: String = ""
        @objc dynamic var firstName: String = ""
        @objc dynamic var lastName: String = ""
        @objc dynamic var address: String = ""
        @objc dynamic var phone: String = ""
        @objc dynamic var configJson: String = ""

        // Declare the key name for the enclosing REST wrapper for a single object
        override class var realmObjectEnvelope: String? {
            return "user"
        }
        
        // Declare the key name for the enclosing REST wrapper for a list of objects
        override class var realmListEnvelope: String? {
            return "users"
        }

        // Define the translation from attribute names to JSON key names:
        //    `first_name` is mapped to `firstName`
        //    `last_name` is mapped to `lastName` 
        //    etc.
        // We don't need to include username, address, or phone here because
        // those attribute names match their JSON keys.
        override class var realmCodableKeys: [String: String] {
            return [
                "firstName": "first_name",
                "lastName": "last_name",
                "objId": "id"
                "configJson": "config_json"
            ]
        }

        // Exclude these attributes when encoding data -- don't share the 
        // address or phone number with anyone
        override class var realmCodableIgnoredAttributes: [String] {
            return ["address", "phone"]
        }

        // Don't parse the `configJson` subtree.  That's just an opaque 
        // block of data we don't understand, but need to pass it to another
        // object that does. 
        override class var realmCodableRawJsonSubstrings: [String] {
            return ["configJson"]
        }

    }

    // Encode and decode just like before.  Start by creating a RealmCoder.
    let coder = RealmCoder(realm: realm)

    // Decode some data and commit it to the realm
    let user = try coder.decode(User.self, from: jsonData)
    print("Decode User with name: \(user.firstName) \(user.lastName)")

    // Make some modifications to the `user` object in 
    // the usual Realm ways.

    // Encode the object to send to the server
    // Remember, the encoding excludes address and phone number
    let modifiedData = try coder.encode(user)

SwiftPM

RealmCoder is available via the Swift Package Manager. You can include RealmCoder in your project by adding this line to your Package.swift dependencies section:

    .package(url: "https://github.com/OakCityLabs/RealmCoder.git", from: "1.0.0")

Be sure to add it to your targets list as well:

    .target(name: "MyApp", dependencies: ["RealmCoder"]),

Changelog

See the changelog.

License

MIT licensed.

About

RealmCoder is a product of Oak City Labs.

Description

  • Swift Tools 5.1.0
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Dependencies

Last updated: Fri Mar 15 2024 12:55:40 GMT-0900 (Hawaii-Aleutian Daylight Time)