Decode JSON to NSArray or NSDictionary

Question

I hope to decode the JSON data below:

{
    \"content\":
    [   
        {
            \"1\":\"a\",
            \"2\":\"b\",
            \"3\":\"c\",
               


        

Answer 1

That particular string will decode into an NSDictionary because the outermost thing is a JSON object which maps onto a NSDictionary for every JSON implementation I have ever seen. If you want to process an arbitrary string, you'll need to test what you get back

NSError *jsonError;
id parsedThing = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:0 error:&jsonError];
if (parsedThing == nil)
{
    // error
}
else if ([parsedThing isKindOfClass: [NSArray class]])
{
    // handle array, parsedThing can be cast as an NSArray safely
}
else
{
    // handle dictionary, parsedThing can be cast as an NSDictionary
    // NB only dictionaries and arrays allowed as long as NSJSONReadingAllowFragments 
    // not specified in the options
}