Swift json decoding loses json object key order

Question

I have a simple JSON object:

{
    \"values\": {
        \"a\":\"\",
        \"b\":\"\",
        \"c\":\"\",
        \"d\":\"\",
        \"e\":\"\"
    }
}
<         


        

Answer 1

This is not a Swift limitation per se. Both Swift and JSON Dictionaries are unordered. The JSON format does not guarantee key ordering, and as such, does not require parsers to preserve the order.

If you need an ordered collection, you'd be better off with returning an array of key-value pairs in the JSON:

{
    "values": [
        {"a" : ""},
        {"b" : ""},
        {"c" : ""},
        {"d" : ""},
        {"e" : ""}
    ]
}

And then store the keys in the right order to be able to iterate over them as you wish.