Decoding JSON dictionaries in Swift - "Expected to decode String but found a dictionary instead-CodePudding

I'm new to Swift and programming. I am having some trouble decoding a JSON file.

I have JSON that looks like:

{
    "actors": {
        "2048": "Gary Busey", 
        "3": "Harrison Ford", 
        "5251": "Jack Warden", 
        "14343": "Rene Russo", 
        "51214": "Brad Renfro", 
        "9560": "Ellen Burstyn"
    }
}

My model is:

struct Actors: Codable {
    let actors: [String: String]
}

I'm using this extension from hackingwithswift.com to decode the JSON.

When I call:

let actors = Bundle.main.decode([String: String].self, from: "actors.json")

I get this error:

"Failed to decode actors.json from bundle due to type mismatch – Expected to decode Array but found a dictionary instead."

I feel like I am missing something simple. Any ideas on what I am missing here?

CodePudding user response：

Decoding with let actors = Bundle.main.decode([String: String].self, from: "actors.json") would work if you had a JSON like this:

{
    "2048": "Gary Busey", 
    "3": "Harrison Ford", 
    "5251": "Jack Warden", 
    "14343": "Rene Russo", 
    "51214": "Brad Renfro", 
    "9560": "Ellen Burstyn"
}

But you have additionally a dictionary with a string key and a dictionary value. Try this:

let actors = Bundle.main.decode([[String: [String: String]].self, from: "actors.json")

Or this:

let actors = Bundle.main.decode(Actors.self, from: "actors.json")