How to get json to populate UITableView in Swift 3?

Question

I am having trouble getting data to display. I have posted my code from the MCViewController custom class. It won't build. However I do get data response in the console. Can someone point out to me what I did wrong?

class MCViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate {

    let message_url = "https://www.testing.com/api/resources/get_film_message/film_id/3825"
    let send_url = "https://www.testing.com/api/resources/send_film_message"
    let film_id = "3825"
    var messageArray = [String]()
    weak var messageView : UITableView!

    func messageView(_ messageView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
        return messageArray.count
    }
    func messageView(_ messageView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {


        let cell = messageView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "msgContent", for:indexPath) as! MessageTableViewCell
        // Configuring Cell
        cell.msgContent.text = messageArray[indexPath.row]
        // Returning the cell
        return cell
    }



    @IBOutlet weak var MessageInput: UITextField!
    @IBAction func Sendmsg(_ sender: Any) {
        Sendmsg(username:MessageInput.text!, password: film_id)
    }

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        messageView.dataSource = self
        messageView.delegate = self
        // Do any additional setup after loading the view.
        //let post_data: NSDictionary = NSMutableDictionary()


        //        post_data.setValue(username, forKey: "username")
        //        post_data.setValue(password, forKey: "password")

        let url:URL = URL(string: message_url)!
        let session = URLSession.shared

        let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: url)
        request.httpMethod = "GET"
        request.setValue("740c94c51891c02b64d6c78840b478fe0b02fe2c", forHTTPHeaderField: "X-API-KEY")
        request.setValue("Basic YmhlZW0uZW5nckBnbWFpbC5jb206YmgzM20=", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")
        request.cachePolicy = NSURLRequest.CachePolicy.reloadIgnoringCacheData
        // Do any additional setup after loading the view.
        var paramString = ""


        //        for (key, value) in post_data
        //        {
        //            paramString = paramString + (key as! String) + "=" + (value as! String) + "&"
        //        }
        //
        request.httpBody = paramString.data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)

        let task = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: {
            (
            data, response, error) in

            guard let _:Data = data, let _:URLResponse = response  , error == nil else {

                return
            }



            let json: Any?

            do
            {
                json = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data!, options: [])
                if let parsedData = json as? [[String:Any]] {
                    for dict in parsedData {
                        if let title = dict["message"] as? String {
                            self.messageArray.append(title)
                            print(json)
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            catch
            {
                return
            }

            guard let server_response = json as? NSDictionary else
            {
                return
            }


            if let data_block = server_response["data"] as? NSDictionary
            {
                if let session_data = data_block["session"] as? String
                {
                    //  self.login_session = session_data

                    let preferences = UserDefaults.standard
                    preferences.set(session_data, forKey: "session")

                    //  DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: self.LoginDone)
                }
            }



        })

        task.resume()
    }

    override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
        super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
        // Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
    }

    func Sendmsg(username:String, password:String)
    {
        let post_data: NSDictionary = NSMutableDictionary()


        post_data.setValue(username, forKey: "message")
        post_data.setValue(password, forKey: "film_id")

        let url:URL = URL(string: send_url)!
        let session = URLSession.shared

        let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: url)
        request.httpMethod = "POST"
        request.setValue("740c94c51891c02b64d6c78840b478fe0b02fe2c", forHTTPHeaderField: "X-API-KEY")
        request.setValue("Basic YmhlZW0uZW5nckBnbWFpbC5jb206YmgzM20=", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")
        request.cachePolicy = NSURLRequest.CachePolicy.reloadIgnoringCacheData

        var paramString = ""


        for (key, value) in post_data
        {
            paramString = paramString + (key as! String) + "=" + (value as! String) + "&"
        }

        request.httpBody = paramString.data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)

        let task = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: {
            (
            data, response, error) in

            guard let _:Data = data, let _:URLResponse = response  , error == nil else {

                return
            }



            let json: Any?

            do
            {
                json = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data!, options: [])
                print(json)
            }
            catch
            {
                return
            }

            guard let server_response = json as? NSDictionary else
            {
                return
            }


//            if let data_block = server_response["data"] as? NSDictionary
//            {
//                if let session_data = data_block["session"] as? String
//                {
//                    self.login_session = session_data
//                    
//                    let preferences = UserDefaults.standard
//                    preferences.set(session_data, forKey: "session")
//                    
//                    DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: self.LoginDone)
//                }
//            }
//            


        })

        task.resume()


    }

Answer 1

In viewDidLoad(), the do {} catch {} where you append to messageArray, call the messageView.reloadData() like this:

do
{
    json = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data!, options: [])
    if let parsedData = json as? [[String:Any]] {
        for dict in parsedData {
            if let title = dict["message"] as? String {
                self.messageArray.append(title)
                print(json)
            }
        }
    }
    messageView.reloadData()  // this is your tableView reload 
}
catch
{
    return
}

Usually people will call their UITableView object as tableView, to make it easier to spot in the code. Nobody prohibit you to use messageView as the name of your tableView, though.