Data and JSON

In this chapter, you'll learn how to work with JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) data in Dart. JSON is a common format for data exchange on the web, and you'll often encounter it when working with APIs. You'll learn how to convert JSON data into Dart objects, making it easier to work with in your application. You'll use the dart:convert library, the jsonDecode function, and pattern matching.

Before you begin this chapter, ensure you:

• Have completed Chapter 8 and have a working Dart development environment with the dartpedia project.
• Understand basic Dart syntax, including classes and data types.

In this chapter, you'll create Dart classes to represent the JSON data returned by the Wikipedia API. This will allow you to easily access and use the data in your application.

First, create a new Dart package to house the data models.

1. Navigate to the root directory of your project (/dartpedia).

2. Run the following command in your terminal:

   bash

   dart create wikipedia
   

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   This command creates a new directory named wikipedia with the basic structure of a Dart package. You should now see a new folder wikipedia in your project root, alongside cli and command_runner.

Dart workspaces allow you to manage multiple related packages within a single project, simplifying dependency management and local development. Now that you're adding your third package, it's a good time to configure your project to use a Dart workspace.

1. Create the root pubspec.yaml file.

   Navigate to the root directory of your project (/dartpedia) and create a new file named pubspec.yaml with the following content:

   yaml

   name: _
   publish_to: none
   ​
   environment:
     sdk: ^3.8.1 # IMPORTANT: Adjust this to match your Dart SDK version or a compatible range
   workspace:
     - cli
     - command_runner
     - wikipedia
   

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2. Add workspace resolution to sub-packages.

   For each of your sub-packages (cli, command_runner, and wikipedia), open their respective pubspec.yaml files and add resolution: workspace to pubspec.yaml. This tells Dart to resolve dependencies within the workspace.

   • For cli/pubspec.yaml:

     yaml

     # ... (existing content) ...
     name: cli
     description: A sample command-line application.
     version: 1.0.0
     resolution: workspace # Add this line
     # ... (existing content) ...
     

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   • For command_runner/pubspec.yaml:

     yaml

     # ... (existing content) ...
     name: command_runner
     description: A starting point for Dart libraries or applications.
     version: 1.0.0
     resolution: workspace # Add this line
     # ... (existing content) ...
     

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   • For wikipedia/pubspec.yaml:

     yaml

     # ... (existing content) ...
     name: wikipedia
     description: A sample command-line application.
     version: 1.0.0
     resolution: workspace # Add this line
     # ... (existing content) ...
     

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The Wikipedia API returns a JSON object containing a summary of an article. Let's create a Dart class to represent this summary.

1. Create the directory wikipedia/lib/src/model.

   bash

   mkdir -p wikipedia/lib/src/model
   

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2. Create the file wikipedia/lib/src/model/summary.dart.

3. Add the following code to wikipedia/lib/src/model/summary.dart:

   wikipedia/lib/src/model/summary.dart

   dart

   import 'title_set.dart';
   ​
   class Summary {
     /// Returns a new [Summary] instance.
     Summary({
       required this.titles,
       required this.pageid,
       required this.extract,
       required this.extractHtml,
       required this.lang,
       required this.dir,
       this.url,
       this.description,
     });
   ​
     ///
     TitlesSet titles;
   ​
     /// The page ID
     int pageid;
   ​
     /// First several sentences of an article in plain text
     String extract;
   ​
     /// First several sentences of an article in simple HTML format
     String extractHtml;
   ​
     /// Url to the article on Wikipedia
     String? url;
   ​
     /// The page language code
     String lang;
   ​
     /// The page language direction code
     String dir;
   ​
     /// Wikidata description for the page
     String? description;
   ​
     /// Returns a new [Summary] instance
     static Summary fromJson(Map<String, Object?> json) {
       return switch (json) {
         {
           'titles': final Map<String, Object?> titles,
           'pageid': final int pageid,
           'extract': final String extract,
           'extract_html': final String extractHtml,
           'lang': final String lang,
           'dir': final String dir,
           'content_urls': {
             'desktop': {'page': final String url},
             'mobile': {'page': String _},
           },
           'description': final String description,
         } =>
           Summary(
             titles: TitlesSet.fromJson(titles),
             pageid: pageid,
             extract: extract,
             extractHtml: extractHtml,
             lang: lang,
             dir: dir,
             url: url,
             description: description,
           ),
         {
           'titles': final Map<String, Object?> titles,
           'pageid': final int pageid,
           'extract': final String extract,
           'extract_html': final String extractHtml,
           'lang': final String lang,
           'dir': final String dir,
           'content_urls': {
             'desktop': {'page': final String url},
             'mobile': {'page': String _},
           },
         } =>
           Summary(
             titles: TitlesSet.fromJson(titles),
             pageid: pageid,
             extract: extract,
             extractHtml: extractHtml,
             lang: lang,
             dir: dir,
             url: url,
           ),
         _ => throw FormatException('Could not deserialize Summary, json=$json'),
       };
     }
   ​
     @override
     String toString() =>
         'Summary['
         'titles=$titles, '
         'pageid=$pageid, '
         'extract=$extract, '
         'extractHtml=$extractHtml, '
         'lang=$lang, '
         'dir=$dir, '
         'description=$description'
         ']';
   }
   

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   This code defines a Summary class with properties that correspond to the fields in the JSON response from the Wikipedia API. The fromJson method uses pattern matching to extract the data from the JSON object and create a new Summary instance. The toString method provides a convenient way to print the contents of the Summary object. Note that the TitlesSet class is used in the Summary class, so you'll need to create that next.

The Summary class uses a TitlesSet class to represent the title information. Let's create that class now.

1. Create the file wikipedia/lib/src/model/title_set.dart.

2. Add the following code to wikipedia/lib/src/model/title_set.dart:

   wikipedia/lib/src/model/title_set.dart

   dart

   class TitlesSet {
     /// Returns a new [TitlesSet] instance.
     TitlesSet({
       required this.canonical,
       required this.normalized,
       required this.display,
     });
   ​
     /// the DB key (non-prefixed), e.g. may have _ instead of spaces,
     /// best for making request URIs, still requires Percent-encoding
     String canonical;
   ​
     /// the normalized title (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Query#Example_2:_Title_normalization),
     /// e.g. may have spaces instead of _
     String normalized;
   ​
     /// the title as it should be displayed to the user
     String display;
   ​
     /// Returns a new [TitlesSet] instance and imports its values from a JSON map
     static TitlesSet fromJson(Map<String, Object?> json) {
       if (json case {
         'canonical': final String canonical,
         'normalized': final String normalized,
         'display': final String display,
       }) {
         return TitlesSet(
           canonical: canonical,
           normalized: normalized,
           display: display,
         );
       }
       throw FormatException('Could not deserialize TitleSet, json=$json');
     }
   ​
     @override
     String toString() =>
         'TitlesSet['
         'canonical=$canonical, '
         'normalized=$normalized, '
         'display=$display'
         ']';
   }
   

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   This code defines a TitlesSet class with properties that correspond to the title information in the JSON response from the Wikipedia API. The fromJson method uses pattern matching to extract the data from the JSON object and create a new TitlesSet instance. The toString method provides a convenient way to print the contents of the TitlesSet object.

The Wikipedia API also returns a list of articles in a search result. Let's create a Dart class to represent an article.

1. Create the file wikipedia/lib/src/model/article.dart.

2. Add the following code to wikipedia/lib/src/model/article.dart:

   wikipedia/lib/src/model/article.dart

   dart

   class Article {
     Article({required this.title, required this.extract});
   ​
     final String title;
     final String extract;
   ​
     static List<Article> listFromJson(Map<String, Object?> json) {
       final List<Article> articles = <Article>[];
       if (json case {'query': {'pages': final Map<String, Object?> pages}}) {
         for (final MapEntry<String, Object?>(:Object? value) in pages.entries) {
           if (value case {
             'title': final String title,
             'extract': final String extract,
           }) {
             articles.add(Article(title: title, extract: extract));
           }
         }
         return articles;
       }
       throw FormatException('Could not deserialize Article, json=$json');
     }
   ​
     Map<String, Object?> toJson() => <String, Object?>{
       'title': title,
       'extract': extract,
     };
   ​
     @override
     String toString() {
       return 'Article{title: $title, extract: $extract}';
     }
   }
   

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   This code defines an Article class with properties for the title and extract of an article. The listFromJson method uses pattern matching to extract the data from the JSON object and create a list of Article instances. The toJson method converts the Article object back into a JSON object. The toString method provides a convenient way to print the contents of the Article object.

Finally, let's create a class to represent the search results from the Wikipedia API.

1. Create the file wikipedia/lib/src/model/search_results.dart.

2. Add the following code to wikipedia/lib/src/model/search_results.dart:

   wikipedia/lib/src/model/search_results.dart

   dart

   class SearchResult {
     SearchResult({required this.title, required this.url});
     final String title;
     final String url;
   }
   ​
   class SearchResults {
     SearchResults(this.results, {this.searchTerm});
     final List<SearchResult> results;
     final String? searchTerm;
   ​
     static SearchResults fromJson(List<Object?> json) {
       final List<SearchResult> results = <SearchResult>[];
       if (json case [
         String searchTerm,
         Iterable articleTitles,
         Iterable _,
         Iterable urls,
       ]) {
         final List titlesList = articleTitles.toList();
         final List urlList = urls.toList();
         for (int i = 0; i < articleTitles.length; i++) {
           results.add(SearchResult(title: titlesList[i], url: urlList[i]));
         }
         return SearchResults(results, searchTerm: searchTerm);
       }
       throw FormatException('Could not deserialize SearchResults, json=$json');
     }
   ​
     @override
     String toString() {
       final StringBuffer pretty = StringBuffer();
       for (final SearchResult result in results) {
         pretty.write('${result.url} \n');
       }
       return '\nSearchResults for $searchTerm: \n$pretty';
     }
   }
   

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   This code defines a SearchResults class with a list of SearchResult objects and a search term. The fromJson method uses pattern matching to extract the data from the JSON object and create a new SearchResults instance. The toString method provides a convenient way to print the contents of the SearchResults object.

At this point, you've created data models to represent JSON structures. There's nothing to test at this point. You'll add that application logic in the upcoming sections, which will enable you to test how data is deserialized from the Wikipedia API.

In this lesson, you learned about:

• Deserializing JSON data into Dart objects.
• Using the dart:convert library to work with JSON.
• Using the jsonDecode function to parse JSON strings.
• Using pattern matching to extract data from JSON objects.
• Creating Dart classes to represent JSON data structures.

In the next lesson, you'll learn how to test your Dart code using the package:test library. You'll write tests to ensure that your JSON deserialization logic is working correctly.