swiftdatecodable

Create a custom Date class/struct that inherits from Date/NSDate?


I would like to create an extension to Date, or NSDate, with a custom initializer that parses date strings in the format yyyy-MM-dd. I need this to have a different symbol name, so I can't create an actual extension to the best of my knowledge.

I have written the following, but the self.init line is evidently invalid, and I haven't been able to figure out how to finalize initialization:

class DateOnly: NSDate, @unchecked Sendable {
    convenience init(from: String) {
        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd"
        formatter.locale = NSLocale(localeIdentifier: "en_US_POSIX") as Locale
        let d = formatter.date(from: from)!
        
        self.init(timeInterval: 0, since: d)
    }
    
    required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
        fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
    }
}

So my question is: how can I update this code to work as intended? Or what code do I need to write to accomplish my goal?


For a little more background:

I already have a couple of other extensions to support RFC 3339 date-time strings:

extension Formatter {
        static func rfc3339Formatter() -> ISO8601DateFormatter {
                let formatter = ISO8601DateFormatter()
                formatter.formatOptions = [.withInternetDateTime, .withFractionalSeconds]
                return formatter
        }
}

extension JSONDecoder.DateDecodingStrategy {
        static let rfc3339 = custom { decoder in
                let dateStr = try decoder.singleValueContainer().decode(String.self)
                let formatter = Formatter.rfc3339Formatter()
                if let date = formatter.date(from: dateStr) {
                        return date
                }
                throw DecodingError.dataCorrupted(
                        DecodingError.Context(
                                codingPath: decoder.codingPath,
                                debugDescription: "Invalid date"
                        )
                )
        }
}

This works as expected for payloads that I need to parse which only contain full-date strings. For example, I am able to add a method to my structs that provide a preconfigured decoder:

    static let decoder = {
            let decoder = JSONDecoder()
            decoder.dateDecodingStrategy = .rfc3339
            return decoder
    }()

But I need to parse payloads that will have both types of strings to parse. So I want to be able to write a struct like:

struct Foo: Decodable {
  let date1: Date // This is an RFC 3339 `date-time` string
  let date2: MyCustomDate // This is a simple `yyyy-MM-dd` string

  static let decoder = {
    let decoder = JSONDecoder()
    decoder.dateDecodingStrategy = .rfc3339
    return decoder
  }()
}

And then implement whatever decoding protocol or such that I need to for MyCustomDate that would transparently allow for parsing a JSON representation of Foo.


Solution

  • Rather than trying to subclass a Foundation type I believe it is better to wrap it in a custom type and add custom encoding and decoding to that type.

    struct DateOnly: Codable {
        let date: Date
        private static let formatStyle: Date.FormatStyle =
            .dateTime
                .year(.defaultDigits)
                .month(.twoDigits)
                .day(.twoDigits)
    
        init(dateString: String) throws {
            self.date = try Self.formatStyle.parse(dateString)
        }
    
        init(date: Date) {
            self.date = date
        }
    
        init(from decoder: any Decoder) throws {
            let container = try decoder.singleValueContainer()
            let string = try container.decode(String.self)
            self.date = try Self.formatStyle.parse(string)
        }
    
        func encode(to encoder: any Encoder) throws {
            var container = encoder.singleValueContainer()
            try container.encode(self.date.formatted(Self.formatStyle))
        }
    }