Inherits from RKMapping : NSObject
Conforms to NSCopying
Declared in RKObjectMapping.h

Overview

An RKObjectMapping object describes a transformation between object represenations using key-value coding and run-time type introspection. The mapping is defined in terms of a source object class and a collection of RKPropertyMapping objects describing how key paths in the source representation should be transformed into attributes and relationships on the target object. Object mappings are provided to instances of RKMapperOperation and RKMappingOperation to perform the transformations they describe.

Object mappings are containers of property mappings that describe the actual key path transformations. There are two types of property mappings:

  1. RKAttributeMapping: An attribute mapping describes a transformation between a single value from a source key path to a destination key path. The value to be mapped is read from the source object representation using valueForKeyPath: and then set to the destination key path using setValueForKeyPath:. Before the value is set, the RKObjecMappingOperation performing the mapping performs runtime introspection on the destination property to determine what, if any, type transformation is to be performed. Typical type transformations include reading an NSString value representation and mapping it to an NSDecimalNumber destination key path or reading an NSString and transforming it into an NSDate value before assigning to the destination.
  2. RKRelationshipMapping: A relationship mapping describes a transformation between a nested child object or objects from a source key path to a destination key path using another RKObjectMapping. The child objects to be mapped are read from the source object representation using valueForKeyPath:, then mapped recursively using the object mapping associated with the relationship mapping, and then finally assigned to the destination key path. Before assignment to the destination key path runtime type introspection is performed to determine if any type transformation is necessary. For relationship mappings, common type transformations include transforming a single object value in an NSArray or transforming an NSArray of object values into an NSSet.

All type transformations available are discussed in detail in the documentation for RKMappingOperation.

Transforming Representation to Property Keys

Configuring object mappings can become quite repetitive if the keys in your serialized object representations follow a different convention than their local domain counterparts. For example, consider a typical JSON document in the “snake case” format:

{"user": {"first_name": "Blake", "last_name": "Watters", "email_address": "[email protected]"}}

Typically when configuring a mapping for the object represented in this document we would transform the destination properties into the Objective-C idiomatic “llama case” variation. This can produce lengthy, error-prone mapping configurations in which the transformations are specified manually:

RKObjectMapping *userMapping = [RKObjectMapping mappingForClass:[RKUser class]];
[userMapping addAttributeMappingsFromDictionary:@{ @"first_name": @"firstName", @"last_name": @"lastName", @"email_address", @"emailAddress" }];

To combat this repetition, a block can be designated to perform a transformation on source keys to produce corresponding destination keys:

[userMapping setDefaultSourceToDestinationKeyTransformationBlock:^NSString *(NSString *sourceKey) {
    // Value transformer compliments of TransformerKit (See https://github.com/mattt/TransformerKit)
    return [[NSValueTransformer valueTransformerForName:TKLlamaCaseStringTransformerName] transformedValue:key];
}];

With the block configured, the original configuration can be changed into a simpler array based invocation:

[userMapping addAttributeMappingsFromArray:@[ @"first_name", @"last_name", @"email_address" ]];

Transformation blocks can be configured on a per-mapping basis or globally via [RKObjectMapping setDefaultSourceToDestinationKeyTransformationBlock:].

Tasks

Creating an Object Mapping

Accessing Property Mappings

Configuring Key Transformation

Mapping Nested Dictionaries

Configuring Mapping Options

Configuring Date Formatters

  •   dateFormatters

    An array of NSFormatter objects to use when mapping string values into NSDate attributes on the target objectClass. Each date formatter will be invoked with the string value being mapped until one of the date formatters does not return nil.

    property
  •   preferredDateFormatter

    The NSFormatter object for your application’s preferred date and time configuration. This date formatter will be used when generating string representations of NSDate attributes (i.e. during serialization to URL form encoded or JSON format).

    property
  • – inverseMapping

    Generates an inverse mapping for the rules specified within this object mapping.

Obtaining Information About the Target Class

DateAndTimeFormatting Methods

  • + defaultDateFormatters

    Returns the collection of default date formatters that will be used for all object mappings that have not been configured specifically.

  • + setDefaultDateFormatters:

    Sets the collection of default date formatters to the specified array. The array should contain configured instances of NSDateFormatter in the order in which you want them applied during object mapping operations.

  • + addDefaultDateFormatter:

    Adds a date formatter instance to the default collection

  • + addDefaultDateFormatterForString:inTimeZone:

    Convenience method for quickly constructing a date formatter and adding it to the collection of default date formatters. The locale is auto-configured to en_US_POSIX.

  • + preferredDateFormatter

    Returns the preferred date formatter to use when generating NSString representations from NSDate attributes. This type of transformation occurs when RestKit is mapping local objects into JSON or form encoded serializations that do not have a native time construct.

  • + setPreferredDateFormatter:

    Sets the preferred date formatter to use when generating NSString representations from NSDate attributes. This type of transformation occurs when RestKit is mapping local objects into JSON or form encoded serializations that do not have a native time construct.

Properties

attributeMappings

The collection of attribute mappings within this object mapping.

@property (nonatomic, readonly) NSArray *attributeMappings

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

dateFormatters

An array of NSFormatter objects to use when mapping string values into NSDate attributes on the target objectClass. Each date formatter will be invoked with the string value being mapped until one of the date formatters does not return nil.

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSArray *dateFormatters

Discussion

Defaults to the application-wide collection of date formatters configured via [RKObjectMapping setDefaultDateFormatters:]

See Also

  • [RKObjectMapping defaultDateFormatters]

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

objectClass

The target class that the receiver describes a mapping for.

@property (nonatomic, weak, readonly) Class objectClass

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

performKeyValueValidation

When YES, key-value validation will be invoked at object mapping time.

@property (nonatomic, assign) BOOL performKeyValueValidation

Discussion

Default: YES

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

preferredDateFormatter

The NSFormatter object for your application’s preferred date and time configuration. This date formatter will be used when generating string representations of NSDate attributes (i.e. during serialization to URL form encoded or JSON format).

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSFormatter *preferredDateFormatter

Discussion

Defaults to the application-wide preferred date formatter configured via: [RKObjectMapping setPreferredDateFormatter:]

See Also

  • [RKObjectMapping preferredDateFormatter]

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

propertyMappings

The aggregate collection of attribute and relationship mappings within this object mapping.

@property (nonatomic, strong, readonly) NSArray *propertyMappings

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

propertyMappingsByDestinationKeyPath

Returns the property mappings of the receiver in a dictionary, where the keys are the destination key paths and the values are instances of RKAttributeMapping or RKRelationshipMapping.

@property (nonatomic, readonly) NSDictionary *propertyMappingsByDestinationKeyPath

Return Value

The property mappings of the receiver in a dictionary, where the keys are the destination key paths and the values are instances of RKAttributeMapping or RKRelationshipMapping.

Discussion

Warning: Note this method does not return any property mappings with a nil value for the source key path in the dictionary returned.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

propertyMappingsBySourceKeyPath

Returns the property mappings of the receiver in a dictionary, where the keys are the source key paths and the values are instances of RKAttributeMapping or RKRelationshipMapping.

@property (nonatomic, readonly) NSDictionary *propertyMappingsBySourceKeyPath

Return Value

The property mappings of the receiver in a dictionary, where the keys are the source key paths and the values are instances of RKAttributeMapping or RKRelationshipMapping.

Discussion

Warning: Note this method does not return any property mappings with a nil value for the source key path in the dictionary returned.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

relationshipMappings

The collection of relationship mappings within this object mapping.

@property (nonatomic, readonly) NSArray *relationshipMappings

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

setDefaultValueForMissingAttributes

When YES, any attributes that have mappings defined but are not present within the source object will be set to nil, clearing any existing value.

@property (nonatomic, assign, getter=shouldSetDefaultValueForMissingAttributes) BOOL setDefaultValueForMissingAttributes

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

setNilForMissingRelationships

When YES, any relationships that have mappings defined but are not present within the source object will be set to nil, clearing any existing value.

@property (nonatomic, assign) BOOL setNilForMissingRelationships

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

Class Methods

addDefaultDateFormatter:

Adds a date formatter instance to the default collection

+ (void)addDefaultDateFormatter:(NSFormatter *)dateFormatter

Parameters

dateFormatter

An NSFormatter object to prepend to the default formatters collection

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

addDefaultDateFormatterForString:inTimeZone:

Convenience method for quickly constructing a date formatter and adding it to the collection of default date formatters. The locale is auto-configured to en_US_POSIX.

+ (void)addDefaultDateFormatterForString:(NSString *)dateFormatString inTimeZone:(NSTimeZone *)nilOrTimeZone

Parameters

dateFormatString

The dateFormat string to assign to the newly constructed NSDateFormatter instance

nilOrTimeZone

The NSTimeZone object to configure on the NSDateFormatter instance. Defaults to UTC time.

Return Value

A new NSDateFormatter will be prepended to the defaultDateFormatters with the specified date format and time zone

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

defaultDateFormatters

Returns the collection of default date formatters that will be used for all object mappings that have not been configured specifically.

+ (NSArray *)defaultDateFormatters

Return Value

An array of NSFormatter objects used when mapping strings into NSDate attributes

Discussion

Out of the box, RestKit initializes default date formatters for you in the UTC time zone with the following format strings:

  • yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'
  • MM/dd/yyyy

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

mappingForClass:

Returns an object mapping for the specified class that is ready for configuration

+ (instancetype)mappingForClass:(Class)objectClass

Parameters

objectClass

The class that the mapping targets.

Return Value

A new mapping object.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

preferredDateFormatter

Returns the preferred date formatter to use when generating NSString representations from NSDate attributes. This type of transformation occurs when RestKit is mapping local objects into JSON or form encoded serializations that do not have a native time construct.

+ (NSFormatter *)preferredDateFormatter

Return Value

The preferred NSFormatter object to use when serializing dates into strings

Discussion

Defaults to an instance of the RKISO8601DateFormatter configured with the UTC time-zone. The format string is equal to “yyyy-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD”

For details about the ISO-8601 format, see http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

requestMapping

Returns an object mapping with an objectClass of NSMutableDictionary.

+ (RKObjectMapping *)requestMapping

Return Value

An object mapping with an object class of NSMutableDictionary.

Discussion

Request mappings are used when configuring mappings that are to be used for transforming local objects into HTTP parameters using the RKObjectParameterization class.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

setDefaultDateFormatters:

Sets the collection of default date formatters to the specified array. The array should contain configured instances of NSDateFormatter in the order in which you want them applied during object mapping operations.

+ (void)setDefaultDateFormatters:(NSArray *)dateFormatters

Parameters

dateFormatters

An array of date formatters to replace the existing defaults.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

setDefaultSourceToDestinationKeyTransformationBlock:

Sets an application-wide default transformation block to be used when attribute or relationship mappings are added to an object mapping by source key path.

+ (void)setDefaultSourceToDestinationKeyTransformationBlock:(NSString *( ^ ) ( RKObjectMapping *mapping , NSString *sourceKey ))block

Parameters

block

The block to be set as the default source to destination key transformer for all object mappings in the application.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

setPreferredDateFormatter:

Sets the preferred date formatter to use when generating NSString representations from NSDate attributes. This type of transformation occurs when RestKit is mapping local objects into JSON or form encoded serializations that do not have a native time construct.

+ (void)setPreferredDateFormatter:(NSFormatter *)dateFormatter

Parameters

dateFormatter

The NSFormatter object to designate as the new preferred instance

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

Instance Methods

addAttributeMappingFromKeyOfRepresentationToAttribute:

Adds an attribute mapping from a dynamic nesting key value to an attribute. The mapped attribute name can then be referenced within other attribute mappings to access the nested content.

- (void)addAttributeMappingFromKeyOfRepresentationToAttribute:(NSString *)attributeName

Discussion

For example, consider the following JSON:

 { "users":
     {
         "blake": { "id": 1234, "email": "[email protected]" },
         "rachit": { "id": 5678", "email": "[email protected]" }
     }
 }

We can configure our mappings to handle this in the following form:

 RKObjectMapping *mapping = [RKObjectMapping mappingForClass:[User class]];
 mapping.forceCollectionMapping = YES; // RestKit cannot infer this is a collection, so we force it
 [mapping addAttributeMappingFromKeyOfRepresentationToAttribute:@"firstName"];
 [mapping addAttributeMappingsFromDictionary:@{ @"(firstName).id": @"userID", @"(firstName).email": @"email" }];

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

addAttributeMappingToKeyOfRepresentationFromAttribute:

Adds an attribute mapping to a dynamic nesting key from an attribute. The mapped attribute name can then be referenced wthin other attribute mappings to map content under the nesting key path.

- (void)addAttributeMappingToKeyOfRepresentationFromAttribute:(NSString *)attributeName

Discussion

For example, consider that we wish to map a local user object with the properties ‘id’, ‘firstName’ and ‘email’:

RKUser *user = [RKUser new];
user.firstName = @"blake";
user.userID = @(1234);
user.email = @"[email protected]";

And we wish to map it into JSON that looks like:

{ "blake": { "id": 1234, "email": "[email protected]" } }

We can configure our request mapping to handle this like so:

 RKObjectMapping *mapping = [RKObjectMapping requestMapping];
 [mapping addAttributeMappingToKeyOfRepresentationFromAttribute:@"firstName"];
 [mapping addAttributeMappingsFromDictionary:@{ @"(firstName).userID": @"id", @"(firstName).email": @"email" }];

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

addAttributeMappingsFromArray:

Adds attribute mappings to the receiver from a given array.

- (void)addAttributeMappingsFromArray:(NSArray *)arrayOfAttributeNamesOrMappings

Parameters

An

array of RKAttributeMapping or NSString values to be added to the receiver’s set of attribute mappings,

Discussion

The array can contain RKAttributeMapping objects or NSString values. If an NSString is given, then a new RKAttributeMapping object is instantiated with a sourceKeyPath and destinationKeyPath equal to the string value.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

addAttributeMappingsFromDictionary:

Adds attribute mappings from a given dictionary wherein the keys represent the source key path and the values represent the names of the target attributes on the destination object.

- (void)addAttributeMappingsFromDictionary:(NSDictionary *)keyPathToAttributeNames

Parameters

keyPathToAttributeNames

A dictionary keyed by source key to destination attribute name.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

addPropertyMapping:

Adds a property mapping to the receiver.

- (void)addPropertyMapping:(RKPropertyMapping *)propertyMapping

Parameters

propertyMapping

The property mapping to be added to the object mapping.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

addPropertyMappingsFromArray:

Adds an array of RKAttributeMapping or RKRelationshipMapping objects to the receiver.

- (void)addPropertyMappingsFromArray:(NSArray *)arrayOfPropertyMappings

Parameters

propertyMappings

The array of property mappings to be added to the object mapping.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

addRelationshipMappingWithSourceKeyPath:mapping:

Adds a relationship mapping to the receiver with the given source key path and mapping.

- (void)addRelationshipMappingWithSourceKeyPath:(NSString *)sourceKeyPath mapping:(RKMapping *)mapping

Parameters

sourceKeyPath

The source key path at which to read the nested representation of the related objects.

mapping

The object mapping with which to process the related object representation.

Discussion

The destination key path will be the same as the source key path or processed by the source to destination key transformation block, if any is configured.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

classForKeyPath:

Returns the class of the attribute or relationship property of the target objectClass at the given key path.

- (Class)classForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath

Parameters

propertyName

The name of the property we would like to retrieve the type of.

Return Value

The class of the property at the given key path.

Discussion

Given a key path to a string property, this will return an NSString, etc.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

classForProperty:

Returns the class of the attribute or relationship property of the target objectClass with the given name.

- (Class)classForProperty:(NSString *)propertyName

Parameters

propertyName

The name of the property we would like to retrieve the type of.

Return Value

The class of the property.

Discussion

Given the name of a string property, this will return an NSString, etc.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

defaultValueForAttribute:

Returns the default value to be assigned to the specified attribute when it is missing from a mappable payload.

- (id)defaultValueForAttribute:(NSString *)attributeName

Discussion

The default implementation returns nil for transient object mappings. On an entity mapping, the default value returned from the Entity definition will be used.

See Also

  • [RKEntityMapping defaultValueForAttribute:]

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

initWithClass:

Initializes the receiver with a given object class. This is the designated initializer.

- (id)initWithClass:(Class)objectClass

Parameters

objectClass

The class that the mapping targets. Cannot be nil.

Return Value

The receiver, initialized with the given class.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

inverseMapping

Generates an inverse mapping for the rules specified within this object mapping.

- (instancetype)inverseMapping

Return Value

A new mapping that will map the inverse of the receiver.

Discussion

This can be used to quickly generate a corresponding serialization mapping from a configured object mapping. The inverse mapping will have the source and destination keyPaths swapped for all attribute and relationship mappings. All mapping configuration and date formatters are copied from the parent to the inverse mapping.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

mappingForDestinationKeyPath:

Returns the property mapping registered with the receiver with the given destinationKeyPath key path.

- (id)mappingForDestinationKeyPath:(NSString *)destinationKeyPath

Parameters

destinationKeyPath

The key path to retrieve.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

mappingForSourceKeyPath:

Returns the property mapping registered with the receiver with the given source key path.

- (id)mappingForSourceKeyPath:(NSString *)sourceKeyPath

Parameters

sourceKeyPath

The key path to retrieve.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

removePropertyMapping:

Removes an RKAttributeMapping or RKRelationshipMapping from the receiver.

- (void)removePropertyMapping:(RKPropertyMapping *)propertyMapping

Parameters

propertyMapping

The attribute or relationship mapping to remove.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h

setSourceToDestinationKeyTransformationBlock:

Sets a block to executed to transform a source key into a destination key.

- (void)setSourceToDestinationKeyTransformationBlock:(NSString *( ^ ) ( RKObjectMapping *mapping , NSString *sourceKey ))block

Parameters

block

The block to execute when the receiver needs to transform a source key into a destination key. The block has a string return value specifying the destination key and accepts a single string argument: the source key that is to be transformed.

Discussion

The transformation block set with this method is used whenever an attribute or relationship mapping is added to the receiver via a method that accepts a string value for the source key. The block will be executed with the source key as the only argument and the value returned will be taken as the corresponding destination key. Methods on the RKObjectMapping class that will trigger the execution of the block configured via this method include: * addAttributeMappingsFromArray: – Each string element contained in the given array is interpretted as a source key path and will be evaluated with the block to obtain a corresponding destination key path. * addRelationshipMappingWithSourceKeyPath:mapping: – The source key path will be evaluated with the block to obtain a corresponding destination key path.

Warning: Please note that the block given accepts a key as opposed to a key path. When a key path is given to a method supporting key transformation it will be decomposed into its key components by splitting the key path at the ‘.’ (period) character, then each key will be evaluated using the transformation block and the results will be joined together into a new key path with the period character delimiter.

Declared In

RKObjectMapping.h