class HomeModel: NSObject, URLSessionDataDelegate {

    //properties

    weak var delegate: HomeModelProtocal!

    var data : NSMutableData = NSMutableData()

    let urlPath: String = "http://iosquiz.com/service.php" //this will be changed to the path where service.php lives


    func downloadItems() {

        let url: NSURL = NSURL(string: urlPath)!
        var session: URLSession!
        let configuration = URLSessionConfiguration.default


        session = NSURLSession(configuration: configuration, delegate: self, delegateQueue: nil)

        let task = session.dataTask(with: url as URL)

        task.resume()

    }

    func parseJSON() {

    var jsonResult: NSMutableArray = NSMutableArray()

    do{
        jsonResult = try NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(self.data, options:NSJSONReadingOptions.AllowFragments) as! NSMutableArray

    } catch let error as NSError {
    print(error)

    }

    var jsonElement: NSDictionary = NSDictionary()
    let locations: NSMutableArray = NSMutableArray()


    for var i = 0; i < jsonResult.count; i+=1    {

    jsonElement = jsonResult[i] as! NSDictionary

    let user = UserModel()

    //the following insures none of the JsonElement values are nil through optional binding
    if let id = jsonElement["id"] as? Int,
    let name = jsonElement["name"] as? String,
    let username = jsonElement["Username"] as? String,
    let password = jsonElement["Password"] as? String
    {

        user.id = id
        user.name = name
        user.username = username
        user.password = password
    }

    locations.addObject(user)

    }

    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), { () -> Void in

    self.delegate.itemsDownloaded(items: user)

    })
    }

    func URLSession(session: URLSession, dataTask: URLSessionDataTask, didReceiveData data: NSData) {
        self.data.append(data as Data);

    }

    func URLSession(session: URLSession, task: URLSessionTask, didCompleteWithError error: NSError?) {
        if error != nil {
            print("Failed to download data")
        }else {
            print("Data downloaded")
            self.parseJSON()
        }

    }
}