Binding in SwiftUI

Binding is one of the several property wrappers that SwiftUI presents us to control data flow in the app. Binding provides us a reference like access to a value type. This week we will understand how and when to use binding. We will learn how to avoid common mistakes while using binding in SwiftUI.

Basics

Binding is a property wrapper type that can read and write a value owned by a source of truth. We have several possible types of sources of truth in SwiftUI. It can be EnvironmentObject, ObservedObject or State. All these property wrappers provide a projected value, which is binding. Let’s take a look at the quick example.

import SwiftUI struct ExampleView : View { @State private var text = "Hello World." var body : some View { TextField ( "type something..." , text : $ text ) } }

Here we have a state that is a source of truth. We also have a TextField, which requires a binding for a text value. We use a dollar sign to access the projected value of the state property wrapper, which is a binding to the value of property wrapper.

To learn more about property wrappers in SwiftUI, take a look at my “Understanding Property Wrappers in SwiftUI” post.

Common mistakes

Let’s take a look at the more complicated example. We will build an app that shows the list of users and allows us to edit user data.

import SwiftUI import Combine struct Person : Identifiable { let id : UUID var name : String var age : Int } final class PersonStore : ObservableObject { @Published var persons : [ Person ] = [ . init ( id : . init (), name : "Majid" , age : 28 ), . init ( id : . init (), name : "John" , age : 31 ), . init ( id : . init (), name : "Fred" , age : 25 ) ] } struct PersonsView : View { @ObservedObject var store : PersonStore var body : some View { NavigationView { List { ForEach ( store . persons . indexed (), id : \ . 1 . id ) { index , person in NavigationLink ( destination : EditingView ( person : self . $ store . persons [ index ])) { VStack ( alignment : . leading ) { Text ( person . name ) . font ( . headline ) Text ( "Age: \( person . age ) " ) . font ( . subheadline ) . foregroundColor ( . secondary ) } } } } . navigationBarTitle ( Text ( "Persons" )) } } }

Please keep in mind that the value of binding must be a value type. It means it has to be an enum or a struct. I see that people sometimes use classes to describe a state or entry inside EnvironmentObject or ObservedObject and notice that binding is not working. Apple’s documentation on binding says: if Value is not value semantic, the updating behavior for any views that make use of the resulting Binding is unspecified.

struct EditingView : View { @Environment (\ . presentationMode ) var presentation @Binding var person : Person var body : some View { Form { Section ( header : Text ( "Personal information" )) { TextField ( "type something..." , text : $ person . name ) Stepper ( value : $ person . age ) { Text ( "Age: \( person . age ) " ) } } Section { Button ( "Save" ) { self . presentation . wrappedValue . dismiss () } } } . navigationBarTitle ( Text ( person . name )) } }

As you can see in the example above, we use binding to pass a writable reference to a person struct. As soon as we modify the user instance inside the EditingView SwiftUI updates PersonsView to respect the changes.

extension Sequence { func indexed () -> Array < ( offset : Int , element : Element ) > { return Array ( enumerated ()) } }

You can see that I use the indexed function to generate an array of tuples that provides both the element and its index. It allows me to read the item to render it in place and access the binding using the item’s index.

To learn more about building editable forms using Form component, take a look at my “Building forms with SwiftUI” post.

Computed Binding

Usually, we access binding using a projected value of a source of truth. In this section, we will talk about another way of creating a binding. Binding is a two-way connection between the data and a view that access it. SwiftUI provides a way to construct a binding using getter and setter closures. In this case, we are responsible for calculating the value inside these closures. It is hard to imagine where we can use it, but it plays very well with Redux-like state containers.

typealias Reducer < State , Action > = ( inout State , Action ) -> Void final class Store < State , Action > : ObservableObject { @Published private(set) var state : State private let reducer : Reducer < State , Action > init ( initialState : State , reducer : Reducer < State , Action > ) { self . state = initialState self . reducer = reducer } func send ( _ action : Action ) { reducer ( & state , action ) } }

Here we have a concept of store that holds the entire state of the app. All changes to the state come from the unidirectional flow. Reducer is the single place where we can mutate the state of the app. By using computed binding, we can provide read-only access to the state and respect the unidirectional flow by sending action to the reducer.

extension Store { func binding < Value > ( for keyPath : KeyPath < State , Value > , transform : @escaping ( Value ) -> Action ) -> Binding < Value > { Binding < Value > ( get : { self . state [ keyPath : keyPath ] }, set : { self . send ( transform ( $0 )) } ) } }

As you can see, we generate a computed binding that reads a part of the state and emits an action through reducer to modify the state when needed. You might need this type of bindings when you, for example, have a settings screen that describes some checkboxes bound to the app state.

To learn more about implementing Redux in SwiftUI, take a look at my “Redux-like state container in SwiftUI” post.

Constant binding

Another way to create binding is the static constant function. This function allows us to create a binding that provides value but ignores any mutations on it. In other words, it generates an immutable binding for provided value.

import SwiftUI struct ExampleView : View { var body : some View { TextField ( "type something..." , text : Binding . constant ( "Hello!" )) } }

Conclusion

Today we learned another great tool to control data flow in SwiftUI. Binding can be a tool which is more complicated than others, but I believe we cover all the needed things for efficient use of bindings in SwiftUI. I hope you enjoy the post. Feel free to follow me on Twitter and ask your questions related to this post. Thanks for reading, and see you next week!