Passing a state variable to parent view - swift

Question

I have the following code:
struct BookView: View {
#State var title = ""
#State var author = ""
var body: some View {
TextField("Title", text: $title)
TextField("Author", text: $author)
}
}
struct MainView: View {
#State private var presentNewBook: Bool = false
var body: some View {
NavigationView {
// ... some button that toggles presentNewBook
}.sheet(isPresented: $presentNewBook) {
let view = BookView()
view.toolbar {
ToolbarItem(placement: principal) {
TextField("Title", text: view.$title)
}
}
}
}
}
This compiles but is giving me the following error on runtime:
Accessing State's value outside of being installed on a View. This will result in a constant Binding of the initial value and will not update.
How do I pass a state variable to some other outside view? I can't use ObservableObject on BookView since that would require me to change it from struct to class

Answer 1

In general, your state should always be owned higher up the view hierarchy. Trying to access the child state from a parent is an anti-pattern.
One option is to use #Bindings to pass the values down to child views:
struct BookView: View {
#Binding var title : String
#Binding var author : String
var body: some View {
TextField("Title", text: $title)
TextField("Author", text: $author)
}
}
struct ContentView: View {
#State private var presentNewBook: Bool = false
#State private var title = ""
#State private var author = ""
var body: some View {
NavigationView {
VStack {
Text("Title: \(title)")
Text("Author: \(author)")
Button("Open") {
presentNewBook = true
}
}
}.sheet(isPresented: $presentNewBook) {
BookView(title: $title, author: $author)
}
}
}
Another possibility is using an ObservableObject:
class BookState : ObservableObject {
#Published var title = ""
#Published var author = ""
}
struct BookView: View {
#ObservedObject var bookState : BookState
var body: some View {
TextField("Title", text: $bookState.title)
TextField("Author", text: $bookState.author)
}
}
struct ContentView: View {
#State private var presentNewBook: Bool = false
#StateObject private var bookState = BookState()
var body: some View {
NavigationView {
VStack {
Text("Title: \(bookState.title)")
Text("Author: \(bookState.author)")
Button("Open") {
presentNewBook = true
}
}
}.sheet(isPresented: $presentNewBook) {
BookView(bookState: bookState)
}
}
}
I've altered your example views a bit because to me the structure was unclear, but the concept of owning the state at the parent level is the important element.

Answer 2

You can also pass a state variable among views as such:
let view = BookView(title: "foobar")
view.toolbar {
ToolbarItem(placement: principal) {
TextField("Title", text: view.$title)
}
}
Then, inside of BookView:
#State var title: String
init(title: String) {
_title = State(initialValue: title)
}
Source: How could I initialize the #State variable in the init function in SwiftUI?