Modify #Published variable from another class that is not declared in | SwiftUI - swift

Question

I want to put the logic of all my #Published in a model class, however when I try to separate it, it doesn't update. I recreated a little example:
The code below works, it increases every time the button is clicked:
struct ContentView: View {
#StateObject var myClass = MyClass()
var body: some View {
Button(action: {
myClass.doStuff(numb: 1)
}) {
Text("People: \(myClass.people)")
}
}
}
class MyClass: ObservableObject {
#Published var people: Int = 0
func doStuff(numb: Int) {
people += numb
}
}
However, once I split the logic and try to have my #Published in a separate class to have it more clean, it doesn't update, see below:
struct ContentView: View {
#StateObject var myClass = MyClass()
let modify = Modify()
var body: some View {
Button(action: {
modify.doStuff(numb: 1)
}) {
Text("People: \(myClass.people)")
}
}
}
class Modify {
var myClass = MyClass()
func doStuff(numb: Int) {
myClass.people += numb
}
}
class MyClass: ObservableObject {
#Published var people: Int = 0
}
I think it's because there are two different instances in the view right? Anyway, how can I separate the #Publish correctly have it updated?
Thanks

Answer 1

Your first form is absolutely fine! You may, though, consider your ContentView using a #ObservedObject instead a #StateObject.
Your second form is flawed, for several reasons:
don't move logic into a view
don't use class variables to keep "state".
The first statement is due to a sane design that keeps your models and views nicely separated.
The second statement is due to how SwiftUI works. If you need to have some "state" in your views, use #State where the value is a struct.
Using #State ensures, that it's value is bound to the actual life time of the "conceptual view", i.e. the thing we human perceive as the view. And this "conceptual view" (managed as some data object by SwiftUI) is distinct from the struct View, which is merely a means to describe how to create and modify this conceptual view - that is, struct view is rather a function that will be used to initially create the "conceptual view" and modify it. Once this is done, it gets destroyed, and gets recreated when the conceptual view needs to be modified. That also means, the life time of this struct is not bound to the life time of its "state". The state's life time is bound to the conceptual view, and thus has usually longer life time than the struct view, where the struct view can be created and destroyed several times.
Now, imagine what happens when you always execute let modify = Modify() whenever the (conceptual) view or its content view is modified and needs to be recalculated and rendered by creating a struct view and then - after it has been rendered - destroying it again.
Also, this "state" is considered private for the view, means it is considered an implementation detail for the view. If you want to exchange data from "outside" and "inside" use a #ObservedObject or a Binding.

Answer 2

The problem is that you have 2 separate instances of MyClass:
#StateObject var myClass = MyClass()
var myClass = MyClass()
You are updating the myClass in Modify, which you aren't receiving updates from. A way to fix this is by having one instance of MyClass, passed into Modify during initialization:
struct ContentView: View {
#StateObject var myClass: MyClass
let modify: Modify
init() {
let temp = MyClass()
_myClass = StateObject(wrappedValue: temp)
modify = Modify(myClass: temp)
}
var body: some View {
Button(action: {
modify.doStuff(numb: 1)
}) {
Text("People: \(myClass.people)")
}
}
}
class Modify {
let myClass: MyClass
init(myClass: MyClass) {
self.myClass = myClass
}
func doStuff(numb: Int) {
myClass.people += numb
}
}
Another method is to have a #Published property in Modify to observe the changes of MyClass:
struct ContentView: View {
#StateObject var modify = Modify()
var body: some View {
Button(action: {
modify.doStuff(numb: 1)
}) {
Text("People: \(modify.myClass.people)")
}
}
}
class Modify: ObservableObject {
#Published var myClass = MyClass()
private var anyCancellable: AnyCancellable?
init() {
anyCancellable = myClass.objectWillChange.sink { [weak self] _ in
self?.objectWillChange.send()
}
}
func doStuff(numb: Int) {
myClass.people += numb
}
}

Answer 3

you could try this approach using a singleton. Works well for me:
struct ContentView: View {
#StateObject var myClass = MyClass.shared // <--- here
let modify = Modify()
var body: some View {
Button(action: {
modify.doStuff(numb: 1)
}) {
Text("People: \(myClass.people)")
}
}
}
class Modify {
var myClass = MyClass.shared // <--- here
func doStuff(numb: Int) {
myClass.people += numb
}
}
class MyClass: ObservableObject {
#Published var people: Int = 0
static let shared = MyClass() // <--- here
}