Getting items from [Any?] in a ForEach loop to display text - swift

Question

Below is some code I have been trying
import SwiftUI
struct AnyOptional: View {
private var optionalArray: [Any?] = [1, 2, 3]
var body: some View {
VStack {
ForEach(optionalArray) { i in
Text("\(i)")
}
}
}
}
extension Optional: Identifiable {
public var id: String { self as! String }
}
struct AnyOptional_Previews: PreviewProvider {
static var previews: some View {
AnyOptional()
}
}
I had a similar problem with [String] which I solved by using this extension
extension String: Identifiable {
public var id: String { self }
}
but now I get an error saying Any? must inherit from NSObject.
Is there an easier way to do this?

Answer 1

A possible solution is to use your already created id extension:
var body: some View {
VStack {
ForEach(optionalArray) { i in
Text(i.id)
}
}
}
Note that not all objects can be casted down to String (self as! String will fail if the object can't be cast to String).
A better way is to use String(describing:).
For this you can create another extension (updated to remove the word Optional if there's some value):
extension Optional {
public var asString: String {
if let value = self {
return .init(describing: value)
}
return .init(describing: self)
}
}
and use it in the ForEach loop:
var body: some View {
VStack {
ForEach(optionalArray, id: \.asString) { i in
Text(i.asString)
}
}
}