Why doesn't calling method of child view from parent view update the child view? - swift

Question

I'm trying to call a method of a child view which includes clearing some of its fields. When the method is called from a parent view, nothing happens. However, calling the method from the child view will clear its field. Here is some example code:
struct ChildView: View {
#State var response = ""
var body: some View {
TextField("", text: $response)
}
func clear() {
self.response = ""
}
}
struct ParentView: View {
private var child = ChildView()
var body: some View {
HStack {
self.child
Button(action: {
self.child.clear()
}) {
Text("Clear")
}
}
}
}
Can someone tell me why this happens and how to fix it/work around it? I can't directly access the child view's response because there are too many fields in my actual code and that would clutter it up too much.

Answer 1

SwiftUI view is not a reference-type, you cannot create it once, store in var, and then access it - SwiftUI view is a struct, value type, so storing it like did you work with copies it values, ie
struct ParentView: View {
private var child = ChildView() // << original value
var body: some View {
HStack {
self.child // created copy 1
Button(action: {
self.child.clear() // created copy 2
}) {
Here is a correct SwiftUI approach to construct parent/child view - everything about child view should be inside child view or injected in it via init arguments:
struct ChildView: View {
#State private var response = ""
var body: some View {
HStack {
TextField("", text: $response)
Button(action: {
self.clear()
}) {
Text("Clear")
}
}
}
func clear() {
self.response = ""
}
}
struct ParentView: View {
var body: some View {
ChildView()
}
}

Answer 2

Try using #Binding instead of #State. Bindings are a way of communicating state changes down to children.
Think of it this way: #State variables are used for View specific state. They are usually made private for this reason. If you need to communicate anything down, then #Binding is the way to do it.
struct ChildView: View {
#Binding var response: String
var body: some View {
TextField("", text: $response)
}
}
struct ParentView: View {
#State private var response = ""
var body: some View {
HStack {
ChildView(response: $response)
Button(action: {
self.clear()
}) {
Text("Clear")
}
}
}
private func clear() {
self.response = ""
}
}