Get index in ForEach in SwiftUI - swift

Question

I have an array and I want to iterate through it initialize views based on array value, and want to perform action based on array item index
When I iterate through objects
ForEach(array, id: \.self) { item in
CustomView(item: item)
.tapAction {
self.doSomething(index) // Can't get index, so this won't work
}
}
So, I've tried another approach
ForEach((0..<array.count)) { index in
CustomView(item: array[index])
.tapAction {
self.doSomething(index)
}
}
But the issue with second approach is, that when I change array, for example, if doSomething does following
self.array = [1,2,3]
views in ForEach do not change, even if values are changed. I believe, that happens because array.count haven't changed.
Is there a solution for this?

Answer 1

Another approach is to use:
enumerated()
ForEach(Array(array.enumerated()), id: \.offset) { index, element in
// ...
}
Source: https://alejandromp.com/blog/swiftui-enumerated/

Answer 2

This works for me:
Using Range and Count
struct ContentView: View {
#State private var array = [1, 1, 2]
func doSomething(index: Int) {
self.array = [1, 2, 3]
}
var body: some View {
ForEach(0..<array.count) { i in
Text("\(self.array[i])")
.onTapGesture { self.doSomething(index: i) }
}
}
}
Using Array's Indices
The indices property is a range of numbers.
struct ContentView: View {
#State private var array = [1, 1, 2]
func doSomething(index: Int) {
self.array = [1, 2, 3]
}
var body: some View {
ForEach(array.indices) { i in
Text("\(self.array[i])")
.onTapGesture { self.doSomething(index: i) }
}
}
}

Answer 3

I usually use enumerated to get a pair of index and element with the element as the id
ForEach(Array(array.enumerated()), id: \.element) { index, element in
Text("\(index)")
Text(element.description)
}
For a more reusable component, you can visit this article https://onmyway133.com/posts/how-to-use-foreach-with-indices-in-swiftui/

Answer 4

I needed a more generic solution, that could work on all kind of data (that implements RandomAccessCollection), and also prevent undefined behavior by using ranges.
I ended up with the following:
public struct ForEachWithIndex<Data: RandomAccessCollection, ID: Hashable, Content: View>: View {
public var data: Data
public var content: (_ index: Data.Index, _ element: Data.Element) -> Content
var id: KeyPath<Data.Element, ID>
public init(_ data: Data, id: KeyPath<Data.Element, ID>, content: #escaping (_ index: Data.Index, _ element: Data.Element) -> Content) {
self.data = data
self.id = id
self.content = content
}
public var body: some View {
ForEach(
zip(self.data.indices, self.data).map { index, element in
IndexInfo(
index: index,
id: self.id,
element: element
)
},
id: \.elementID
) { indexInfo in
self.content(indexInfo.index, indexInfo.element)
}
}
}
extension ForEachWithIndex where ID == Data.Element.ID, Content: View, Data.Element: Identifiable {
public init(_ data: Data, #ViewBuilder content: #escaping (_ index: Data.Index, _ element: Data.Element) -> Content) {
self.init(data, id: \.id, content: content)
}
}
extension ForEachWithIndex: DynamicViewContent where Content: View {
}
private struct IndexInfo<Index, Element, ID: Hashable>: Hashable {
let index: Index
let id: KeyPath<Element, ID>
let element: Element
var elementID: ID {
self.element[keyPath: self.id]
}
static func == (_ lhs: IndexInfo, _ rhs: IndexInfo) -> Bool {
lhs.elementID == rhs.elementID
}
func hash(into hasher: inout Hasher) {
self.elementID.hash(into: &hasher)
}
}
This way, the original code in the question can just be replaced by:
ForEachWithIndex(array, id: \.self) { index, item in
CustomView(item: item)
.tapAction {
self.doSomething(index) // Now works
}
}
To get the index as well as the element.
Note that the API is mirrored to that of SwiftUI - this means that the initializer with the id parameter's content closure is not a #ViewBuilder.
The only change from that is the id parameter is visible and can be changed

Answer 5

For non zero based arrays avoid using enumerated, instead use zip:
ForEach(Array(zip(items.indices, items)), id: \.0) { index, item in
// Add Code here
}

Answer 6

I created a dedicated View for this purpose:
struct EnumeratedForEach<ItemType, ContentView: View>: View {
let data: [ItemType]
let content: (Int, ItemType) -> ContentView
init(_ data: [ItemType], #ViewBuilder content: #escaping (Int, ItemType) -> ContentView) {
self.data = data
self.content = content
}
var body: some View {
ForEach(Array(zip(data.indices, data)), id: \.0) { idx, item in
content(idx, item)
}
}
}
Now you can use it like this:
EnumeratedForEach(items) { idx, item in
...
}

Answer 7

ForEach is SwiftUI isn’t the same as a for loop, it’s actually doing something called structural identity. The documentation of ForEach states:
/// It's important that the `id` of a data element doesn't change, unless
/// SwiftUI considers the data element to have been replaced with a new data
/// element that has a new identity.
This means we cannot use indices, enumerated or a new Array in the ForEach. The ForEach must be given the actual array of identifiable items. This is so SwiftUI can animate the rows around to match the data, obviously this can't work with indicies, e.g. if row at 0 is moved to 1 its index is still 0.
To solve your problem of getting the index, you simply have to look up the index like this:
ForEach(items) { item in
CustomView(item: item)
.tapAction {
if let index = array.firstIndex(where: { $0.id == item.id }) {
self.doSomething(index)
}
}
}
You can see Apple doing this in their Scrumdinger sample app tutorial.
guard let scrumIndex = scrums.firstIndex(where: { $0.id == scrum.id }) else {
fatalError("Can't find scrum in array")
}

Answer 8

The advantage of the following approach is that the views in ForEach even change if state values ​​change:
struct ContentView: View {
#State private var array = [1, 2, 3]
func doSomething(index: Int) {
self.array[index] = Int.random(in: 1..<100)
}
var body: some View {
let arrayIndexed = array.enumerated().map({ $0 })
return List(arrayIndexed, id: \.element) { index, item in
Text("\(item)")
.padding(20)
.background(Color.green)
.onTapGesture {
self.doSomething(index: index)
}
}
}
}
... this can also be used, for example, to remove the last divider
in a list:
struct ContentView: View {
init() {
UITableView.appearance().separatorStyle = .none
}
var body: some View {
let arrayIndexed = [Int](1...5).enumerated().map({ $0 })
return List(arrayIndexed, id: \.element) { index, number in
VStack(alignment: .leading) {
Text("\(number)")
if index < arrayIndexed.count - 1 {
Divider()
}
}
}
}
}

Answer 9

2021 solution if you use non zero based arrays avoid using enumerated:
ForEach(array.indices,id:\.self) { index in
VStack {
Text(array[index].name)
.customFont(name: "STC", style: .headline)
.foregroundColor(Color.themeTitle)
}
}
}

Answer 10

To get indexing from SwiftUI's ForEach loop, you could use closure's shorthand argument names:
#State private var cars = ["Aurus","Bentley","Cadillac","Genesis"]
var body: some View {
NavigationView {
List {
ForEach(Array(cars.enumerated()), id: \.offset) {
Text("\($0.element) at \($0.offset) index")
}
}
}
}
Results:
// Aurus at 0 index
// Bentley at 1 index
// Cadillac at 2 index
// Genesis at 3 index
P. S.
Initially, I posted an answer with a "common" expression that all Swift developers are used to, however, thanks to #loremipsum I changed it. As stated in WWDC 2021 Demystify SwiftUI video (time 33:40), array indices are not stable from \.self identity (key path).
ForEach(0 ..< cars.count, id: \.self) { // – NOT STABLE
Text("\(cars[$0]) at \($0) index")
}

Answer 11

Here is a simple solution though quite inefficient to the ones above..
In your Tap Action, pass through your item
.tapAction {
var index = self.getPosition(item)
}
Then create a function the finds the index of that item by comparing the id
func getPosition(item: Item) -> Int {
for i in 0..<array.count {
if (array[i].id == item.id){
return i
}
}
return 0
}

Answer 12

You can use this method:
.enumerated()
From the Swift documentation:
Returns a sequence of pairs (n, x), where n represents a consecutive
integer starting at zero and x represents an element of the sequence.
var elements: [String] = ["element 1", "element 2", "element 3", "element 4"]
ForEach(Array(elements.enumerated()), id: \.element) { index, element in
Text("\(index) \(element)")
}

Answer 13

Just like they mentioned you can use array.indices for this purpose
BUT remember that indexes that you've got are started from last element of array, To fix this issue you must use this: array.indices.reversed() also you should provide an id for the ForEach.
Here's an example:
ForEach(array.indices.reversed(), id:\.self) { index in }