How to use #State and #Binding parallel? - swift

Question

My setup:
I am having a ContentView that represents a the length of a final selection (selection.count). Therefore I need a selection variable on my ContentView using a #State propertyWrapper since I want the View to get update as soon as the value changes. The selection is supposed to be made on my SelectionView therefore I am creating a Binding between my selection variables on the ContentView and SelectionView.
My Problem: The UI on my SelectionView is supposed to be updated as well when the selection variable changes but since it is using #Binding and not #State the view does not get updated. So I would need something where I can use a #State and #Binding at the same time or a #Binding which also makes the UI reload.
struct ContentView: View {
#State var selection: [Int] = []
var body: some View {
NavigationView {
Form {
NavigationLink(destination: SelectionView(selection: $selection)) {
Text("Selection: \(selection.count)")
}
}
}
}
}
struct SelectionView: View {
#Binding var selection: [Int]
var body: some View {
NavigationView {
Form {
ForEach((0...9).identified(by: \.self)) { i in
Button(action: {
if self.selection.contains(i) {
self.selection = self.selection.filter { !($0 == i) }
} else {
self.selection.append(i)
}
}) {
if self.selection.contains(i) {
Text("Unselect \(i)")
} else {
Text("Select \(i)")
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
Note: If I am using #State on the SelectionView instead of #Binding it works properly (which obviously requires me to not create the binding which I want).

Answer 1

There's nothing wrong with your binding. It is the right thing to do and it works the way you want it to. A binding is the way you pass mutable state around in SwiftUI, and you are doing that, and it works. A change to a binding does make the view reload.
To convince yourself of that, just get rid of all the extra stuff in your example, and concentrate on the heart of the matter, the binding:
struct ContentView: View {
#State var selection: [Int] = []
var body: some View {
NavigationView {
Form {
NavigationLink(destination: SelectionView(selection: $selection)) {
Text("Selection: \(selection.count)")
}
}
}
}
}
struct SelectionView: View {
#Binding var selection: [Int]
var body: some View {
NavigationView {
VStack {
Button.init("Append") {
self.selection.append(1)
}
Text("Selection: \(selection.count)")
}
}
}
}
Run the example, tap the link, tap the button repeatedly. The display of selection.count is changed in both views. That's what you wanted and that's what happens.
Here's a variant on your original code that displays selection more explicitly (instead of selection.count), and you can see that the right thing is happening:
struct ContentView: View {
#State var selection: [Int] = []
var body: some View {
NavigationView {
Form {
NavigationLink(destination: SelectionView(selection: $selection)) {
Text("Selection: \(String(describing:selection))")
}
}
}
}
}
struct SelectionView: View {
#Binding var selection: [Int]
var body: some View {
NavigationView {
List {
ForEach(0...9, id:\.self) { i in
Button(action: {
if let ix = self.selection.firstIndex(of:i) {
self.selection.remove(at: ix)
} else {
self.selection.append(i)
}
}) {
if self.selection.contains(i) {
Text("Unselect \(i)")
} else {
Text("Select \(i)")
}
}
}
}
}
}
}

Answer 2

The solution to your problem is: upgrade to the latest Xcode.
I tested your code in a playground under Xcode 11 beta 4 and it worked correctly.
I tested your code in a playground under Xcode 11 beta 3 and it failed in the way you describe (I think).
The current version of Xcode 11 as of this answer is beta 5, under which your code doesn't compile because the identified(by:) modifier has been removed. When I changed your code to work under beta 5, by replacing ForEach((0...9).identified(by: \.self)) with ForEach(0...9, id: \.self), it worked correctly.
Therefore I deduce that you are still running beta 2 or beta 3. (Form wasn't available in beta 1 so I know you're not using that version.)
Please understand that, at the moment, SwiftUI is still quite buggy, and also still undergoing incompatible API changes. The bugs are unfortunate, but the API evolution is good. It's better that we suffer a few months of changes now than years of less optimal API later.
This means that you need to try to stay on the latest Xcode 11 beta unless it introduces bugs (like the Path bug in beta 5, if your app uses Path) that prevent you from making any progress.

Answer 3

Thanks to #robmayoff I was able to solve the problem. It was a problem with Xcode 11 Beta 3, installing the newest beta version solved the problem