I'm using Swift and Objective C's reflection to try to invoke a method, but the method accepts arguments and I can't work out how to construct an instance of Selector which refers to a method which accepts arguments.
Here is some sample code:
class Thing : NSObject {
func doSomething() {
}
func doSomething(str :String) {
}
}
extension Thing {
func doSomethingElse(str :String) -> String {
}
}
let t = Thing()
var selector = Selector("doSomething")
//selector = Selector("doSomething:")
if t.responds(to: selector) {
t.perform(selector)
}
So I can invoke doSomething with no problem, but I cannot seem to create a Selector from a string which refers to doSomething(str :String). I attempted do to so with the string "doSomething:" (the commented out line).
Just in case it makes any difference, I'm ultimately attempting to invoke the extension method doSomethingElse.
How can I invoke Swift methods with arguments via reflection/selectors?
P.S. I'm aware that in general you're supposed to use #selector nowadays, but this won't work in my case because the method doSomething might not exist in the compiled code.
In Objective C land a Swift method with the signature "doSomething(str :String)" is called "doSomethingElseWithStr:".
Related
Using Cuckoo 1.4.1, I get the error
Global function 'stub(_:block:)' requires that 'DeepFileManager' conform to 'Mock'
I don't know how to proceed, because the instance passed to the stub function was created from the class in GeneratedMocks.swift. The reference to DeepFileManager is the class that is mocked.
So it's a mystery to me why Swift 4 would complain about the conformance of the superclass of the instance I've passed to it. Can you lead me out of this conundrum?
Here's the code for the test:
class RecordingTests: QuickSpec {
override func spec() {
let FAKE_ID = "String";
let mockFileManager: MockDeepFileManager = MockDeepFileManager()
let cut = Recording(id: FAKE_ID, date: nil, status: nil, device: nil, deviceId: nil, deviceName: nil, fileManager: mockFileManager)
describe("A recording") {
context("when it's not on disk") {
it("responds that filePresent is false") {
stub(mockFileManager) {stub in
when(stub.fileExists(audioId: FAKE_ID)).then()
}
expect(cut.filePresent()).to(equal(false))
verify(mockFileManager).fileExists(audioId: "Matchable")
}
}
}
}
And here's the declaration of MockDeepFileManager from GeneratedMocks.swift:
class MockDeepFileManager: DeepFileManager, Cuckoo.ClassMock {
As noted in the comment, an issue was submitted against the package, and the response explains how to make it work.
The problem in the code was calling then() (with no arguments), as then requires a closure function with a signature to match the signature of the stubbed function. A simpler alternative that would achieve the aim is thenReturn (instead of then), which just needs a value of the type of the stubbed function's return.
The maintainer of the Cuckoo package expressed sympathy that Swift issues an error about the protocol, instead pointing to the error in the invocation of then.
Ready to use example to test in Playgrounds:
import Foundation
class Demo {
let selector = #selector(someFunc(_:))
func someFunc(_ word: String) {
// Do something
}
func someFunc(_ number: Int) {
// Do something
}
}
I'm getting an Ambiguous use of 'someFunc' error.
I have tried this answer and getting something like:
let selector = #selector(someFunc(_:) as (String) -> Void)
But still getting the same result.
Any hints on how to solve this?
Short answer: it can't be done.
Long explanation: when you want to use a #selector, the methods need to be exposed to Objective-C, so your code becomes:
#objc func someFunc(_ word: String) {
// Do something
}
#objc func someFunc(_ number: Int) {
// Do something
}
Thanks to the #objc annotation, they are now exposed to Objective-C and an compatible thunk is generated. Objective-C can use it to call the Swift methods.
In Objective-C we don't call a method directly but instead we try to send a message using objc_msgSend: the compiler is not able to understand that those method are different, since the generated signature is the same, so it won't compile. You will face the error:
Method 'someFunc' with Objective-C selector 'someFunc:' conflicts with previous declaration with the same Objective-C selector.
The only way to fix it is to have different signatures, changing one or both of them.
The selector is obviously ambiguous, neither methods have external parameter names. Remove the empty external parameters to solve this:
#objc func someFunc(word: String) {
// Do something
}
#objc func someFunc(number: Int) {
// Do something
}
After that, you should specify a selector with the parameter name:
#selector(someFunc(word:))
or
#selector(someFunc(number:))
[NOTE This question was originally formulated under Swift 2.2. It has been revised for Swift 4, involving two important language changes: the first method parameter external is no longer automatically suppressed, and a selector must be explicitly exposed to Objective-C.]
Let's say I have these two methods in my class:
#objc func test() {}
#objc func test(_ sender:AnyObject?) {}
Now I want to use Swift 2.2's new #selector syntax to make a selector corresponding to the first of these methods, func test(). How do I do it? When I try this:
let selector = #selector(test) // error
... I get an error, "Ambiguous use of test()." But if I say this:
let selector = #selector(test(_:)) // ok, but...
... the error goes away, but I'm now referring to the wrong method, the one with a parameter. I want to refer to the one without any parameter. How do I do it?
[Note: the example is not artificial. NSObject has both Objective-C copy and copy: instance methods, Swift copy() and copy(sender:AnyObject?); so the problem can easily arise in real life.]
[NOTE This answer was originally formulated under Swift 2.2. It has been revised for Swift 4, involving two important language changes: the first method parameter external is no longer automatically suppressed, and a selector must be explicitly exposed to Objective-C.]
You can work around this problem by casting your function reference to the correct method signature:
let selector = #selector(test as () -> Void)
(However, in my opinion, you should not have to do this. I regard this situation as a bug, revealing that Swift's syntax for referring to functions is inadequate. I filed a bug report, but to no avail.)
Just to summarize the new #selector syntax:
The purpose of this syntax is to prevent the all-too-common runtime crashes (typically "unrecognized selector") that can arise when supplying a selector as a literal string. #selector() takes a function reference, and the compiler will check that the function really exists and will resolve the reference to an Objective-C selector for you. Thus, you can't readily make any mistake.
(EDIT: Okay, yes you can. You can be a complete lunkhead and set the target to an instance that doesn't implement the action message specified by the #selector. The compiler won't stop you and you'll crash just like in the good old days. Sigh...)
A function reference can appear in any of three forms:
The bare name of the function. This is sufficient if the function is unambiguous. Thus, for example:
#objc func test(_ sender:AnyObject?) {}
func makeSelector() {
let selector = #selector(test)
}
There is only one test method, so this #selector refers to it even though it takes a parameter and the #selector doesn't mention the parameter. The resolved Objective-C selector, behind the scenes, will still correctly be "test:" (with the colon, indicating a parameter).
The name of the function along with the rest of its signature. For example:
func test() {}
func test(_ sender:AnyObject?) {}
func makeSelector() {
let selector = #selector(test(_:))
}
We have two test methods, so we need to differentiate; the notation test(_:) resolves to the second one, the one with a parameter.
The name of the function with or without the rest of its signature, plus a cast to show the types of the parameters. Thus:
#objc func test(_ integer:Int) {}
#nonobjc func test(_ string:String) {}
func makeSelector() {
let selector1 = #selector(test as (Int) -> Void)
// or:
let selector2 = #selector(test(_:) as (Int) -> Void)
}
Here, we have overloaded test(_:). The overloading cannot be exposed to Objective-C, because Objective-C doesn't permit overloading, so only one of them is exposed, and we can form a selector only for the one that is exposed, because selectors are an Objective-C feature. But we must still disambiguate as far as Swift is concerned, and the cast does that.
(It is this linguistic feature that is used — misused, in my opinion — as the basis of the answer above.)
Also, you might have to help Swift resolve the function reference by telling it what class the function is in:
If the class is the same as this one, or up the superclass chain from this one, no further resolution is usually needed (as shown in the examples above); optionally, you can say self, with dot-notation (e.g. #selector(self.test), and in some situations you might have to do so.
Otherwise, you use either a reference to an instance for which the method is implemented, with dot-notation, as in this real-life example (self.mp is an MPMusicPlayerController):
let pause = UIBarButtonItem(barButtonSystemItem: .pause,
target: self.mp, action: #selector(self.mp.pause))
...or you can use the name of the class, with dot-notation:
class ClassA : NSObject {
#objc func test() {}
}
class ClassB {
func makeSelector() {
let selector = #selector(ClassA.test)
}
}
(This seems a curious notation, because it looks like you're saying test is a class method rather than an instance method, but it will be correctly resolved to a selector nonetheless, which is all that matters.)
I want to add a missing disambiguation: accessing an instance method from outside the class.
class Foo {
#objc func test() {}
#objc func test(_ sender: AnyObject?) {}
}
From the class' perspective the full signature of the test() method is (Foo) -> () -> Void, which you will need to specify in order to get the Selector.
#selector(Foo.test as (Foo) -> () -> Void)
#selector(Foo.test(_:))
Alternatively you can refer to an instance's Selectors as shown in the original answer.
let foo = Foo()
#selector(foo.test as () -> Void)
#selector(foo.test(_:))
In my case (Xcode 11.3.1) the error was only when using lldb while debugging. When running it works properly.
I want to be able to specialize a generic function by passing a type as an argument, instead of having to declare a variable having the desired type and writing an assignment to that variable.
In my use case, I'm walking up the responder chain looking for an object that conforms to a certain protocol. If found, I'd like to call a method on that object.
I'm trying to do it in a "swift-y" (i.e. type safe) way.
The code I'm currently using looks like this:
if let r:UndoManager = self.findResponder() {
r.undo(...)
}
but that makes it hard to chain in a statement.
I want to do something more succinct, like the following, passing the desired protocol as an argument to my function.
self.findResponder( UndoManager )?.undo(...)
In this example, say I have protocol UndoManager, defined as
protocol UndoManager {
func undo(...)
}
Also, my declaration of findResponder() currently looks like
public extension NSReponder {
public func findResponder<T>() -> T? {
...
}
}
If you want to do self.findResponder( UndoManager )?.undo(...) instead of (findResponder() as Undo?)?.undo(...), the method signature would be:
public func findResponder<T>(_: T.Type) -> T? {
// ...
}
Calling a method from its name (in a String format) can be sometimes useful.
In Swift it is recomended to change behavior and to use closures to do something "dynamically", so for example you can have a dictionary of functions, with the name as the key, and the implementation as the value.
However, sometimes you want to simply know "how to do it", and this is the reason of this question.
So, how to call dynamically a Swift method starting from it's name as string?
In Objective C it was simple:
[self performSelector:NSSelectorFromString(#"aSelector")];
But performSelector is banned in Swift
Is there any alternative?
In Swift, you should use closures and change your approach.
However, if you want to use performSelector to dynamically call a method given only it's String signature, altough it's not supported natively, I've found how to do it.
It is possible to create a C alternative to performSelector that:
works even on native swift classes (non objective-c)
takes a selector from string
However it's not so straightforward to implement a complete version of it, and it's necessary to create the method in C.
in C we have dlsym(), a function that returns a pointer to a function given the char symbol.
Well, reading this interesting post:
http://www.eswick.com/2014/06/inside-swift/
I've learned a lot of interesting things about swift.
Swift instance methods are plain functions with a specific signature, like this
_TFC14FirstSwiftTest12ASampleClass13aTestFunctionfS0_FT_CSo8NSString
where the "self" value is passed as the last parameter
in short you can call it directly from the c side without any kind of bridging, it is sufficient to rebuild the correct function signature.
In the signature above, there is the name of the project (FirstSwiftTest) and the lenght (14), the name of the class (ASampleClass) and the lenght (12), the name of the function (aTestFunction) and the lenght (13), then other values as the return type ecc ecc. For other details look at the previous link
The function above, is the representation of this:
class ASampleClass
{
func aTestFunction() -> NSString
{
println("called correctly")
return NSString(string: "test")
}
}
Well, on the c side, I was able to create this function
#include <stdio.h>
#include <dlfcn.h>
typedef struct objc_object *id;
id _performMethod(id stringMethod, id onObject)
{
// ...
// here the code (to be created) to translate stringMethod in _TFC14FirstSwiftTest12ASampleClass13aTestFunctionfS0_FT_CSo8NSString
// ...
id (*functionImplementation)(id);
*(void **) (&functionImplementation) = dlsym(RTLD_DEFAULT, "_TFC14FirstSwiftTest12ASampleClass13aTestFunctionfS0_FT_CSo8NSString");
char *error;
if ((error = dlerror()) != NULL) {
printf("Method not found \n");
} else {
return functionImplementation(onObject); // <--- call the function
}
return NULL
}
And then called it on the swift side
let sampleClassInstance = ASampleClass()
println(_performMethod("aTestFunction", sampleClassInstance))
The function resulted in these statement printed on the log:
called correctly
test
So it should be not so difficult to create a _performMethod() alternative in C that:
creates automatically the function signature (since it seems to have a logic :-)
manages different return value types and parameters
EDIT
In Swift 2 (and maybe in Beta3, I didn't try) It seems that performSelector() is permitted (and you can call it only on NSObject subclasses). Examining the binary, It seems that now Swift creates static functions that can be specifically called by performSelector.
I created this class
class TestClass: NSObject {
func test() -> Void {
print("Hello");
}
}
let test = TestClass()
let aSel : Selector = NSSelectorFromString("test")
test.performSelector(aSel)
and now in the binary I find
000000010026d830 t __TToFC7Perform9TestClass4testfT_T_
At this time, I don't understand well the reasons behind this, but I'll investigate further
You could call a method from a String this way:
let foo = <some NSObject subclass instance>
let selectorName = "name"
foo.perform(Selector(selectorName))
It is available only when your foo class is subclass of NSObject
swift3 version
class MyClass:NSObject
{
required public override init() { print("Hi!") }
public func test(){
print("This is Test")
}
public class func static_test(){
print("This is Static Test")
}
}
if let c: NSObject.Type = NSClassFromString("TestPerformSelector.MyClass") as? NSObject.Type{
let c_tmp = c.init()
c_tmp.perform(Selector("test"))
c.perform(Selector("static_test"))
}