How to have stored properties in Swift, the same way I had on Objective-C?
As in Objective-C, you can't add stored property to existing classes. If you're extending an Objective-C class (UIView is definitely one), you can still use Associated Objects to emulate stored properties:
for Swift 1
import ObjectiveC
private var xoAssociationKey: UInt8 = 0
extension UIView {
var xo: PFObject! {
get {
return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &xoAssociationKey) as? PFObject
}
set(newValue) {
objc_setAssociatedObject(self, &xoAssociationKey, newValue, objc_AssociationPolicy(OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN))
}
}
}
The association key is a pointer that should be the unique for each association. For that, we create a private global variable and use it's memory address as the key with the & operator. See the Using Swift with Cocoa and Objective-C
on more details how pointers are handled in Swift.
UPDATED for Swift 2 and 3
import ObjectiveC
private var xoAssociationKey: UInt8 = 0
extension UIView {
var xo: PFObject! {
get {
return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &xoAssociationKey) as? PFObject
}
set(newValue) {
objc_setAssociatedObject(self, &xoAssociationKey, newValue, objc_AssociationPolicy.OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN)
}
}
}
UPDATED for Swift 4
In Swift 4, it's much more simple. The Holder struct will contain the private value that our computed property will expose to the world, giving the illusion of a stored property behaviour instead.
Source
extension UIViewController {
struct Holder {
static var _myComputedProperty:Bool = false
}
var myComputedProperty:Bool {
get {
return Holder._myComputedProperty
}
set(newValue) {
Holder._myComputedProperty = newValue
}
}
}
So I think I found a method that works cleaner than the ones above because it doesn't require any global variables. I got it from here: http://nshipster.com/swift-objc-runtime/
The gist is that you use a struct like so:
extension UIViewController {
private struct AssociatedKeys {
static var DescriptiveName = "nsh_DescriptiveName"
}
var descriptiveName: String? {
get {
return objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &AssociatedKeys.DescriptiveName) as? String
}
set {
if let newValue = newValue {
objc_setAssociatedObject(
self,
&AssociatedKeys.DescriptiveName,
newValue as NSString?,
UInt(OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC)
)
}
}
}
}
UPDATE for Swift 2
private struct AssociatedKeys {
static var displayed = "displayed"
}
//this lets us check to see if the item is supposed to be displayed or not
var displayed : Bool {
get {
guard let number = objc_getAssociatedObject(self, &AssociatedKeys.displayed) as? NSNumber else {
return true
}
return number.boolValue
}
set(value) {
objc_setAssociatedObject(self,&AssociatedKeys.displayed,NSNumber(bool: value),objc_AssociationPolicy.OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC)
}
}
Associated objects API is a bit cumbersome to use. You can remove most of the boilerplate with a helper class.
public final class ObjectAssociation<T: AnyObject> {
private let policy: objc_AssociationPolicy
/// - Parameter policy: An association policy that will be used when linking objects.
public init(policy: objc_AssociationPolicy = .OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC) {
self.policy = policy
}
/// Accesses associated object.
/// - Parameter index: An object whose associated object is to be accessed.
public subscript(index: AnyObject) -> T? {
get { return objc_getAssociatedObject(index, Unmanaged.passUnretained(self).toOpaque()) as! T? }
set { objc_setAssociatedObject(index, Unmanaged.passUnretained(self).toOpaque(), newValue, policy) }
}
}
Provided that you can "add" a property to objective-c class in a more readable manner:
extension SomeType {
private static let association = ObjectAssociation<NSObject>()
var simulatedProperty: NSObject? {
get { return SomeType.association[self] }
set { SomeType.association[self] = newValue }
}
}
As for the solution:
extension CALayer {
private static let initialPathAssociation = ObjectAssociation<CGPath>()
private static let shapeLayerAssociation = ObjectAssociation<CAShapeLayer>()
var initialPath: CGPath! {
get { return CALayer.initialPathAssociation[self] }
set { CALayer.initialPathAssociation[self] = newValue }
}
var shapeLayer: CAShapeLayer? {
get { return CALayer.shapeLayerAssociation[self] }
set { CALayer.shapeLayerAssociation[self] = newValue }
}
}
The solution pointed out by jou doesn't support value types, this works fine with them as well
Wrappers
import ObjectiveC
final class Lifted<T> {
let value: T
init(_ x: T) {
value = x
}
}
private func lift<T>(x: T) -> Lifted<T> {
return Lifted(x)
}
func setAssociatedObject<T>(object: AnyObject, value: T, associativeKey: UnsafePointer<Void>, policy: objc_AssociationPolicy) {
if let v: AnyObject = value as? AnyObject {
objc_setAssociatedObject(object, associativeKey, v, policy)
}
else {
objc_setAssociatedObject(object, associativeKey, lift(value), policy)
}
}
func getAssociatedObject<T>(object: AnyObject, associativeKey: UnsafePointer<Void>) -> T? {
if let v = objc_getAssociatedObject(object, associativeKey) as? T {
return v
}
else if let v = objc_getAssociatedObject(object, associativeKey) as? Lifted<T> {
return v.value
}
else {
return nil
}
}
A possible Class extension (Example of usage):
extension UIView {
private struct AssociatedKey {
static var viewExtension = "viewExtension"
}
var referenceTransform: CGAffineTransform? {
get {
return getAssociatedObject(self, associativeKey: &AssociatedKey.viewExtension)
}
set {
if let value = newValue {
setAssociatedObject(self, value: value, associativeKey: &AssociatedKey.viewExtension, policy: objc_AssociationPolicy.OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC)
}
}
}
}
This is really such a great solution, I wanted to add another usage example that included structs and values that are not optionals. Also, the AssociatedKey values can be simplified.
struct Crate {
var name: String
}
class Box {
var name: String
init(name: String) {
self.name = name
}
}
extension UIViewController {
private struct AssociatedKey {
static var displayed: UInt8 = 0
static var box: UInt8 = 0
static var crate: UInt8 = 0
}
var displayed: Bool? {
get {
return getAssociatedObject(self, associativeKey: &AssociatedKey.displayed)
}
set {
if let value = newValue {
setAssociatedObject(self, value: value, associativeKey: &AssociatedKey.displayed, policy: objc_AssociationPolicy.OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC)
}
}
}
var box: Box {
get {
if let result:Box = getAssociatedObject(self, associativeKey: &AssociatedKey.box) {
return result
} else {
let result = Box(name: "")
self.box = result
return result
}
}
set {
setAssociatedObject(self, value: newValue, associativeKey: &AssociatedKey.box, policy: objc_AssociationPolicy.OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC)
}
}
var crate: Crate {
get {
if let result:Crate = getAssociatedObject(self, associativeKey: &AssociatedKey.crate) {
return result
} else {
let result = Crate(name: "")
self.crate = result
return result
}
}
set {
setAssociatedObject(self, value: newValue, associativeKey: &AssociatedKey.crate, policy: objc_AssociationPolicy.OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC)
}
}
}