I'm trying to write a dummy SMTP server for the desktop -- basically, a SwiftUI reimplementation of a JavaFX app I've been using for years. But first, I'm starting out really really simple. I've imported the BlueSocket library and started out with its example echo server. I have a UI that is just a checkbox (run/stop the server) and a text string that should display how many clients are currently connected. The server starts and stops just fine, but the UI isn't updating when a client connects.

I think the problem is that I don't have the UI observing the state properly. Could someone please help me out with this? Here's the relevant code, I think:

struct ContentView: View {
    // Using @ObservedObject and not @State because this view doesn't create or own the servers
    // but only reports out what the servers are up to.
    @ObservedObject var servers: Servers
// ...
    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            Text("Number of connections: \(servers.smtpServer.numberConnected)")
                .padding()
        }
    }
// ...
}

// Servers is a wrapper for all the servers the application will be running (SMTP, POP3)
// and manages the lifecycle for all of them.
class Servers: ObservableObject {
    @State var smtpServer = SMTPServer(port: 4000)
  // shutdown code deleted for brevity
}

class SMTPServer: ObservableObject {
// bunch of internal stuff deleted for brevity...
    var numberConnected: Int {
        return connectedSockets.count
    }
    private var connectedSockets = [Int32: Socket]()
// more stuff deleted...

    // We've received a connection so now we need to keep track of it. While it's alive, it will
    // sit in the connectedSockets dictionary.
    private func addNewConnection(socket: Socket) {
        // Add the new socket to the list of connected sockets...
        objectWillChange.send()
        socketLockQueue.sync { [unowned self, socket] in
            self.connectedSockets[socket.socketfd] = socket
        }

        // This is all just the echo server stuff
        // Get the global concurrent queue...
        let queue = DispatchQueue.global(qos: .default)

        // Create the run loop work item and dispatch to the default priority global queue...
        queue.async { [weak self, socket] in
            var shouldKeepRunning = true
            var readData = Data(capacity: SMTPServer.bufferSize)

            do {
                // Write the welcome string...
                try socket.write(from: "Hello, type 'QUIT' to end session\n")
                // ... the rest of the run loop is here, where we read from the client and echo back
            } while shouldKeepRunning

            // Here, we're done with the client and we're disconnecting. Note that we're still in a closure
            // that's running on the global DispatchQueue, so we can't actually update the UI. Does
            // that mean we need to fire off the change notification on the UI thread?

            self?.objectWillChange.send()
            print("Socket: \(socket.remoteHostname):\(socket.remotePort) closed...")
            socket.close()
            self?.socketLockQueue.sync { [weak self, socket] in
                _ = self?.connectedSockets.removeValue(forKey: socket.socketfd)
            }

im new to swiftUI but as far as i know in your server class you need to use @Published wrapper instead of @State. then observed object in your struct will see the obserevable object Server/ Smtp or whatever u have there

Thanks for the tip about @Published. That's gotten me a bit farther along, although I'm still not seeing any updates to the number of clients in the UI until after the server stops. I'm going to refactor things a little and see if I can get it even simpler.

i think in smtp class its better to create published var and delete objectwillchange that way will be easier to understand why that class is observable and whats gonna be observed by others. again im new to swiftui hopefully more experienced members will join this thread and give good tips.

good for you! and it looks much nicer now. i would recomment u watching cs193 course for swiftUI on youtube. i dont like the way that guy does the actual code (its for advanced users i guess) but the way he explains complex things like generics, property wrappers and organizing the code is pretty good.