How to create a List or a ForEach from a binding

Paul Hudson @twostraws March 14th 2023

Updated for Xcode 14.2

New in iOS 15

SwiftUI lets us create a List or ForEach directly from a binding, which then provides the content closure with individual bindings to each element in the collection of data we’re showing. This is important for the times when the content you’re showing for each item needs a binding to some of its data, such as list rows having a text field to edit a user’s name.

To use this, pass the binding into your list directly, e.g. $users, then accept a binding in the content closure, e.g. $user. For example, in this code we show a list of users and add to each row a Toggle determining whether they have been contacted or not:

struct User: Identifiable {
    let id = UUID()
    var name: String
    var isContacted = false
}

struct ContentView: View {
    @State private var users = [
        User(name: "Taylor"),
        User(name: "Justin"),
        User(name: "Adele")
    ]

    var body: some View {
        List($users) { $user in
            Text(user.name)
            Spacer()
            Toggle("User has been contacted", isOn: $user.isContacted)
                .labelsHidden()
        }
    }
}

Download this as an Xcode project

Using a binding in this way is the most efficient way of modifying the list, because it won’t cause the entire view to reload when only a single item changes.

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How to create a List or a ForEach from a binding

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