Lift all limitations on variables in result builders

Paul Hudson      @twostraws

SE-0373 relaxes some of the restrictions on variables when used inside result builders, allowing us to write code that would previously have been disallowed by the compiler.

For example, in Swift 5.8 we can use lazy variables directly inside result builders, like so:

import SwiftUI

struct ContentView: View {
    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            lazy var user = fetchUsername()
            Text("Hello, \(user).")
        }
        .padding()
    }

    func fetchUsername() -> String {
        "@twostraws"
    }
}

That shows the concept, but doesn’t provide any benefit because the lazy variable is always used – there’s no difference between using lazy var and let in that code. To see where it’s actually useful takes a longer code example, like this one:

// The user is an active subscriber, not an active subscriber, or we don't know their status yet.
enum UserState {
    case subscriber, nonsubscriber, unknown
}

// Two small pieces of information about the user
struct User {
    var id: UUID
    var username: String
}

struct SubscriberView: View {
    @State private var state = UserState.unknown

    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            lazy var user = fetchUsername()

            switch state {
            case .subscriber:
                Text("Hello, \(user.username). Here's what's new for subscribers…")
            case .nonsubscriber:
                Text("Hello, \(user.username). Here's why you should subscribe…")
                Button("Subscribe now") {
                    startSubscription(for: user)
                }
            case .unknown:
                Text("Sign up today!")
            }
        }
        .padding()
    }

    // Example function that would do complex work
    func fetchUsername() -> User {
        User(id: UUID(), username: "Anonymous")
    }

    func startSubscription(for user: User) {
        print("Starting subscription…")
    }
}

This approach solves problems that would appear in the alternatives:

• If we didn’t use lazy, then fetchUsername() would be called in all three cases of state, even when it isn’t used in one.
• If we removed lazy and placed the call to fetchUsername() inside the two cases then we would be duplicating code – not a massive problem with a simple one liner, but you can imagine how this would cause problems in more complex code.
• If we moved user out to a computed property, it would be called a second time when the user clicked the "Subscribe now" button.

This change also allows us to use property wrappers and local computed properties inside result builders, although I suspect they will be less useful. For example, this kind of code is now allowed:

struct CounterView: View {
    var body: some View {
        @AppStorage("counter") var tapCount = 0

        Button("Count: \(tapCount)") {
            tapCount += 1
        }
    }
}

However, although that will cause the underlying UserDefaults value to change with each tap, using @AppStorage in this way won’t cause the body property to be reinvoked every time tapCount changes – our UI won’t automatically be updated to reflect the change.

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Other changes in Swift 5.8…

• Function back deployment
• Allow implicit self for weak self captures, after self is unwrapped
• Concise magic file names
• Opening existential arguments to optional parameters
• Collection downcasts in cast patterns are now supported

Download all Swift 5.8 changes as a playground Link to Swift 5.8 changes

Browse changes in all Swift versions