SwiftUI View not updating based on #ObservedObject - ios

Question

In the following code, an observed object is updated but the View that observes it is not. Any idea why?
The code presents on the screen 10 numbers (0..<10) and a button. Whenever the button is pressed, it randomly picks one of the 10 numbers and flips its visibility (visible→hidden or vice versa).
The print statement shows that the button is updating the numbers, but the View does not update accordingly. I know that updating a value in an array does not change the array value itself, so I use a manual objectWillChange.send() call. I would have thought that should trigger the update, but the screen never changes.
Any idea? I'd be interested in a solution using NumberLine as a class, or as a struct, or using no NumberLine type at all and instead rather just using an array variable within the ContentView struct.
Here's the code:
import SwiftUI
struct ContentView: View {
#ObservedObject var numberLine = NumberLine()
var body: some View {
VStack {
HStack {
ForEach(0 ..< numberLine.visible.count) { number in
if self.numberLine.visible[number] {
Text(String(number)).font(.title).padding(5)
}
}
}.padding()
Button(action: {
let index = Int.random(in: 0 ..< self.numberLine.visible.count)
self.numberLine.objectWillChange.send()
self.numberLine.visible[index].toggle()
print("\(index) now \(self.numberLine.visible[index] ? "shown" : "hidden")")
}) {
Text("Change")
}.padding()
}
}
}
class NumberLine: ObservableObject {
var visible: [Bool] = Array(repeatElement(true, count: 10))
}

Answer 1

With #ObservedObject everything's fine... let's analyse...
Iteration 1:
Take your code without changes and add just the following line (shows as text current state of visible array)
VStack { // << right below this
Text("\(numberLine.visible.reduce(into: "") { $0 += $1 ? "Y" : "N"} )")
and run, and you see that Text is updated so observable object works
Iteration 2:
Remove self.numberLine.objectWillChange.send() and use instead default #Published pattern in view model
class NumberLinex: ObservableObject {
#Published var visible: [Bool] = Array(repeatElement(true, count: 10))
}
run and you see that update works the same as on 1st demo above.
*But... main numbers in ForEach still not updated... yes, because problem in ForEach - you used constructor with Range that generates constant view's group by-design (that documented!).
!! That is the reason - you need dynamic ForEach, but for that model needs to be changed.
Iteration 3 - Final:
Dynamic ForEach constructor requires that iterating data elements be identifiable, so we need struct as model and updated view model.
Here is final solution & demo (tested with Xcode 11.4 / iOS 13.4)
struct ContentView: View {
#ObservedObject var numberLine = NumberLine()
var body: some View {
VStack {
HStack {
ForEach(numberLine.visible, id: \.id) { number in
Group {
if number.visible {
Text(String(number.id)).font(.title).padding(5)
}
}
}
}.padding()
Button("Change") {
let index = Int.random(in: 0 ..< self.numberLine.visible.count)
self.numberLine.visible[index].visible.toggle()
}.padding()
}
}
}
class NumberLine: ObservableObject {
#Published var visible: [NumberItem] = (0..<10).map { NumberItem(id: $0) }
}
struct NumberItem {
let id: Int
var visible = true
}

Answer 2

I faced the same issue.
For me, replacing #ObservedObject with #StateObject worked.

Answer 3

Using your insight, #Asperi, that the problem is with the ForEach and not with the #ObservableObject functionality, here's a small modification to the original that does the trick:
import SwiftUI
struct ContentView: View {
#ObservedObject var numberLine = NumberLine()
var body: some View {
VStack {
HStack {
ForEach(Array(0..<10).filter {numberLine.visible[$0]}, id: \.self) { number in
Text(String(number)).font(.title).padding(5)
}
}.padding()
Button(action: {
let index = Int.random(in: 0 ..< self.numberLine.visible.count)
self.numberLine.visible[index].toggle()
}) {
Text("Change")
}.padding()
}
}
}
class NumberLine: ObservableObject {
#Published var visible: [Bool] = Array(repeatElement(true, count: 10))
}

Answer 4

There is nothing Wrong with observed object, you should use #Published in use of observed object, but my code works without it as well. And also I updated your logic in your code.
import SwiftUI
struct ContentView: View {
#ObservedObject var model = NumberLineModel()
#State private var lastIndex: Int?
var body: some View {
VStack(spacing: 30.0) {
HStack {
ForEach(0..<model.array.count) { number in
if model.array[number] {
Text(String(number)).padding(5)
}
}
}
.font(.title).statusBar(hidden: true)
Group {
if let unwrappedValue: Int = lastIndex { Text("Now the number " + unwrappedValue.description + " is hidden!") }
else { Text("All numbers are visible!") }
}
.foregroundColor(Color.red)
.font(Font.headline)
Button(action: {
if let unwrappedIndex: Int = lastIndex { model.array[unwrappedIndex] = true }
let newIndex: Int = Int.random(in: 0...9)
model.array[newIndex] = false
lastIndex = newIndex
}) { Text("shuffle") }
}
}
}
class NumberLineModel: ObservableObject {
var array: [Bool] = Array(repeatElement(true, count: 10))
}

Answer 5

The problem is with the function, do not forget to add id: \.self in your ForEach function, and make your Model Hashable, Identifiable.